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• Sailboat Guide

Robert Perry

Probably the most influential yacht designer of the late 20th century, it’s been said there are more sailboats cruising the worlds oceans designed by Bob Perry than any other designer. He remains best known for the his  Valiant 40  design which went on to influence cruising sailboats by adding performance to a genre that had previously meant slow and heavy. Through his career he has designed boats for many well recognized names in the industry, such as Tayana, Cheoy Lee, Valiant, Baba, Ta Shing, Passport and Saga.

As a young boy he had a burning passion for yacht design. His first break came in 1970 working as an assistant Jay Benford’s offices who specialized in ferro-cement yachts that were becoming popular at the time. He went on to work in the offices of Dick Carter which gave Perry a taste of designing racing yachts to the IOR rule. Many of his subsequent cruising boat designs have been influenced by his days at the Carter office, Perry seems to bring a performance dimension to most of his designs.

His first design to make it to factory production was the Taiwanese built CT54 for John Edwards, founder Hans Christian Yachts. This connection lead on to a whole family of full keeled double enders for practically every Taiwanese yard exporting cruising yachts to the US during the 1970s and 80s including the  Tayana 37 , the most popular semi-custom boat built in that era. During those years Perry has evolved the full keel design to very much the state of the art to this present day.

Links & References

» Perry Yacht Designers Inc,  Robert Perry Bio \ »  Yacht Design According to Perry , My Boats and What Shaped Them, by Robert Perry, ISBN 978-0071465571

{% comment %} Robert Perry 11530 Tulare Way West Tulalip WA 98271 Phone: 360-652-7771 E-mail: [email protected] Bob Perry: [email protected] {% endcomment %}

99 Sailboats designed by Robert Perry

Islander 28

Islander 32-2

Islander Freeport 36

Passport 40

Flying Tiger 10M

Cheoy Lee 35

Norseman 447

Valiant Esprit 37

Seamaster 46

Perry 41/aloha 41.

Cheoy Lee 48

Hans christian 34.

Mariner 39 (Perry)

Islander Freeport 41

Passport 37

Islander 38 C

Golden Wave 42

Islander 26

Islander 34-2

C&C Landfall 39

Westsail 39

Valiant 40 PH

Passport 41

South Pacific 42

Tayana 47 CC

Cheoy Lee 43 MS

Cheoy Lee 44

Islander Bahama 28

Yachtcraft 32, islander freeport 38, islander 32-3.

Islander Bahama 26

Reliance 37.

Hans Christian 36

Passport 50

Passport 47

Passport 44, passport 456.

Passport 470 AC

Mirage 25 (Perry)

Mirage 27 (Perry)

Mirage 26 (Perry)

White Wing 35/36

Baba 40 Pilot House

Tashiba 36 PH

Valiant 42RS

Nordic 45 RS

CT-65 / Scorpio 72

Tayana 47 DS

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The Maestro – Bob Perry Profile

Posted by Fiona McGlynn | BWI Award-Winning Articles , Sailor Profile

The designer of some of sailing’s most legendary boats, Bob Perry continues to push boundaries.

The design studio of Robert “Bob” Perry, upstairs in his Marysville, Washington, home is purposeful and busy yet warm and elegant, its walls a gallery of some of the world’s most successful and well-known cruising boat designs. Suitably awed by dozens of gleaming half-models, I ask him: Can he name them all?

“Really? You want me to tell you what all the boats are in rapid-fire succession?” he says. “Sure, sure, let’s go.

“Valiant 40, Baba 30, Tayana 37, Fairweather Mariner 38, CT 54, Islander 26, Cheoy Lee 48, Esprit 37, Meridian, Islander 34, Passport 40, Wentworth 17, Tatoosh 42, Seamaster 46, Cheoy Lee 35, Valiant 30 (which they never built, the Valiant 32 is over there), Islander 32, Mirage 26, Cheoy Lee 44, Golden Wave 42 (built by Cheoy Lee), Baba 40, Perry 47, Islander 28, CT 65, Lafitte 44…”

He goes on. It might be enough for another man to rest on such laurels, but everything in this studio points to the occupations of a restless, creative mind. A broad drafting table resides front and center atop an oriental rug, coffee cups stuffed with pencils of every type and color at the ready. Two acoustic guitars rest in stands near an amp, while an electric bass sits propped nearby. An Australian flag drapes over the door, an eclectic array of smoking pipes hangs on a wall, and tubes holding dozens of designs fill a rack in one corner.

A piece by Mendelssohn, the 19th-century German composer, plays softly in the background as Perry sits at his desk across from three computers and returns to his work. His right hand flutters with the mouse and he occasionally “tsks” or mutters something under his breath.

I sit awkwardly behind him, feeling something of an intruder, hesitant to break his intense focus again.

The leftmost monitor on his desk pings, piercing his concentration. It’s an update from The Robert Perry, Yacht Designer, Fan Club , a Facebook group that currently numbers over 6,400 members. Perry posts to the group most mornings. His topics vary from technical (such as offering insights into his design process) to nostalgic (perhaps reminiscing about his time building boats in Taiwan). His fans respond enthusiastically, often with questions for “the Maestro,” as he’s affectionately dubbed. Recently he’s invited them to provide input on the design of an ultimate 37-foot cruiser, a “durable, bluewater, family cruising boat design, up to today’s performance targets.”

A yacht designer engaging with fans on Facebook is something that Perry’s mentor, renowned naval architect and marine engineer William Garden (1918-2011), could scarcely have imagined. “Bill Garden had this attitude that he never wanted his photo published,” says Perry, “because, as he explained it, everyone has this idea of what a designer looks like. You don’t want to shake that image. Let them have it.”

A Love Discovered

As a youngster, Perry quite literally marched to the beat of his own drum—at one point he was kicked out of the school band for twirling cymbals overhead—an independent streak that perhaps was seeded while living his first 13 years in Australia, where his father had met his mother while on R&R during WWII.

“I got in a bit of trouble,” Perry says. “I wasn’t a troublemaker. I was just immersed in my own stuff.”

But he never got interested in boats and sailing until the eighth grade, when he chose sailing as the topic of a presentation. He became engrossed in the lore and beauty of old clipper ships, setting sail on imaginary voyages for which he kept detailed ship’s logs, dreaming of one day trying the real thing.

“I was soon buying sailing magazines and devouring them,” he writes on his website. “One afternoon I picked up a copy of Boating and on the cover was a nice photo of a Rhodes-designed Chesapeake 32. Lightning struck. I had never seen a thing designed by man that had so much beauty. I decided I would not go into the Coast Guard after all. I’d become a yacht designer.”

With the support of one of his teachers, Mr. Kibby, Perry ordered a small drawing board and drafting equipment that he could use at home. His first drawing? A model of the Civil War ironclad Merrimack . He worked part-time at a meat market to afford curves and drafting tools. Though he didn’t apply himself in more traditional topics, he excelled in Mr. Kibby’s mechanical drawing classes.

