Recieved this sad news today from my Dad:
I heard today that Geoff Perry had died last weekend. He had had an operation for cancer of the esophagus about a year ago and had bounced back, but had to cut short a vacation in Florida and go home to Boston.
I first met Geoff in 1967 at a yacht club in Montreal, where he sailed a B-class Shark cat. Geoff and another Shark sailor, Hank Carter, had designed and built a new B class cat to enter into the 1967 IYRU trial, which was to select an official international B class. The competition was won hands down by the Tornado, entered by Reg White's Sailcraft.
Geoff being a smart salesman said 'If you can't beat them, join them'. So he signed up there and then with Reg as the distributor for Canada, bought the prototype Tornado and set up Sailcraft of Canada. By the early '70's Geoff was selling so many Tornado's that Reg suggested that Geoff start building them in Canada for the North American market. It was then that Geoff asked me to set up and run the manufacturing operation.
Geoff and his wife Hilary were one of the top teams in the Canadian Tornado fleet for many years and both contributed greatly to building the class.
Geoff was 75 or 76 and his passing is a very sad loss.
Geoff Dobbs"
