The Pedro and Senorita
Page updated 3 February 2006
Initially, the photographs of the boats on this page were a mystery. Now we know they are Pedros. The design was of interest because it used the same hull as the SeaHawk. The cabin appears to offer greater headroom but at the cost of greater freeboard, which must make windward performance less good then the SeaHawk.
Now an advert, taken from a copy of Yachts and Yachting magazine dated 6 January 1978, has been submitted which adds further interest. This shows that not only was this boat, built using the SeaHawk hull sold as a Pedro, but it was also available in a deep keep variant, known as a Senorita. It's difficult to make out from the original, but the Senorita hull does not appear to have the bilge fins of the drop keel version. (It also begs a question about the underwater profile of the boat seen on Derwent Water.) Although sold under a different name, the sail emblems and number series shown in the illustration suggests that they count as one design.
The correspondent who provided these pictures of a pair of Pedros, based at Rutland Water is the owner of a SeaHawk based there. He said that the Pedro does not have the SeaHawk's drop keel.
Ted Crawford used to own a Pedro. He confirms that the hull is the same as that used on the SeaHawk and that it has no drop keel. He continued, "I rebuilt a Pedro but did not keep it very long as she did not sail very well." The two pictures below are of his boat. It appears that Ted's Pedro had a rebuilt cockpit which must require a non-standard tiller and rudder.
The final picture, was taken by its Cornwall-based owner, who was offering the boat for sale and gave permission for the picture to be used here. It also shows that the rig is considerably smaller than that of the SeaHawk.
At first, there was a question about whether this photograph showed the standard rig for the Pedro. However, the advertisement appears to suggest that it is. The significant point remains, that the mast appears to be only about two-thirds the height of a SeaHawk mast, necessary, perhaps, with no significant keel fitted?