His geometry teacher, Don Miller, who was an avid sailor, encouraged him to join a local yacht club and start sailing.

“He realized I was drawing boats all the time and not doing my schoolwork…He said, ‘You should go talk to Bill Garden,’ the local famous yacht designer. I knew who Bill Garden was because I was just devouring every sailing magazine I could get my hands on.”

A nervous young Perry made arrangements to visit Garden’s office early on a Saturday morning. That day, he walked into a universe of yacht design and stood transfixed by his surroundings: stacks of designs, half models, and photos of boats. Garden took Perry out for lunch, beginning what would become a lifelong friendship.

“Looking back, Mr. Kibby, Don Miller, and Bill Garden combined to give me the skills, opportunities, and self-confidence I needed to pursue my dream,” Perry wrote in Yacht Design According to Perry .

A Budding Designer

When he got to college, Perry initially studied mechanical engineering before switching two years in to become an English major. He put himself through college by playing music, having started in a band called The Bandits when he was 18.

At the end of his fourth year, he quit college and did a short stint for a company called Marine Weight Control before landing a position with yacht designer Jay Benford. Though it paid poorly, it introduced Perry to the business of yacht design.

“I was supposed to get 10 percent of every job we finished but we never finished,” says Perry. “I got $100 and a water-stained book. I still have it actually—it’s a very good book. It’s about traditional Dutch yachts.”

Perry left Benford’s office after a year, only to return a year later, but this time at a guaranteed hourly rate, five days a week. His first design, a 47-foot ketch, was published and reviewed in National Fisherman . Upon seeing the review, Benford insisted that all inquiries go directly to him.

Not long after, a Californian named John Edwards asked Perry to design a 47-foot ketch in a letter that Perry dutifully handed over to Benford. It sat in a stack of unanswered mail for two weeks until Perry couldn’t stand it any longer. When Benford was out of the office, he retrieved the letter and answered it.

Edwards and Perry designed the boat in his dining room. Perry also began doing drawings for boatbuilder Vic Franck. When Benford learned of Perry’s moonlighting he was “justifiably angry.”

Seeing the writing on the wall, Perry applied for and landed a draftsman position with renowned racing yacht designer Dick Carter. In 1973, he moved to Boston and began working for Carter designing IOR boats for wealthy clients.

By 1974, Perry was also working on three designs of his own, the Valiant 40, what would become the CT 54 (an evolution of Edwards’ 47-foot ketch), and the Islander 28. He was also doing drafting work for Ted Brewer at night.

“It was good old Ted who said to me, ‘You are a yacht designer.’ ’’ Perry writes on his website. “I thought if Ted thinks I am a yacht designer then I must be. Ted should know.”

The Defining Boats

Going into this interview, I knew the challenge of profiling a designer as prolific and beloved as Perry would be choosing which of his designs to focus on. I would inevitably disappoint the many Perry owners who would not see their boat in these pages. So, I unburden myself of this weighty decision and leave it to the Maestro himself.

“Which boats would you say have most defined you?” I ask.

“Well, you’d have to say the Valiant 40, and the CT 54, which was the first fiberglass boat I designed, because without those I don’t know where I’d be. And the Islander 28. My whole association with Islander gave me a river of royalties for a number of years.”

The CT 54 emerged from those first drawings with Edwards, who took them to the Ta Chaio yard in Taiwan and discovered that building the 47-footer would be cheaper than he’d expected. So, he made it bigger, creating a 54-foot clipper-bowed ketch that he dubbed the Hans Christian 54.

The young Perry labored over the designs, further refining his iconic style. He was to be paid $700 for the design, half up front and half at completion, but as time went on, the second half remained overdue. His relationship with Edwards further soured when he drew a 34-foot double ender for Edwards, never got paid, and then heard about a 36-footer being built.

“I’m thinking, ‘I didn’t design a 36-footer,’ so I called him up and he said, ‘Oh yeah, we did a bigger version.’ I said, ‘Well, I look forward to the royalties.’ He said, ‘Well, you’re not getting royalties.’ I said, ‘OK, then I don’t want anything to do with you on any level.’ So, I did the Tayana 37, which was not identical but damn close, and I sold 600. So that was my revenge.”

When C.T. Chen, the president of Ta Chaio, learned that Edwards had not paid the entire amount for the Hans Christian 54, he bought the design from Perry for the remainder of the design fee. Hence, the Hans Christian 54 became the CT 54.

Ultimately Perry developed a long and prosperous business relationship and friendship with Chen and his two brothers. Perry felt embraced by Taiwan, and he learned Mandarin and a bit of Taiwanese. The CT 54 sold well, prompting a 65-footer, then the CT 56, an update to the CT 54.

Though the Valiant 40 followed the CT 54, Perry marks it as the real start of his career as an independent yacht designer. While working at Benford’s, Perry had made fast friends with Nathan Rothman, Benford’s business manager. The two young men dreamed of starting a company together, becoming their own bosses, and building “their” boat.

Perry set to work on a 40-foot double-ender. That year, 1973, the Westsail 32 had graced the pages of Time magazine, fueling the notion that bluewater cruisers ought to be double-enders. As such, Perry wanted to create the perfect canoe stern and took inspiration from the likes of Bill Garden and Holger Danske.

His experience working with Carter had taught him a lot about performance, and he obsessively studied other designs’ sail area/displacement and displacement/length ratios after reading a Ted Brewer article about these parameters. At the time, a typical cruiser displacement/length ratio was 400; Perry’s design would have a displacement/length ratio of around 260. This was a radical departure from the traditional slow, heavy cruising mold in what would become the first performance cruiser.

The first Valiant was launched in the fall of 1974, and soon they were flying off the production line. The first builder, Uniflite, turned out 150 Valiant 40s before blistering problems with Hetron fire-retardant polyester resin helped drive the company out of business in 1984.

Valiant production then moved to Lake Texoma, where Texas Valiant dealer Rich Worstell built another 200 Valiant 40s. The Valiant 40’s success spurred several variations: the Valiant 32, 47, 50, and 39.

Perry feels lucky and proud to have his name tied to Valiant.

“I fully appreciated back in 1974 and 1975 that what we were doing with the Valiant 40 was like catching lightning in a bottle,” he wrote in his book.

His relationship with Islander began after meeting the company’s executives at the 1973 Long Beach Boat Show and then drawing the Islander 28. It became a huge success and led to an Islander 32, which also sold over 500 boats. He followed this with the Freeport 36.

Perry worked for Islander for 10 years and considers it critical to establishing him in his early career. He recalls at one point standing on the Islander shop floor, and almost every boat under construction was one of his designs.

The Ultimate Treasure

The fan page emits another ping, and we both look over to see the latest update.

“It’s pretty active,” says Perry.

“How many members do you have now?” I ask.

