Doug Peterson (yacht designer)
yacht designer (1945–2017)
Douglas Blair Peterson (July 25, 1945 – June 26, 2017) was an American yacht designer. Beginning with the One Tonner Ganbare in 1973, Peterson's designs have pioneered many innovations in racing and cruising yachts.
In the mid-1970s, Peterson's designs dominated offshore racing events, with a string of winning high-profile IOR boats. Designed for Jack Kelly Yachts, the Peterson 44 debuted in 1976. This boat was a pioneer in performance cruising yacht design and one can still see many of the over 200 built in ports around the world. The design was followed by the Kelly Peterson 46 of which 30 were built. Hull number 30, the last one built, completed a circumnavigation of the globe in 2017. Also the Liberty 458 and the Delta 46 were based on this design. In the same period, he designed five sailboats, for the English yard Jeremy Rogers, the Contessa 28, 35, 39 and 43 as well as the OOD34.
Designed 'Deception' One Tonner launched in 1978 with Fractional rig and fixed keel, won her division in the 1978 Sydney to Hobart yacht race and placed eighth overall.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4360274. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1945, 2017, 1973 and 1976.
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This entry incorporates text from “Doug Peterson (yacht designer)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.