PERI at the Derwent Class Championships, Kettering Tasmania in 2012

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PERI was one of group of Derwent class yachts on display at the 2007 Australian Wooden Boat Fes…

PERI has a laid deck of celery top pine planking which is unusual for the class.

Peri

Vessel numberHV000180

Sail NumberD16

Builder Ted Cawthorn

Date1951

DimensionsVessel Dimensions: 7.47 m x 5.87 m x 2.06 m x 1.25 m (24.5 ft x 19.25 ft x 6.75 ft x 4.1 ft)

DescriptionPERI was built by Ted Cawthorn at Wattyl Grove, Hobart. It was launched on 16 February 1951, and was used for class and club racing on the Derwent, as well as for recreation, well into the 1970s. The 7.47 m (24.5 ft) long carvel planked hull uses Huon pine for the planking and frames, on a yellow-box keelson. The deck is a little unusual for the class, PERI is the only one with laid planking, using celery top pine over a plywood base.

The Derwent Class is a one-design sloop-rigged yacht from the drawing board of A C Barber, well-known Sydney naval architect. The class began in the late 1920s when local enthusiast Edwin Webster put up prize money for a design competiton to create a simple and inexpensive inshore racing yacht. Strict specifications and restrictions were set down, and of the nine designs received, Barber's was the unanimous choice. The judges then suggested further improvements to suit local conditions, and a local yachtsman Percy Douglas redrafted the suggested changes and AC Barber altered the plans to the yacht's final configuration.

Webster had the first hull built. The yacht was called IMP and by early 1928 a small fleet was well established. The fleet continued to grow with the sponsorship of the Derwent Sailing Squadron. The class helped sustain yachting in Tasmania, providing a pathway from dinghy and skiff sailing into the larger keel classes. When PERI was built in the early 1950s, almost 25 years after the class was established, at least four other yachts were under construction. With a large powerful rig, the Derwents made for exciting harbour racing. Generations of Hobart sailors from the 1930's right through to the 1980's honed their sailing on these fast and demanding yachts.

SignificancePERI is a wooden racing yacht built in Tasmania in 1951. It is a later example of the long-lived 1920s Derwent Class racing yacht from Tasmania. It was once owned by Hedley Calvert, one of Tasmania's best known international yachtsmen.

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