“Let’s see, 5,311. My wife was the 5,000th. One day she looked over my shoulder, and I said, ‘I need one more member to get to 5,000, and she said, ‘Well, I’ll do it.’ ”

Perry met his wife, Jill, in a restaurant across the street from his office in Seattle, Washington, where she worked as a server and he was a frequent lunch patron. One day, Perry asked her out sailing and she agreed. “It wasn’t my boat, but I took her out on a Valiant 40,” says Perry. “Then we went to see the movie Jaws . I got a bloody nose, then came out of the theater and forgot where I parked my car.”

Though the first date didn’t go exactly as planned, the two instantly connected. They were together a year when they had their first son, Max.

Perry points to a photo on his desk of a smiling boy and a sailboat. “That’s Spike,” he says. Their youngest son, a talented engineer, sailor, and craftsman, died suddenly from bacterial pneumonia at age 30.

“For my wife, Jill, and me, the family means everything,” Perry notes on his website. “Our two boys, Max and Spike, are the ultimate treasures of our lives…Like it or not, and I don’t like it, Spike’s death partially defines who I am.”

Though I was a bit nervous at the interview’s outset—and Perry acknowledges on his website that some people have dubbed him an occasional curmudgeon—any hint of tetchiness vanishes as we linger over family photos and the smiling faces of his grandchildren, 8-year-old Violet and 6-year-old Drake, whom Perry clearly delights in.

Perry’s current and recent work—mostly custom—includes some spectacular and creative projects like the Duffy 22, a production electric boat, and a submarine for Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft. His latest project is an 85-foot boat commissioned for humanitarian missions in the Philippines. The 62-foot double-ender Frances Lee —an “old man’s daysailer” designed for a friend—is a whetted knife through the water; he says it’s his favorite design.

“It’s interesting, now that I’m 73, I look at the modern boats and I think, ‘If I was 15 today, looking at those boats, would I want to be a yacht designer?’ Probably not. Because when I was 15 and 16, there was tremendous diversity, and now there’s tremendous sameness and orthodoxy. I realize that I’m not going to move with the times. I’m not going to follow the trend. I want to do boats that I want to do,” he says. “If you asked me to design a French boat, I’d say, “Get some French guy, that’s not my style.” My heart wouldn’t be in it. I didn’t realize I had a style before, but I know now I do. I’m a Pacific Northwest guy.”

I ask him what advice he would give to someone starting out.

“God, there’s so few opportunities to get started,” he says. “With my career, you really have to chalk it up to the fact that I was in the right place at the right time.” Perry now mentors a budding designer in Australia, whose father contacted Perry when the boy was just 8, saying he wanted to be a designer.

“He’s about 16 now, and he started designing and building his own boats with very little parental help. I’ve always felt that it was a bit of an obligation to give back, because Bill Garden took the time to talk to me.”

Perry’s dog, Ruby, comes running in looking for a rub, and Perry happily obliges. As our interview comes to a close, the conversation turns to pets and the stray cat that Perry feeds every day.

Somewhat sheepishly, I ask him if he’ll sign his book for me. He opens it on the drafting table. Rather than inscribe the front page, he takes a handful of colored pencils and carefully illustrates a beautiful schooner, beam reaching across the inside page. My very own Perry design. He signs his drawing with a flourish. Then, the Maestro closes the book.

Perry-phernalia

Every year, Perry owners congregate in late August at Port Ludlow, Washington. Activities include potlucks, a surprise guest speaker, and live bands. (Though Perry no longer plays music regularly in a band, he’s been known, on occasion, to play at the annual Perry Rendezvous.) The event fills up quickly so be sure to reserve a spot. See perryboat.com for more information.

For owners of Perry boats not mentioned above, as well as anyone interested in the background of some of the best-known good old boats, I emphatically recommend Perry’s book Yacht Design According to Perry . He explains several aspects of yacht design and tells the fascinating stories behind his boats.

About The Author

Fiona McGlynn

Fiona McGlynn, a Good Old Boat contributing editor, has sailed from Canada to Australia.

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Robert “Bob” Perry

Sydney, Australia

June 25, 1946

Inductee Class Of

Robert Howard “Bob” Perry has spent his career designing comfortable, attractive, and easy to sail yachts.   He has over 380 designs to his credit, which have resulted in more than 6,000 boats that have been launched.   He looks back on his career, noting “My hobby has been my occupation.   So far, I’ve had a good ride.   I’ve weathered a few squalls along the way, but when I survey my collection of designs, I’m proud of my productivity and durability.”   One of his most notable designs is the Valiant 40, which was called a “performance cruiser.”   The boat featured a canoe type stern with a fin keel and skeg hung rudder instead of a traditional full keel.   Other builders Perry has designed yachts for include Tayana, Cheoy Lee, Valiant, Baba, Ta Shing, Hans Christian Yachts, Islander, Passport, Pacific Seacraft, and Saga.   He is a student of his craft and has taught yacht design at Evergreen State College in Washington.   Readers of Sailing magazine are familiar with his boat reviews that have been published in every issue for over forty years.

In 2008, Perry published a review of his own career with an overview of his approach to naval architecture.   The book is titled “Yacht Design According to Perry.” It is an easy-to-read overview with helpful drawing, diagrams, and pictures of his vast collection of designs.   He explained his goal for the book, “If I’ve mixed the right ingredients in the right proportions, this book – I hope – will be something any sailor can chew on and find nutritious.”

Perry was born in Toledo, Ohio.   His mother was from Australia and talked the family into moving to Sydney when Robert was one year old.   They returned to the USA in 1957 when Bob was 12 years old.   The family traveled on a Liberty ship that barely sailed at 9 knots across the Pacific Ocean.   Perry reflects on the trip, “Looking back, I think the month-long voyage played a seminal role in my obsession with boats.   I enjoyed every day of it, including the three days we spent riding out a typhoon in the North Pacific.”

The Perry family settled in Seattle, Washington.   Bob raced Penguin dinghies and crewed with renowned yacht designer Bill Garden and even served as his apprentice one summer.   He was bored and broke, and called yacht designer Jay Benford to show him a series of his yacht designs.   Perry was hired on the spot.   He spent one year with Benford before launching his own career that has been successful ever since.

~ Gary Jobson

Meet the Latest Hall of Fame Inductees

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CRAFTED FOR THE UNCHARTED

Fuel Cells by

Blue Water Generation ™

Blue Pearl 114

First american-made sailing superyacht in 50 years.

