Evening Tide

To read the full story of EVENING TIDE visit www.southernwoodenboatsailing.com Bob Perry, although well and truly an American, has a small connection to Australia. In 1957 when Perry was twelve, he and his family moved from Sydney, to Vancouver, British Columbia. At the beginning of his ninth-grade year, they moved again to Mercer Island, Washington, an area renowned for its school system. Here, his interest in sailboats really clicked. He met famous designer William Garden, joined the local yacht club, and excelled at mechanical drawing. 60 years on, his designs are some of the most successful cruising yachts around such as the Tatoosh 42, Tayana 37 and the Valiant 40. Throughout his career he has designed boats for many well recognised brands in the yachting industry, such as Tayana, Cheoy Lee, Valiant, Ta Shing, Islander and Passport. But the design we were in Launceston to see is a close relative of the Baba 40, but unlike all her sister ships this is the only one in the world made out of timber. It's called a Perry 40.