Profile: Stephen Gruver, Trimmer
By Sharael Feist
January 5, 1999
Stephen has raced sailboats since age ten, and he has raced everything from Sunfish and Lasers to Maxis and ACC boats. He is now part of the America True team and will compete in the America’s Cup 2000.
As an employee of North sails for 16 years, Stephen had the opportunity to sail and race on a wide variety of customer boats in many crew capacities at a great number of venues. He has designed or built sails for every America’s Cup since 1980, with the exception of the New Zealand “renegade” challenge of 1988.
Stephen’s favorite venue by far is match racing, consuming most of his time in recent years. In his spare time, he races his Thistle class sloop at his home club, Cedar Point Yacht Club, in Westport, Connecticut.
He won the Congressional Cup in 1998, and winning the Rolex IMS Championships, Manhassett Bay Fall Series, and the SORC in 1996-1997.