Renowned yacht designer Robert Perry has completed his career magnum opus – The Blue  Pearl  a 114-foot luxury clipper ketch that blends old-world design elements with leading-edge cruising technology. Perry has teamed up with  designer Ivan Erdevicki  and Rob Schofield to produce a superior design. The yacht is environmentally friendly and derives its electric power from a DoD/NASA inspired fuel cell by Blue Water Generation™, that has very little exhaust, burns as little as 11 gallons of marine diesel per 24 hours, intends to produce 9Kw every hour and as a byproduct produces usable heat. We are hopeful that this Fuel Cell will add value. The electric hybrid diesel propulsion by e-motion of Italy can drive the yacht silently at speeds over 10 knots. With diesel speeds up to 12.5 knots. Truly amazing technology whereby, the yacht can operate for over 2 years on its one load of fuel. The Blue  Pearl  represents the first American-made sailing superyacht in the past 50 years, returning world-class technology, craftsmanship and design to the shores of the United States.

The Ultimate Offshore Superyacht for Comfort and Safety

The Blue Pearl was designed as a captain’s and circumnavigator’s dream. More than 3,200 square feet of luxury living space lies amid multiple redundant safety systems that include a protected rudder and a fully integrated keel. It can be sailed by two and is the ideal for an owner captain. The clipper ketch sails smoothly up to 12.5 knots in high seas and heavy weather. The hull and sail configuration round the boat up-wind naturally in heavy air, while maintaining complete comfort and control well beyond the current exposed flat-hulled, brain jarring, high-speed designs.

Review Specifications

Fuel Cell Power Supply

The Blue Pearl is the world’s first luxury superyacht to offer clean and quiet electrical power generation from a fuel cell auxiliary power unit (APU) system that can replace a standard diesel generator. The fuel cells can power the electric propulsion and the entire hotel load 24 hours per day, including air conditioning, on just eleven gallons of diesel per day. By limiting engine-driven generators, passengers sleep in complete silence throughout the night, while enjoying the comforts of air conditioning and full power. The boat’s AI-driven computer system constantly manages battery levels and power needs throughout the day. When power demands decrease, such as at night, the system can idle down to simply top off the batteries to ensure redundant power sources at all times. With a 10,000-liter fuel capacity, the Blue Pearl can provide uninterrupted electricity up to 2.5 years without ever refueling.

• 500 HP diesel engine (optional hybrid diesel/electric propulsion)
• DoD/NASA-inspired fuel cells
• Epoxy hull for no maintenance
• Full-Sized Sub-Zero Refrigerator & Freezer & Wine Cooler
• Working fireplace in the library
• 10,000 liter fuel capacity
• Full integral keel for safety and smooth ride
• Protected skeg rudder
• Starboard hydraulic swim platform
• Tender crane on foredeck (hide away)
• Flush deck hatches
• Park Avenue Boom (In Furling Boom Available)
• Latest Rigging Equipment and Sails

Owner captains raised on one-designs still appreciate the classic nautical lines that have eroded with time. The Blue Pearl captures that lost aesthetic in a modern variation that satisfies the nostalgic without compromising luxury, comfort and speed. With interiors available in traditional teak and a contemporary look, the Blue Pearl accommodates 10 to 12 passengers comfortably and a crew of four, depending on the owner’s configuration. Separate aft guest accommodations can be reduced to make room for a high-end luxury master suite.

Ultra-Low Maintenance

Unlike most superyachts constructed today of aluminum or steel, the hull of the Blue Pearl is composed of new modern composite laminate materials and epoxy-resin compound, which is virtually indestructible, quiet and eliminates most maintenance associated with metal hulls. The resilience of the hull will be a significant driver toward low maintenance costs plus the added value of a very quiet riding experience.

The Jones Act of 1920, which regulates maritime commerce, prohibits charters in the United States on non-American-made vessels. The Blue Pearl will be an American Made superyacht, allowing owners to legally charter in U.S. waters.

Custom Architecture

BLUEPEARL 114 is a yacht of impeccable planning, designed and built to the highest standards in collaboration with Robert Perry, Ivan Erdevicki and BluePearl Yachts, Ltd. The BLUEPEARL combines the classic clipper ketch styling on deck and below with state of the art naval architecture, sail handling systems, including all amenities for gracious and very comfortable living aboard.

Blue Pearl Yachts is actively running a Reg D offering totaling $40 million dollars. Yacht designers Robert Perry and Ivan Erdevicki will be intricately involved in the construction of the facility and the yachts.

Robert Perry

The team that will create this magnificent vessel is headed by the renowned Robert Perry. Bob has more boats sailing the oceans than any other designer in the world. Bob will be onsite a good deal of time. Learn more about Robert Perry .

Gregory Hummer

Co-Designer

Gregory Hummer, MD has sailed all of his life and logged over 30,000 miles sailing the world’s oceans. He has sailed on and reviewed many of the world’s biggest sailing yachts. The Blue Pearl design is a result of years at sea and his experience with yacht systems, repair and maintenance.

Ivan Erdevicki

Founder Ivan Erdevicki started his career as a designer and engineer working for some of the world’s most respected American custom yacht yards and design offices. His first personal designs attracted attention with their unique styling, reliability and performance. His talent and studies in naval architecture, mechanical engineering and yacht design, hands on experience in yacht construction and rich boating experience on variety of vessels, created a designer with uncommon combination of art and engineering.

In the past 10 years, more than 85 boats were built to Ivan’s designs ranging from custom tenders and work boats, racing sailing boats to mega sailing yachts and motor yachts. The goal was always to meet client’s expectations and visions through creation of truly artistic, beautiful and elegant sailboat and powerboat designs of the highest quality, supported with uncompromised engineering in every detail. Nowadays, Erdevicki signature is synonymous with unique, high quality elegant designs.

Rob Schofield

Project Design & Implementation Engineer

Rob is a Naval Architect and Consulting Engineer with over 45 years of active experience in design and engineering of boats, yachts, ships, composite aircraft, and naval craft. Rob has been doing complete designs and providing structural design engineering and hands-on consulting for over 50 well-known boat manufacturing companies, the U.S. Navy, Customs & Border Patrol and the American Bureau of Shipping. He has been a marine litigation expert witness in over 118 court cases to-date. Rob’s design & construction commissions have included such varied projects as a good number of 155 ft. high speed yachts and passenger craft, helicopters, composite kit aircraft, hovercraft, patrol boats and fiberglass naval minesweepers. He also managed the initial concept-level structural design of the Navy’s latest DDG-51 Class destroyer.

There are over 250-plus marine craft in Rob’s design archive files, from 12 foot canoes to 180 foot superyachts and large tonnage naval and commercial steel ships. For the last 38 years, he has been teaching seminars in design of composites for naval engineers for military, marine, and industrial structures in the U.S., Australia, and Europe. Rob holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from the University of Michigan.

He was the U.S. representative for developing the new ISO 12215 structural standards for European marine craft, is a member of the American Bureau of Shipping’s Small Vessel Committee and member of the Royal Institution of Naval Architects (U.K.) Small Craft Committee.

Rob is a member of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers, Royal Institution of Naval Architects, and American Boat & Yacht Council. He was formerly secretary of the Structural Plastics Research Council of the American Society of Civil Engineers, a member of American Society of Naval Engineers, and was twice a South East Section Vice President for the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers. Rob also is currently registered as European Engineer (#08120GB) in the European Union and Chartered Engineer (#352565) in the United Kingdom.

