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Page 1 of 2 Charlie Peel Classic Wooden Boat Builder and Designer, of the 21ft Restricted class and Jubilee class.
Charlie Peel and his boats.. ARHV Builder; ARHV Designer. Charlie Peel was undoubtably one of the fore fathers of Modern day Australian Boatbuilders. His enduring designs and impeccably constructed classic wooden yachts still sail Australian waters today, as living testament to his remarkable skills.
Charlie Peel was born in Victoria in 1878. His outstanding contribution to workboat and racing boat design over a long period made him the premier designer in Victoria during the first half of the 20th century. He worked with his brother, building many craft of their own design and to other designer's plans. Peel was self taught and worked up his designs on paper. Many of his plans were well detailed and show a complete understanding of typical drafting standards of the period. Originally from Melbourne, he moved to Sydney and worked at the yard of Hayes and Sons before returning to Melbourne. During World War II he worked in an Adelaide shipyard. 
The big yachts ACROSPIRE III and IV are well known and still extant, but his major contribution to Australia's yachting heritage was in the smaller centreboard designs.
The 1909 design IDLER and near sister NAOMI were adopted as models for a new Victorian class in 1913 , which then became the 21 Foot Restricted Class, Australia's first locally formed development rule class. He designed many boats to the rule in later years, including the three sister ships CORELLA, BOOMERANG and E.O.J which started the class in NSW. Other designs include GYMEA, NSW I, MARY LOUISE, 1820 and NERANA. More about Charlie Peels 21 foot Restricted Class Yachts. Over 70 craft were built, showcasing the talents of designers and builders such as Charlie Peel, Walter Reeks, 'Skipper' Batt, the Hayes family, the Savage Brothers, Whearet, Norman Wright, even William Fife from Scotland and Charles Nicholson for the UK. The yachts were fast, handy and demanding. It started out as a knockabout sailing yacht, but the evolution that appeared over the eight boats built for the first series in 1922 showed how quickly it became a dedicated racing machine. Many design variants were created and the class continued to develop through to the late 1940s with new craft.
A special feature of the class was that it was often supported by owners acting as benefactors, or supported by club fundraising activities. In this way the craft were owned by a club or well known identity, but actually crewed and skippered by the best available sailors from the state. The class supported and encouraged many talented sailors who otherwise could not afford to own a yacht of this type. This happened in all of the states and was vital to the class being able to continue through the Depression, and a principal reason why it fostered skippers and crews who otherwise would not have gained the yacht racing experience the class provided.
Late in the 1940s after World War II the racing resumed, but only a handful of the fleet joined in the series, and only a couple of new craft were built. The final three series in 1953 to 1955 were won convincingly by NERANA from South Australia. The class then disbanded as newer International and Olympic classes from outside of Australia were adopted. The yachts found new homes in various states, in particular Melbourne where they formed a training class and were re-rigged with Dragon class sail plans.
In the 1980s about five of the craft began to race again at Goolwa in South Australia, and for a period they also raced against some of the boats in Victoria at Ballarat and Albert Park.
In 2006 the fleet in Goolwa had expanded to include nearly ten boats racing regularly as a class, including a rebuilt NERANA, and NAUTILUS bought from Victoria. Almost all have modern Bermudan rigs and masthead spinnakers, and have their aging hulls reinforced with fibreglass laminates. The class has been officially reformed at state level (South Australia) and rules established. These rules are a combination of the 1928 document with revisions and additions to accommodate new materials and details not considered when the rules were first drafted.
During 2008 they will be joined by the first of two new 21 Foot Restricted Class yachts to have been designed and built since the late 1940s, and the famous class may one day race again for the two trophies that were prized by the states nearly 50 years ago.
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