Born on King Island, Tasmania, but raised in Glenorchy in Tasmania, Peter Attrill took up sailing early in his youth and by 1950 was skilled enough that he was invited to the trials to represent Australia in the Finn class at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, a class for which the nation lacked any boats in which to compete. Attrill won the trials and represented his country at the Games, where he placed 22nd out of 28 competitors, becoming the first Tasmanian Olympic sailor and the fifth Tasmanian Olympian overall. This was his sole Olympic appearance, but he continued to race, primarily in the Sharpie and Carmen classes, into the 1980s as a member of the Bellerive Yacht Club.