Jay Cross, the sailorman

From the January issue: The Related Companies broke ground last month on its 26-acre Hudson Yards development, and Related Hudson Yards President Jay Cross should have no trouble keeping the project afloat. A former competitive sailor, Cross holds 10 North American, national and world titles, and represented his native Canada in the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. He was also on the 1980 Olympic sailing team, but never competed because of the Canadian boycott of the Moscow Olympics. “That was too bad, because that year we really had a shot at a medal,” Cross recalled. “We were in the top five then.” In the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, he participated as a coach and an alternate. Cross was born into a sailing family, and took up the sport as a child. “Kids start when they’re eight or 10,” he said, “and then by the time you’re 16, you’re out there sailing all the time.” [more]