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Peter Stevenson


Frank Hagan

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I was not aware that the designer of the Weekender, Skipjack and other Stevenson Projects boats, Peter Stevenson, has passed away.

 

The only obituary I can find is this one from one of his publishers:

 

stevenson.p.jpg

 

Titles by the Author Peter Stevenson

Born a Navy brat while his father worked at the Pentagon in 1941, Stevenson was whisked away to New Zealand where the family got a ringside seat for the war in the Pacific. He spent his first three years there learning how to walk on the lawns of the Japanese ambassador's house (the Ambassador had taken a quick trip for the duration).

 

Back in the States after the war with a bit of an English accent, he and his generation discovered that no toys had been built during the War so they had to make their own, building what they couldn't afford or find on the shelves at any price. Some time later, with his own kids to raise, he found the same situation, and built the toys that appeared in his book The Art Of Making Wooden Toys.

 

During this time, Stevenson and his older brothers had become fascinated with the sportscars that the G.I.s were bringing back from England. Stevenson was able to tag along to some of the earliest roadraces on the West Coast where Allards did battle against the big American Cunninghams.

 

Later, Stevenson did volunteer work at the Briggs Cunningham Automotive Museum where he was able to talk with some of the visiting racing greats like Juan Fangio, Sterling Moss, Reid Railton, and Innes Ireland, as well as interview one of the characters in Driving Forces, Rene Dreyfus in New York. At the museum Stevenson was also able to get the cockpit feel and handling characteristics of vintage race cars before they became precious icons.

 

Stevenson wrote vintage motoring features for national magazines including Road & Track as well as in his book The Greatest Days Of Racing with an introduction by Grand Prix champion Phil Hill.

 

Stevenson passed away in June of 2012 and is fondly missed by his family, friends and all of us at Bentley Publishers. Link to this obituary: http://www.bentleypublishers.com/author.htm?id=47

 

I know for many of us, Peter Stevenson introduced us to fair winds and gentle seas, and greatly improved our lives. HIs passing brings me a meloncholy I can't quite explain.

 

Words never seem enough, but at least they let us know that we are not alone in our feelings. Please feel free to share how a Stevensons Project changed your life, or simply made you happy.

 

 

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I've built two of his designs. One was a VERY early boat called a Mediterranean Caique back in the very early 70's. I was told by Mike that  I was one of the earliest builders of a Stevenson boat. The plans were in Boating magazine, and I still have the issue. Double ender, lateen sail.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and feelings, and how my father helped you find an interesting new afternoon or several! I have hesitated to post anything on our site, but I suppose I should...I'm not quite sure why I have hesitated, but perhaps it's also not too hard to see why. 

 

At any rate, I am very, very glad he was able to touch so MANY people's lives, and I know he was happy about that too. 

 

Mike Stevenson

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  • 10 years later...
On 1/7/2013 at 9:40 PM, MikeStevenson said:

In fact, your father lives on to this day, with great admiration for his boat plans and engaging writing style.  I am re-reading his book, "Boats You Can Build," and remembering the mini-skipjack I started building in my apartment while in grad school back in the late 1970s.  Fortunately I moved out the pieces/parts before it got too big for the apartment!    Somehow I had not seen the sales stats before in the book (30k plans of the catamaran sold, 12k sets of plans for the lake scow, also very impressive).  Didn't see the sales #s for plans of the skipjack (or the book), but I'm sure they were also considerable.  A fine boat by any measure, easy to build, fun to sail.  

 

 

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and feelings, and how my father helped you find an interesting new afternoon or several! I have hesitated to post anything on our site, but I suppose I should...I'm not quite sure why I have hesitated, but perhaps it's also not too hard to see why. 

 

At any rate, I am very, very glad he was able to touch so MANY people's lives, and I know he was happy about that too. 

 

Mike Stevenson

 

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