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The Legendary Night Runner

Possibly no other yacht has achieved greater success in the realms of both cruising and racing than Night Runner. Designed by Robert H. Perry for Seattle sailor Doug Fryer, she is a well known “wolf in sheep’s clothing” in Pacific Northwest waters with a classic appearance above the waterline and modern lines below. It is said that she is Perry’s favorite design. Under Fryer, she won just about every notable race in the Pacific Northwest. She is a veteran of 38 Swiftsure International Yacht Races (three times first overall), a singlehanded Transpac, four Victoria to Maui races (including a first in class) and four Van-Isle 360 races (Division II winner in 2009). At the same time, she served her owner as a comfortable and capable cruising platform, extensively exploring Pacific Northwest waters north to Alaska and a dozen circumnavigations of Vancouver Island. As if that is not enough, Night Runner completed a 21,000 mile voyage around South America by way of Cape Horn and the Panama Canal for which Fryer received the Blue Water Medal from the Cruising Club of America in 1998. To say that Night Runner knows her way is an understatement.

Night Runner’s cold molded construction by Cecil Lange and Son of Port Townsend, Washington provides the beautiful interior and exterior aesthetics of a traditional wood boat in a strong and lightweight package that stands the test of time. Night Runner is truly an heirloom boat.

New teak decks – repowered diesel – Balmar alternator – extensive sail inventory – forced air heat – Raymarine electronics

Interior Accommodations

Night Runner’s interior is beautifully finished. In the typical cold molded style, the interior of her hull is bright finished and all her structure is visible, giving a wonderful aesthetic. An offset companionway allows for a roomy aft stateroom and salon layout that feels larger than her 42 feet. Her U-shaped seagoing galley is opposite a stand up nav station. Forward, the centerline drop leaf table is flanked to port and starboard by straight settees with pilot berths outboard. Large skylights provide great light into the salon space. There are gimbaled tables for food and drink that mount on both the salon table and above the engine compartment at the galley. Forward of the salon, a passageway leads to the head with separate shower stall and the fo’c’sle with ample storage in large lockers to starboard, a work bench with vise, and sail storage bins.

Force 10 propane three burner stove and oven

Xintex S2A propane solenoid control

Propane tank

Pressure water – plumbed but not currently in operation

Fresh and raw water foot pumps at galley sink

Top loading refrigerator/freezer (2013)

Jabsco toilet

Espar Airtronic forced air diesel heater

Electronics and Navigation

Raymarine radar/chartplotter with radar antenna on pole (2012)

Icom IC-M120 VHF radio

Kenwood TKM-707 SSB radio

Kenwood MAT100 antenna tuner

Raymarine X30 autopilot computer with linear drive Autohelm Speed and Depth displays and Raymarine ST70 Wind display at cockpit

Autohelm Multi display in salon

Danforth Constellation compass at binnacle

Garmin GPS72 handheld GPS

West Marine VHF 460 handheld VHF (floating and submersible)

Running lights, deck light, anchor light, and LED masthead tricolor

Sony AM/FM/Cassette stereo with two Sony speakers

Electrical Systems

12v DC and 120v AC electrical systems

Weems and Plath AC distribution panel

Marinetics DC distribution panel

DC voltmeter

Heart Link 2000 panel

Magnum inverter/charger with external control panel

(2) Interstate 6v batteries

Pow R Surge 908D battery

Interstate SRM 8DS battery

Mechanical Systems

Westerbeke “55D Four” diesel engine (151 hours)

Engine control panel with tachometer, oil pressure, voltmeter, temperature gauges

HBW 250 direct drive transmission

Packing gland shaft seal

1 ¼” stainless propeller shaft and folding propeller (new 2009)

Balmar 100 amp alternator with ARS 5 external regulator

Racor primary fuel filter

Manual bilge pump below deck

Whale Gusher 10 manual bilge pump at cockpit

Deck and Hull

Night Runner’s was constructed by Cecil M Lange and Son in Port Townsend, Washington. Her hull was built in the cold molded style with four layers of 1 ¼” red cedar set in epoxy with the outer layer of planking laid longitudinally. The hull is stiffened by a laminated cedar keel, laminated frames, and bulkheads bonded to the hull, and a stainless grid that bears the load of her mast and keel. Her ballast is lead fasten with stainless bolts. Her topsides are finished bright with black and white boot stripes. There is a rub rail along her hull sides. A short bulwark and double lifelines surround her deck. Then decks are plywood with teak overlay, replaced in 2014. A large foredeck space with vertical capstan windlass and samson post is well configured for handling ground tackle. The cockpit serves well for both racing and cruising. The mainsheet is sheeted from the end of the boom to a Harken traveler just forward of the large wheel. There is good cockpit seating aft with storage below and lockers below the aft deck.

Simpson Lawrence V2000 anchor windlass

Bruce anchor with chain and rode

Danforth anchor with chain and rode Fortress FX37 folding anchor

Samson post

Green canvas mainsail cover and binnacle cover

Sails and Rigging

Black anodized aluminum mast and boom

Solid rod standing rigging (2009)

Strong Track low friction mainsail track

Storm trysail track

Hydraulic backstay adjuster

Furlex 400s headsail furler (2009)

(2) spinnaker, (2) jib, staysail, (1) mainsail halyard, (1) spinnaker pole topping lift

Removable (adjustable) inner forestay and babystay

Dyneema running backstays

Spinnaker pole and reaching strut

Harken mainsheet traveler

Port and starboard boom preventers

(3) Barient 26 winches on mast

(1) Barient 22 winch on mast

(1) Barient 20 self tailing winch on cabin top

(1) Barinet 23 self tailing winch on cabin top

(1) Lewmar 50 self tailing winch on cabin top

Barient primary and secondary winches

Sail inventory:

Mainsail (tri-radial) – Dacron – Ullman Sails

Mainsail (tri-radial) – Dacron – Lidgard Sails

Mainsail (cross cut) – Dacron – Shattauer

#1 genoa – Carbon – Hodges

#2 genoa – Tape Drive – UK

#3 jib – laminate – Hodges

#4 jib – Dacron

#5 jib – Dacron

(2) .5 oz spinnakers

.65 oz spinnaker

.75 oz spinnaker

1.5 oz spinnaker

1.5 oz reacher spinnaker

2.2 oz spinnaker

Genoa staysail – Dacron

Spinnaker staysail – Dacron

Jib top – Dacron

Drifter (older) – Dacron

Code 0 windseeker

Storm trysail

Miscellaneous and Safety

Lifesling in custom canvas bag

McMurdo 406 EPIRB (battery expired May, 2018)

