Per "Pelle" Helmer Petterson (born July 21, 1932) in Stockholm is an award-winning Swedish

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 sailor

Yacht racing

Yacht racing is the sport of competitive yachting.While sailing groups organize the most active and popular competitive yachting, other boating events are also held world-wide: speed motorboat racing; competitive canoeing, kayaking, and rowing; model yachting; and navigational contests Yacht racing...

 and yacht designer. He is the son of Helmer Petterson, and studied design at the leading Pratt Institute

Pratt Institute

Pratt Institute is a private art college in New York City located in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite campuses in Manhattan and Utica. Pratt is one of the leading undergraduate art schools in the United States and offers programs in Architecture, Graphic Design, History of Art and Design,...

 in New York from 1955 through 1957. He is probably best known for designing the Maxi

Maxi yacht

A maxi yacht usually refers to a racing sailboat of at least in length. It is also a Swedish brand of smaller sailing yachts.-Origin:The term maxi originated with the International Offshore Rule rating system, which in the 1970s and 1980s measured offshore racing yachts and applied a...

 Class sailing boats, which are still among the most common sailing boats in Swedish waters. He also designed Volvo

Volvo Cars

Volvo Car Corporation, or Volvo Personvagnar AB, is a Swedish automobile manufacturer founded in 1927, in Gothenburg, Sweden. It is owned by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group. Volvo was originally formed as a subsidiary company to the ball bearing maker SKF. When Volvo AB was introduced on the Swedish...

's successful sports car, the P1800

Volvo P1800

-History:The project was started in 1957 because Volvo wanted a sports car, despite the fact that their previous attempt, the P1900, had been a disaster, with only 68 cars sold. The man behind the project was an engineering consultant to Volvo, Helmer Petterson, who in the 1940s was responsible for...

, while he was a student of Pietro Frua

Pietro Frua

Pietro Frua was one of the leading Italian coachbuilders and car designers during the 1950s and 1960s.-Early years:...

.
Petterson has three children.
There is a line of sailing clothing and sports wear bearing the name Petterson, under the Brand Name Pelle P. which are designed by his daughter, Cecilia. His other daughter, Ulrika Kristina, lives in the U.S. and is married to Paul Cayard

Paul Cayard

Paul Pierre Cayard is an American yachtsman and professional sailor. He has competed at multiple world championship level sailing events, including the America's Cup, the Volvo Ocean Race and the Olympic Games. In 1998 he was selected as the Rolex Yachtsmen of the Year...

, an American yachtsman and professional sailor.

Olympic Medals and other Yacht Racing Awards

He has won Olympic bronze and Olympic silver in the Starboat class. He also won World Cup medals in the Soling Class and participated in the America's Cup several times.

He won Olympic medals for Starboat

Star (sailboat)

The International Star is a 6.9 m one-design racing keelboat for two people.The boat must weigh at least 671 kg with a maximum total sail area of 26.5 m . It is sloop-rigged, with a mainsail larger in proportional size than any other boat of its length...

 racing in 1964 and 1972. He won the World Championship title in the Star class at the 1969 Worlds in San Diego, USA. He skippered the Swedish America's Cup

America's Cup

The America’s Cup is a trophy awarded to the winner of the America's Cup match races between two yachts. One yacht, known as the defender, represents the yacht club that currently holds the America's Cup and the second yacht, known as the challenger, represents the yacht club that is challenging...

 Challenges in 1977 and 1980.

Awards

May 14, 2004 he received the Swedish Business Award for Outstanding Achievements of the first grade from the West Swedish Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Amongst previous recipients are Arvid Carlsson

Arvid Carlsson

Arvid Carlsson is a Swedish scientist who is best known for his work with the neurotransmitter dopamine and its effects in Parkinson's disease...

 Nobel laureate, Ingvar Kamprad

Ingvar Kamprad

Ingvar Feodor Kamprad is a Swedish and the founder of IKEA, a retail company.According to Forbes magazine, as of 2011 he is the 162nd wealthiest person in the world with an estimated net worth of around US$6 billion in 2011...

 founder of Ikea and Pehr G. Gyllenhammar

Pehr G. Gyllenhammar

Pehr Gustaf Gyllenhammar is a Swedish businessman. He is mainly known for his 24 years as CEO and chairman of Volvo, between 1970 and 1994. In the early 1980s he took the initiative for the European Round Table of Industrialists .-Career:Gyllenhammar graduated from Lund University with a degree in...

 former CEO of Volvo.

November 19, 2004 he received a prestigious award (KTH's Stora Pris) from the Royal Institute of Technology

Royal Institute of Technology

The Royal Institute of Technology is a university in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH was founded in 1827 as Sweden's first polytechnic and is one of Scandinavia's largest institutions of higher education in technology. KTH accounts for one-third of Sweden’s technical research and engineering education...

 in Stockholm

Stockholm

Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...

.

June 8, 2010 he received from H.M the King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden

Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden

Carl XVI Gustaf is the reigning King of Sweden since 15 September 1973, succeeding his grandfather King Gustaf VI Adolf because his father had predeceased him...

the King's Medal (12th size bright-blue ribbon ) for outstanding contributions as a yachtsman and boat designer.