A prominent figure in designing racing yachts, Doug Peterson was considered a trail blazing person. He passed away at the age of 71.


There are many memorable moments captured of this iconic designer, especially of the boats he designed that helped win the America’s Cup. He was a free thinking designer and was involved in coming up with designs that were a breakthrough in the world of sailing or racing boats. He passed away on 26th June, in the city of San Diego where he resided. The reason was colon cancer, which was informed to the media by his daughter.

He had become involved in the world of racing boats from the seventies. At that time the world of yacht racing was just emerging in North America. There was a design rule that was established which opened up avenues for new boats to be designed which were affordable as well. Peterson had been a resident of San Diego and part of the yacht designing profession from the time he entered into apprenticeship with Wendell Calkins who was considered a renowned designer at that time. Indeed, Wendell was in the designing of ultra light sailing yachts that were fit for the ocean.

Peterson himself contributed to the world of yacht design significantly. His breakthrough design was a 34 foot yacht that was named Ganbare. This Japanese word meant “go fight wind”. The world of designing and making yachts is a risky profession as it can entail spending a lot of money for designs that were open to failure as well. This very boat he designed and made by borrowing money from his grandmother. However, the success of Ganbare puts him on the map of recognition as it even won four races in the series of 1973 One Ton World Championships held in Genoa.