Avon roll up inflatable dinghy

Charcoal BBQ

Notable recent maintenance and upgrades

August, 2003

New Engine, Regulator and Exhaust – $21,774

North Harbor Diesel

January, 2009

Roller furler – $4,630

Rod Rigging – $5,819

New folding prop and shaft

Canoe Cove Marina – $4,136

Summer, 2012

Radar and chart plotter

January, 2013

New bowsprit, king post and cockpit hatch covers

David’s Custom Installations – $18,652

Refrigeration – New compressor, plates and water pump

Sea Freeze of America – $4,317

September, 2014

New main sail

Ullman Sails – $7,382

October, 2014

New teak deck

Townsend Bay Marine – $ 41,877

Four designs that defined the times

The challenge I was given by my editors at SAILING was to go through all of my reviews and pick four for re-review. Since I've been doing design reviews for SAILING for 35 years, that's about 1,400 design reviews to pick from. I sat down with my pile of SAILING Designs books and began going through them looking for the four boats. I ruled out my own designs and chose four boats that I think are significant in that they mark trends in design. It was a tough task and I had to leave out a lot of great designs. In most cases the choices are subjective, but given the space I have here I chose boats I liked.

Robert Perry has reviewed more than 1,400 sailboat designs for SAILING since he began writing for the magazine 35 years ago. It's an astonishing number, especially when you consider that every review required careful study of plans, making various calculations based on specifications and research that often involved interviewing the designer. And then came the hard part-writing a review that accurately presented technical details while still being easily understood by readers, that praised worthy features of the boat but also criticized its shortcomings, that was fair and fun to read.

The sailing press had never seen anything quite like Bob Perry's SAILING reviews. These were not rewrites of PR copy produced by designers or builders, as was the norm in other sailing journals when Perry wrote his first review in 1975. They were critical analyses, honest and frank, giving readers essential information as "consumers" of sailboats. This took some chutzpah on the part of both Perry and SAILING. Perry, a respected yacht designer in his own right, risked irritating his peers. The magazine risked irritating advertisers. Both occasionally happened, given that the sensibilities of creative people who are as passionate about their work as designers and boatbuilders tend to be easily bruised. Readers had no such qualms, however. The Perry reviews have endured as one of the most popular features of the magazine. Beyond its popularity, Perry's life's work as a design reviewer is a significant resource in the annals of the fiberglass era. A relative few of the 1,400-plus designs became commercial successes. Some were built only as prototypes; some not at all. For some, their fleeting moment in the attention span of sailors was the page they earned as the subject of a Bob Perry review.

Perry has been at the helm of his own Seattle-based design firm since 1974, a distinguished career that grew out of a fascination with the sea and the vessels that ply it that began in 1957, when at the age of 12 he sailed with his family to the Pacific Northwest from Australia aboard a cargo ship. Growing up, he studied and copied the great designers of the time, including Uffa Fox, William Atkin and K. Aage Nielson. By his mid-20s, Perry had invented the "performance cruiser" as designer of the revolutionary Valiant 40.

In his home-office on Puget Sound, Perry is still drawing plans for pretty, fast, seakindly boats. His latest project is a narrow, 62-foot doubled-ended daysailer being built at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding. Bob Perry's designs, like his SAILING design reviews, continue to raise the bar. --by the editors

Originally reviewed October 1975 Southern Cross 31 Cutter

In the early 1970s, the world of offshore cruising boats was dominated by double-ended types reflecting the designs of William Atkin. Atkin's double-enders were Americanizations of the Scottish designer Colin Archer's work in offshore lifeboats in Europe. The most famous of these American varieties is of course the Westsail 32, based on an early Atkin design, Eric. The general agreement at the time was that the best bluewater boats were double-enders with full keels.

The Southern Cross 31 designed by Tom Gilmer is a good example of the type.

Gilmer was a great designer. He had the eye. In a nutshell that's why I chose this design. It's a very good-looking boat with shapely ends and a nicely balanced and springy sheer. Gilmer took the Colin Archer type and flattened the buttocks, firmed up the bilges to add initial stability and added volume in the ends. The idea was to improve boat speed and reduce the Archer/Atkin type's tendency to hobbyhorse. Gilmer kept the trademark outboard rudder, an essential part of this aesthetic. The full keel is pulled back from the bow slightly but it still is a true full keel with a hefty D/L of 388 and a L/B of 3.26.

Keep in mind when you look at a design like Southern Cross that this was a time when "speed" was not a word associated with offshore cruising boats. There was a huge performance gap between the offshore boat of the day and the latest IOR "freak." The IOR boats were fast but they were considered dangerous by cruisers and not fit for offshore work. Heck, the IOR boats had fin keels and spade or skeg-hung rudders. That would never do. Of course, my Valiant 40 design changed that. It was essentially a hybrid design that bridged the gap between racers and cruisers. Someone called it a "performance-cruiser" and the term stuck. I remember an angry John Neale coming to my office with a "how dare you" attitude. John sails a nice Halberg-Rassy today with a spade rudder and fin keel. Times change.

At the beginning of the 1970s the ketch rig was considered the ultimate for most bluewater boats. But the cutter rig soon replaced the ketch as the standard rig for offshore work. The Southern Cross shows a well-proportioned cutter rig with a short, plank type bowsprit and a boomkin off the stern to get the backstay clear of the outboard rudder. It's not a big rig. The SA/D is only 12.57, so it would be very slow going in light air. The interior layout is as simple as it could be and near perfect to my eye today. For pure functionality it's hard to beat these old orthogonal layouts.

They don't make them like this anymore but we sure made a lot of them like this back in the 1970s and 1980s.

Read the original review at: http://www.sailingmagazine.net/boats/3-perry-on-design/1096-southern-cross

LOA 31; LWL 25; Beam 9'6"; Draft 4'7"; Displacement 13,6000 lbs.; Ballast 4,100 lbs.; Sail area 496

Original sailaway price $54,900

Originally reviewed November 1978 Olson 30 Racer

I remember years ago being asked to attend a meeting of local PHRF racers to see what could be done to integrate the new "Ultra Light Displacement Boats" into the then current rating spread. As I recall the boat that had caused the trouble was the Aphrodite 101 with a D/L of around 150 and we thought that was light, even ultralight. Little did we know what was around the corner. Bruce Lee of Santa Cruz had been pushing ultralight boats for years-"Fast is Fun"-with some success but most racers saw them as downwind flyers that could not go to weather. Then George Olson designed the Olson 30 and people began to take notice. We had entered the age of the ULDB and we are still there.

I finished my original review of the Olson 30 with, "If the total criteria for a design is speed at all cost, let's have radical 60-foot catamarans or better still, one-way proas. I guess I'm becoming too much of a cruiser, but the Olson 30 appears to be a design of little versatility. We'll see." Well, all these years later we have seen, and I was very wrong. Olson 30s are still racing today and have proven if nothing else versatile. They are fast upwind, fast downwind and on top of that, affordable and good-looking.

