Bob Perry // Legendary Yacht Designer
On the Wind Sailing
Andy Schell
4.8 • 593 Ratings
🗓️ 12 June 2018
⏱️ 85 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
#236. Legendary yacht designer Bob Perry is widely considered as the greatest cruising boat designer of his era, creating some of the most iconic boats of the last several decades including the Valiant 40, Tayana 37 & more. Despite growing up in the midwest and far from the ocean, Bob always knew he'd become a designer. He has somewhat of a hippy past, playing in rock bands in the early days while basically talking his way into the industry as an apprentice when he was in his 20s. He's worked alongside some of the greats, and obviously has carved a niche out for himself. This was a long, wide-ranging and really fun conversation I had with Bob about his career, his favorite designs, life after losing his son, and more.
On the Wind is presented by Rutgerson Marin. And also supported by Adlard Coles, and Weems & Plath.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | But there on the cover was at Chesapeake 32. |
| 0:04.0 | And I looked at that and I thought, you know, it was like Michelangelo had designed it. |
| 0:12.0 | I just thought, I've never seen anything as beautiful as that, created by man. |
| 0:20.0 | And I think I want to do that. |
| 0:26.1 | Hey everyone, Lee here again. Andy, Mia, and crew have started sailing further north into the Arctic |
| 0:32.1 | towards Spitzbergen. Here in Maryland, however, it's getting greener and warmer all the time. |
| 0:38.2 | This week's episode features Bob Perry. |
| 0:40.8 | I happen to own one of Bob's most successful designs at the Tiana 37, so needless to say, |
| 0:46.0 | I've been waiting for this episode for a long time. |
| 0:49.0 | Anyway, enjoy the podcast. |
| 0:52.0 | On the Wind is presented by Rutgersen Marine. Rutgersen is renowned for its Swedish |
| 0:56.7 | engineering traditions of innovative design and quality manufacturing. While most boat |
| 1:01.3 | gear today is produced in Asia, Rutgersen keeps on investing in their factory in the small |
| 1:06.0 | island community in Mustrand on the west coast of Sweden and the country's spiritual sailing |
| 1:10.6 | capital. |
| 1:11.8 | All Rutgersen products are produced right there. |
| 1:15.1 | The Rutgersen team pride themselves in their commitment to research and development, |
| 1:18.8 | and their staff actually know what they're doing. |
| 1:21.4 | Just asked technical designer Ludwig, who recently completed a circumnavigation, |
| 1:25.8 | or Yaron Rutgersen himself, who was part of Sweden's |
| 1:28.5 | first America's Cup program in the 70s, both of whom, by the way, have been guests on the podcast. |
| 1:34.5 | I visited the factory myself in January. The place is a buzz with robots and complex milling machines, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Andy Schell, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Andy Schell and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.