page_title: John Gerald Driscoll III
section_title: America's Cup
hierarchical_section_title: John Gerald Driscoll III / Sailing career / America's Cup
caption_attribution_description: English: America's Cup Yacht Intrepid US-22
context_page_description: John Gerald "Gerry" Driscoll III was an international yachting champion and businessman from San Diego, California. He competed in the defense portion of four America's Cup races, and was part of the organizational effort for two others. His innovative year-round training regimen for the 1974 race permanently changed the way teams prepare for the America's Cup. As a competitor, organizer, ambassador and businessman, he is credited with helping to put San Diego on the sailing map internationally, and as one of the first San Diegans to compete in the America's Cup races, he raised the profile of the America's Cup on the West Coast.
context_section_description: In 1964, he skippered the trial horse Vim in the America's Cup defense qualifying races. In 1967 he was the project manager and skipper of Columbia, the first America's Cup entry from the West Coast. In 1970 he served as tactician on the defense candidate Valiant.
  It was in 1974 that he "changed forever how the (America's Cup) event was sailed." At that time the standard America's Cup calendar was that the boats were built the winter before the event, and crew training began four or five months before the actual races. But Driscoll trained and drilled his crew throughout the winter in the calm waters off San Diego, while his rivals were all in dry dock. His boat Intrepid came close to winning the defender competition that year, but lost to Courageous in the final race due to a broken backstay. His year-round training program became the standard for future America's Cup efforts.
  He was also the general manager for the challenger Eagle in the 1986–87 race, and helped the San Diego Yacht Club organize the 1992 races.
caption: Intrepid in 2010.
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