About Schooner Perception

Perception is a gaff schooner built to L. Francis Herreshoff's Joann design in Kerikeri New Zealand by Mike Bentley. She was completed and launched in 1985. She was built with a steel hull and wood decks. She has laminated spruce spars and carries a main topmast.

Perception's wooden sister ship, Joann was built in 1924 and renamed to Brigadoon by Sterling Heyden, who owned her in the 1940s. She is still in San Francisco bay and turned 100 in 2024: https://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/schooner-brigadoon-100th-birthday/

Perception is probably unique among steel vessels in that she has a wineglass transom, which is a Herreshoff feature for wooden boats. This creates a very beautiful aft end but one that is very difficult to create in steel. I am not aware of any other steel boats with a wineglass transom.

Perception was sold to an American in 2001 and sailed through the Panama Canal to Massachusetts. In 2017, she was purchased by a Michigan non-profit which used it as an excursion vessel for gold star families. I bought her in 2024 after the non-profit had been wound down and the owners no longer sailing her.

Specifications