"He's the smarts and I'm the labour," says the 40-year-old automation engineer from Havelock North of his 28-year-old skipper from Hastings.
Pedersen had the rub of the surf in two-hulled catamaran Paper Tiger class racing when the pair started racing but Percy stamped his supremacy over the years.
Says a laughing Percy: "I'm slightly lighter than Scott and the crew's got to be quite physical as well."
He says when there's big fleets it pays to steer out of the way of other yachts pretty smartly, so making time allowances for the crew member to keep up with the play becomes imperative.
With a world-class fleet likely in the three-day nationals, which provides a perfect dress rehearsal for the Lexuf of Hawke's Bay 21st Flying Fifteen World Championship in Napier from Sunday to Friday, March 3, the Napier club members are not expecting to win either of the two events but fancy their chances in the silver class.
"I couldn't beat him in the Paper Tigers but now I sit in front of him as a crew and I beat him in every race," says Pedersen with a laugh.
The pair have been arch rivals in the Paper Tigers for almost a decade.
Last year the pair were fifth overall at the Flying Fifteen nationals in Napier but won the silver class in Fflorin, which is open to boats built before 1990.
Fflorin, which two Bobs used to own, was built in 1988.
About 10 to 25 knots is ideal for Flying Fifteens but the pair are hoping for more fickle 10-15 knots because it favours them as a light-weight combination.
"As long as we get a nice hot day and the wind comes from the seas it'll be perfect for us," says Pedersen.
The Flying Fifteen is a 300kg small-keel vessel with a spinnaker when compared with the one-sail Paper Tiger.
It has lead weight at the bottom and three sails, a main and a jib to keep the crew member busy.
"They are as far apart as you can get from two boats, really."
So what's the attraction for him and Percy, a builder, who are relatively new in the Flying Fifteen class, albeit the best from Hawke's Bay when they made their debut last year.
"The best we do in Paper Tiger is an international in Australia but it's not actually a world event as such, but when it's at your home club it's definitely worth giving it a crack," says Percy, revealing he's finished runner-up for the past two years at the Paper Tiger international regatta as well as the last national in Picton in January.
"I always find there's a couple of guys to beat so I beat one but not the other and it's vice versa. Hopefully one day I'll manage to beat both of them."
Percy enjoys the new challenges Flying Fifteen offer such as having to sail downwind on an angle to the bottom mark, something they don't do in paper tiger.
The Flying Fifteen (fifteen refers to its water length and names tend to have "ff" woven in) is the 1947 brainchild of British yacht designer Uffa Fox. It has since become the largest fixed-keel class in the world with around 4000 vessels.
Over the years Uffa Fox agreed to modify the design specification and sail plan.
The yacht gained international status in 1978 and the first world championship was staged in Perth, Australia, in 1979 and the northern and southern hemispheres have alternated hosting it every two years.
"Champions are coming from all around the world and they have been doing it for many years so they already have brand new boats they've spent thousands of dollars on," says Pedersen, revealing older vessels like his haven't won for a long time.
"It'll be a major coup if we manage to pull something off like that."
The contemporary vessel's hull has a revolutionary shape and it is much lighter overall.
The Napier club pair are banking on some home course knowledge and experience to jump to nice starts on their rivals.
Incrementally the Bay pair have made significant strides into the flying fifteen class but they still have a fair way to go.
Other Bay contenders are Neal Absolom/Malcolm White (Sofftly), Chris Reid/John Reid (Snaffler), Ian Morley/Simon Morley (Thffson) and David Thorn/Graeme Robinson (Busineff).
