Doug Peterson (designer)

Doug Peterson, 1973

Douglas Blair "Doug" Peterson (born July 25, 1945 in Los Angeles , † June 26, 2017 in San Diego ) was an American designer of sailing yachts who often broke new ground in the design of his racing and cruising yachts.

Life

Doug Peterson lived in San Diego almost his entire life. His father, Carlton Peterson, worked as an aerospace engineer. He bought an 11- foot dinghy with only one sail in the hopes that sailing would compensate for his stress at work. So he took young Doug and his brother on day trips to Treasure Island .

Doug Peterson graduated from Point Loma High School in San Diego, but later dropped out of Pasadena City College.

Success as a yacht designer

Regatta yachts

His breakthrough as a yacht constructor came in 1973 at the age of 28 with the design of the one-ton yacht Ganbare (a Japanese expression for good luck or make the most of it ). The only reason the boat did not win the one-tonne trophy , which was fiercely contested at the time , was because the crew rounded a tonne incorrectly. But the next yacht from his pen, the Gumboots , won the trophy in 1974, then in 1975 he designed the next winning yacht with Pied Piper .

This was followed by victories in almost all Tonner classes , in the most important international series such as Southern Ocean Racing Conference (SORC), Admiral's Cup and Sardinia Cup . Due to his success, the German ocean sailors, such as Hans-Otto Schümann ( Rubin ), Udo Schütz ( Container ) and Willi Illbruck ( Pinta ), also ordered new designs for their regatta yachts from Doug Peterson. The American yacht designer shaped the heyday of the International Offshore Rule (IOR) in the 1970s and early 1980s like no other. Successful yachts were Ganbare , Gumboots , Kindred Spirit , Vendetta , Racy , Great Pumpkin , Petrified , High Noon , Anabelle Lee , High Roler , Country Girl (Halbtonner), Louisiana Crude , Stinger , Checkmate , Eclipse , Yena , Rubin , Ragamuffin and Moonshine .

Series yachts

Peterson was also successful in series production. He designed for the Jongert, Baltic Yachts, Grand Soleil, Solaris shipyards and, together with J&J Design, also for Bavaria Yachtbau (Match series).

Doug Peterson designed the Peterson 44 for the Jack Kelly Yachts shipyard in 1976. This yacht was a model for a fast cruising ship and you can still see many of the 200 examples built in marinas around the world.

Peterson was also fond of the meter classes because he owned and restored a few of these yachts himself.

America's Cup

As the central yacht designer for the American defenders, Peterson designed the America's Cup winning yacht America³ in 1992 , which was constructed in accordance with the new formula of the International America's Cup Class .

For the 29th America's Cup in 1995, Peterson moved to the New Zealand team, as he had no order from the USA, and designed the winning yacht Black Magic for Team New Zealand .

Peterson constructed the America's Cup yacht Luna Rossa for the Italian Prada Challenge , which won the Louis Vuitton Cup in 2000 and won the right to challenge Defender Team New Zealand as a challenger in the final of the 30th America's Cup . Luna Rossa lost 5-0 to yacht New Zealand .

Honors

Doug Peterson was inducted into the America's Cup Hall of Fame in 2017 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Chris Museler: Doug Peterson, Trailblazer in the Design of Racing Yachts, Dies at 71 . In: The New York Times . July 2, 2017. Retrieved July 3, 2017.
2. ↑ Doug Peterson . In: Nautical Quarterly , New York, NY: Nautical Quarterly. 
3. ↑ yacht.de: Doug Peterson is dead , accessed on July 12, 2017
4. ↑ Ganbare (Peterson One Tonner), English , accessed July 12, 2017
5. ↑ yacht.de: Doug Peterson is dead , accessed on July 12, 2017
6. ^ Ferenc Mate: Best Boats to Build or Buy . WW Norton & Co, 1993.
7. ↑ Barbara Lloyd: YACHT RACING; Secret of Black Magic's Success is in the design . In: The New York Times , The New York Times Company, May 11, 1995. Retrieved March 4, 2008.