Peterson 30 (half tonner)

[ChrisfromRPNYC]

Hi,

I have just purchased a Doug Peterson 30 (half tonner) and I am interested to hear from other owners of this model.

regards
Chris

[blt2ski]

What version model? As there are probably 2-4 of his half ton designs from that period. I know of one local in pugetsound that has been for sale.

Marty

[SJ34]

Who is the manufacturer?

[ChrisfromRPNYC]

Hi,

from what I can research on the net Doug Peterson designed two versions of the half tonner around 1978, one with an open transom and one with a closed stern, Cavalier Yachts NZ built the boat, if you search on sailboatdata.com it has the specs for the design

I took the boat for a first sail over the weekend and it performed well, in a 18 - 25 knot breeze we were hitting 6 - 7 knots consistently, not super fast but still handy, had a comfortable ride in 2 short 2 meter swells

regards
Chris

[mgunning]

I have also just purchased a Peterson 30 built by the Teel Brothers in California. Have you found out any additional information about the Peterson 30s? I will attempt to contact Doug Peterson this month. The boat will have a new electric propulsion system installed.
Mike Gunning

[SloopJonB]

It appears that Peterson has had a stroke or other serious medical problem so don't expect to hear back from him anytime soon.

[ChrisfromRPNYC]

Sorry to hear Doug Peterson has had a serious health problem.

Has anyone fitted an asymmetric kite to a Doug Peterson 1/2 toner? We easily begin to fish-tail fling the kite downwind in 15 - 20 knts, any advice on technique to manage this appreciated.

Cheers
Chris

[SloopJonB]

Originally Posted by ChrisfromRPNYC

Sorry to hear Doug Peterson has had a serious health problem.

Has anyone fitted an asymmetric kite to a Doug Peterson 1/2 toner? We easily begin to fish-tail fling the kite downwind in 15 - 20 knts, any advice on technique to manage this appreciated.

Cheers
Chris

That's the nature of the pin-tailed IOR designs. It is followed shortly thereafter by the infamous "death roll" wherein the boat begins to oscillate from side to side, finally crashing & burning either to leeward or to windward (at the boats discretion).

The purpose of bloopers was to try to balance the asymmetric forces that caused all that. They weren't entirely successful.

The best solution is to drop the kite before it starts getting uncontrollable. That boat ain't going to get up on its bow wave no matter how hard you press it so you might as well reduce sail to keep you right at the point where the tail starts wagging and avoid all the drama - you'll get there faster that way and save a bunch on sail & rig repairs.

[Faster]

Originally Posted by ChrisfromRPNYC

....Has anyone fitted an asymmetric kite to a Doug Peterson 1/2 toner? We easily begin to fish-tail fling the kite downwind in 15 - 20 knts, any advice on technique to manage this appreciated.

Cheers
Chris

We used to avoid anything deeper than a broad reach (windex on the 'tabs') if the wind was over 15.. a few degrees up can settle things down dramatically. We also tended to move the sheet leads forward, even to midships to reduce the oscillations. It means more gibes, but if in fact it's blowing that hard the benefit vs potential for disaster was such that we'd go without, or, douse, gybe, and reset if we were short crew.

We've added an A sail to our inventory and have used it to good effect, esp on long broad to beam reaches.

An A sail would typically not do well DDW and so would force you into a better, more stable wind angle so it may well work. At this point we're still having more luck gybing a symmetrical cleanly than being able to do so with an Asymm.. more practice needed there.

Our current boat is a pretty typical early 80s IOR hull, but it's a conservative fractional rig and the smaller kite isn't so prone to the forces and imbalances our former boat exhibited - it was a Choate 40 masthead rig.