Read the original review at: http://www.sailingmagazine.net/component/content/article/3-perry-on-design/1095-olson-30?directory=138

LOA 30'; LWL 27'6"; Beam 9'6"; Draft 5'6"; Displacement 3,500 lbs.; Ballast 1,700 lbs;Sail area 380 sq. ft.

Original sailaway price $35,000

Originally reviewed July 1992 Alerion Express 28 Coastal cruiser

As I look back through all the volumes of SAILING Designs one of the thoughts that strikes me is where are all these designers today? Some, like my old drinking buddy Gary Mull, are dead. I didn't know Carl Schumacher well but I knew him and I was saddened when I heard he had died at such a young age. Carl had a good eye and he knew how to draw a fine sailing boat. His Express 37 remains one of my all-time favorite boats. I have no idea where some of the other designers went. I know where German Frers went. It seems that many of those confident yacht designers that were going to set the world on fire and show us how it's really done have just gone quietly away. Maybe they found real jobs.

In the mid-1990s the typical small family cruiser-racer or racer-cruiser had become a complex boat. Vendors were convincing sailors that they had to have everything in order to be happy and enjoy sailing. Ralph Schacter had another idea. He knew that most sailors went out for a day, sometimes just an afternoon or evening, and did not need things like shower stalls, refrigeration, windlasses with all-chain rode and hot-and-cold running water. But they did need a head and a place to sleep on weekend overnighters. Picking the name of Nate Herreshoff's own daysailer, Alerion, the Alerion Express was born with pretty hull lines drawn by Carl Schumacher. The era of the big, comfy daysailer had begun. I say "big" because at that time my own idea of a daysailer was a Thistle class or any number of small dinghy one-designs. Schacter's idea was that these new daysailers would be big enough to be keelboats with near the level of comfort found on the majority of production cruiser/racer types.

The look of the new daysailer would be traditional, with low freeboard, some overhangs, a svelte cabintrunk that gave slightly less than full standing headroom and a long cockpit. But below the DWL this traditional appearing boat would be modern with flat rocker, a moderate aspect ratio fin keel and a partially balanced spade rudder. The D/L of the Alerion Express 28 is 168 and the L/B is 3.46, putting it on the narrow side of "medium."

The focus on this design was the cockpit and the laying out of the running rigging so that one person could easily sail the boat. There is nothing revolutionary here except the fact that most cruiser/racer types put more emphasis on interior comfort and this resulted usually in tight, cramped cockpits. The Alerion would be tiller steered with the mainsheet led to a barney post in the center of the cockpit.

The rig is fractional with swept spreaders and a self-tacking jib. In 1994 Garry Hoyt became involved with the project at the invitation of Everett Pearson, president of TPI. Hoyt worked to refine the boat, adding his Hoyt jib boom. I really like the Hoyt boom. It is a huge improvement over the self-tacking track just so long as you don't mind this big pipe living on your foredeck. I could live with it. The SA/D is 20.97 and that's enough to keep you ghosting along in the light stuff. Hoyt also changed the keel to a fin and bulb.

I couldn't begin to tell you the boats that this design inspired. In fact, I think the Alerion Express gave birth to a type-daysailers-that today is well established and does not mean what it meant 30 years ago.

Read the original review at: http://www.sailingmagazine.net/component/content/article/3-perry-on-design/1097-alerion-express?directory=138

LOA 28'3"; LWL 22'10"; Beam 8'2"; Drat 4'6"; Ballast 2,000 lbs.; Sail area 352 sq. ft.

Original sailaway price $60,000

Originally reviewed August 2006 Extreme 40 Racing catamaran

I agonized over whether to include any multihulls in the "final four." Ian Farrier's work with folding trimarans is hard to dismiss. There is also a whole world of big cruising cats out there that did not exist 35 years ago. And to top it off, the America's Cup will be sailed in radical, 72-foot, wing-sail cats this time. When I initially reviewed this catamaran design by Yves Loday the material focused on the Extreme racing circuit as they followed the Volvo 70s in their around-the-world race series. The Extreme 40s would show up at the finishing port and put on a show of blinding boat speed to help draw attention to the Volvo 70 series. But when you look at the list of teams that raced the Extreme 40s and compare that to the list of America's Cup teams now racing AC45 cats it occurs to me that the Extreme 40 series was maybe more of a warm-up series, getting AC skippers and crews who were more accustomed to racing fast monohulls in tune with the demands of racing a super fast big cat. The Extreme 40's hulls are very narrow with an individual L/B of 13.6. The stems are plumb and not the wave-piercing type you see on the AC45 cats. In my initial review I said the bows are "the surface piecing type." I wonder what bow isn't "surface piercing." Clearly, when you watch the AC45s in action their bows are designed to go through the waves and not over the waves. Of course when pushed a bit too hard the leeward bow can dig in, causing very spectacular pitchpole events. I have noted that all the AC45 crews now wear helmets. The D/L for the Extreme 40 is the lowest I have calculated in 35 years of using D/Ls: 19.18 without crew and 25.46 with crew weight added. The rig of the Extreme 40 also set the record for the highest SA/D I have ever calculated. With main, jib and crew weight the SA/D is 72.62. That's four times the horsepower-per-pound of a cruiser/racer from the mid 1970s. If you calculate the SA/D with the genniker you get an SA/D of 129.25. This type of power combined with the narrow hulls results in a top speed for the Extreme somewhere between 35 and 40 knots in 25 knots of breeze. Probably the biggest difference between the Extreme 40 and the AC45s and AC72s is that the Extreme uses conventional "soft" sails instead of the big wing we see on the AC45. Of course capsizes will be frequent and usually spectacular as crewmembers try to cling to the webbing of the trampoline to avoid the 23-foot fall onto a nice hard piece of carbon fiber structure. I am very excited to see how all this works when it's translated into the 72-foot AC cats that will have up to 46 feet of beam. I can hardly wait. Boats like this are only possible with extreme materials and building methods. But in the world of ultra-fast cats these methods and materials are almost commonplace now. The hulls and structural members are all carbon fiber with Nomex Aramid honeycomb cores. The Extreme is then rolled into an autoclave where a vacuum is drawn and the pieces are heated to 120 degrees Celsius. The resulting boats will be very strong but not very durable. But I like the fact that there is a class exploring the very edges of what can be done with sailing craft. Of course there are the "one-way proas" that are now sailing at over 50 knots with some really spectacular crashes. But the Extreme cat and the AC45 and AC72 will have to sail a course around buoys, upwind and down. All this does make me wonder what the Extreme 40 cats will look like at the end of another 35 years.

Read the original review at: http://www.sailingmagazine.net/component/content/article/3-perry-on-design/1093-volvo-extreme-40?directory=138

LOA 40'; LWL 40'; Beam 23'; Draft 6'; Displacement 2,750 lbs.; Sail area 1,076 sq. ft.

Original sailaway price $385,000

Also in Perry on Design

• Elan Impression 43
• Full Circle 30
• Tanton No. 309
• Dragonfly 40

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Yacht Design According to Perry (PB): My Boats and What Shaped Them 1st Edition, Kindle Edition

A great designer offers you a virtuoso tour through the world of sailboats

Bob Perry initiated the trend toward fast voyaging sailboats with his world-famous Valiant 40, which has been in production longer than any other cruising sailboat in history. But Perry is not only a leading yacht designer--he is also an accomplished wordsmith whose blunt, insightful, irreverent, and always entertaining boat reviews have captivated readers of Sailing magazine for 24 years. This book is vintage Perry, a no-holds-barred tour of the world of yacht design through the benchmark boats of his 30-year career.

• ISBN-13 978-0071465571
• Edition 1st
• Sticky notes On Kindle Scribe
• Publisher International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press
• Publication date September 5, 2007
• Language English
• File size 20406 KB
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Bob Perry’s body of work has established him as one of the world leaders in performance-oriented cruising yachts.Thanks to his sharp wit and critical insights, his popular yacht design reviews have appeared in Sailing magazine monthly for 24 years.

About the Author

Product details.

• ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000WJOU00
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press; 1st edition (September 5, 2007)
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 5, 2007
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• File size ‏ : ‎ 20406 KB
• Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Up to 4 simultaneous devices, per publisher limits
• Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
• Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
• Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
• Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
• Print length ‏ : ‎ 290 pages
• #31 in Ships Repair & Maintenance
• #183 in Ship Repair & Maintenance
• #388 in Sailing (Kindle Store)

About the author

Robert h. perry.

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Customers find the book's content amazingly detailed and helpful for yacht design. They describe the narrative style as enjoyable and well-done. Readers also mention that the book is destined to be a classic treatise.

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Customers find the book's writing and content amazingly detailed, clear, concise, and easy to understand. They also say the book provides an expanded insight into boat building and the author's broad experience allows him to explore a wide range of topics.

"While Bob's book is filled with really great anechdotes describing the coming of age of the performance cruiser, the technical presentation is the..." Read more

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"...by Robert Perry is very technical and highly detailed, and yet is easy to read and enjoyable. The best book I've ever read on sailboat design...." Read more

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Robert H. Perry Yacht Designers

Currently in build, four carbon fiber cutters, catari - a 62' ketch at pacific seacraft.

Made in RapidWeaver

Sail Far Live Free

Double enders according to perry (guest post by bob perry).

• Sailboat Rigs According to Perry (Guest post by Bob Perry)
• Split Rigs According to Perry (Guest post by Bob Perry)
• Keels According to Perry (Guest post by Bob Perry)
• Top Ten Affordable Bluewater Sailboats
• Go Small, Go Now: 5 Pocket Cruisers to Take You Anywhere
• 50 Years of Cruising Sailboat Evolution by Ted Brewer
• Bluewater on a Budget: 5 Budget Cruisers for Crossing Oceans

I drove by Oceanus almost daily in a local yard. A very unique and beautiful boat. Unfortunately I was witness to her destruction by an excavator. The owner could not afford the insurance, yard fees, let alone the restoration. One of the most depressing sights I have ever witnessed.

Hi Bob, Loved the directness of your comments. Great to have you "de-mythologize" the double ender while making a point that I think is really important. Aesthetics matter: you own your boat to make you happy - and having the "prettiest fanny in the anchorage", the boldest bow or most elegant sheer or whatever turns your crank may just win out over the apparent logic of some other design choice. All the best from sailboat Wabi.

Well you have a point squatting at the stern slower etc etc. The way I see it the problem is getting the water flow to cleanly cleave off the stern not sucking the boat back or clinging on and climbing up the stern causing drag. My plans are doomed or are they. I remember seeing a valiant in a yachting magazine back in the day probably 1973 and thinking oh my God that is gorgeous one day I will have a boat like that. To find out that double enders are no good or in some way deficient is like discovering Santa (Saint Nicolas)isn't real. After seeing that boat I developed a disliking for transoms I don't like the way the lines of a boat flow beutifully and come that snap finnish. Here is my defence of a rounded stern: pionted structures whatever they are create stress pionts curved structures dissipate stresses eg. an egg. one good point. A lot of these boats are heavy full keel designs deep boats make deep waves, big drag but they don't have to be deep full keel jobs, if the stern runs flatter on the bottom I believe the water flow will cleave away better and the boat will be faster eg surfboards. I would also take issue with the idead that a boat should be pointy a the bow mayby and mayby not (complaints about V berths being small). I can't find the videos but have seen a skutsji being towed at 22 knotts, level and bolt upright in the water and I have also seen a tjalk being sailed at 11 knotts these things are fast. So what is my solution yet again the lemateraak.

Thanks for article. I'm no expert but canoe butts were built long ago when wood was fashioned; enabling strength of joins. I'm about to buy a canoe stern cruising yacht, for many reasons I'm going for a slower old girl design although she's of modern build. 1. We used to race Dragons and although the same weight, length and sail area of Etchell; Dragons loved the horsepower. Our last race was a rough one. Committee 40' power launch was with fear of capsize so start finish was routed to harbour Lee water. She was rough. Although we were juniors, we asked slip master if race cancellation suggestion was because of us and our open top sinkers if swamped but we're told race committee was with more concern regarding welfare of Etchell fleet, they'd be struggling. We didn't finish race. Only race we didn't finish. Collision at sea took out our shroud yet we launched without pop and hiked in on screaming reach with all colours. In a mad hurry because collision had paralyzed my forehand; lost muscle usage for 28 hrs. People that say long keelers don't plane don't understand high rythym and reflex. They plane gorgeously, just a bit loose and ready to spin like a ballerina. Without wide aft we have gone from balancing on a spear to balance upon a ball and turn can be substituted by yaw pitch. Ironic is sailing. Other choices of vessels included nice faster vessels with more volume aft. Eg 2 extra cabins and lots of extra space. Yet to stow brings slow whilst with older style of less volume, extra weight is loved as ballast. Some of my more or less experienced friends have never balanced an old bird, some have but went back to modern skiffing yachts. Way I see it is 100+ years ago there were no rescue boats, if you were caught out you battled for knots until blow had blown over or you rode something built for offshore and danced with a smile. We cruised a vertical tapered keel with spade for years. Almost outrun a 4 day 70 knot blow, were exhausted during 3 hours of ol' ship anyone spotted entrance yet. Yet with 1950s race boat, always full sail area. 2 mast positions; high and low. High during light wind, low during moderate, high again above 20knots because unlike modern designs, older designs usually have ability to discard excess horsepower and when she's blowing there's plenty of excess discard ratio to balance vessel with. Wider arts however want horsepower which is why they're are usually a lot faster but forcing horsepower is great during lesser conditions for lessons of less ons. Mother nature well above our strengths.. nice to feel our way sometimes.

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