David John Oliver Forbes OAM (26 January 1934 – 21 May 2022) was an Australian sailor who competed for his country at three Olympics from 1968 to 1976. Forbes won an Olympic gold medal in the Star Class at Munich 1972 alongside

John Anderson John Anderson may refer to: Business *John Anderson (Scottish businessman) (1747–1820), Scottish merchant and founder of Fermoy, Ireland * John Byers Anderson (1817–1897), American educator, military officer and railroad executive, mentor of ...

OAM. His sailing career spanned over 20 years and included a 5.5m World Championship in 1970, a Sydney to Hobart race in 1974, and ten Australian championships in the Star, 5.5m, Soling, and Etchells classes. He represented Australia at three Olympic Games – 1968 Mexico City, 1972 Munich, and 1976 Montreal, and was a member of two America’s Cup challenges. He was a part of the ‘Gretel II’ crew in the 1970 America’s Cup and was relief helmsman in the 1977 America’s Cup. John Bertrand AO says of Forbes: “He was the most naturally gifted sailor I ever met. His career both in sport and business is one of celebration. He was an Olympic gold medalist in 1972 when there was no coaching and very limited support, he took on the world’s best and got the job done.”

Early life

Forbes attended

Newington College , motto_translation = To Faith Add Knowledge , location = Inner West and Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , pushpin_map = A ...

from 1943 to 1949.

Sailing

He was the

helmsman A helmsman or helm (sometimes driver) is a person who steering, steers a ship, sailboat, submarine, other type of maritime vessel, or spacecraft. The rank and seniority of the helmsman may vary: on small vessels such as fishing vessels and yacht ...

of the Australian boat in the

Star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

class at the

1968 Mexico City Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

, where it finished eighth, and at the

1972 Munich Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

, where he won a gold medal with John Anderson OAM. In 1975, Forbes was part of the winning Soling team in the North American Championship and that same year, won the pre-Olympic Regatta at Kingston. At the

1976 Montreal Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phi ...

, he helmed the Australian boat which finished eleventh in the

Soling The Soling is an open keelboat that holds the World Sailing "International class" status. The class was used from the 1972 Olympics (Kiel) until the 2000 Olympics (Sydney) as " Open Three Person Keelboat". Besides the Olympic career of the Soli ...

class. Forbes was also the mainsheet hand on the

1970 America's Cup The 1970 America's Cup was held in September 1970 at Newport, Rhode Island. The US defender, '' Intrepid'', skippered by Bill Ficker, defeated the Australian challenger, ''Gretel II'', skippered by James Hardy, four races to one. '' Intrepid'' h ...

challenger ''

Gretel II ''Gretel II'' (KA-3) is an International 12-metre class racing yacht built for the America's Cup challenge series in 1970. She was designed by Alan Payne and built by W.H. Barnett for Australian media tycoon Sir Frank Packer. Packer had fir ...

''.

Business

Forbes business career was spent building the soft drink company Shelley Ecks, which developed many modern in-house technologies and was eventually sold to

Coca Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

Honours

Forbes was inducted into the

Sport Australia Hall of Fame The Sport Australia Hall of Fame was established on 10 December 1985 to recognise the achievements of Australian sportsmen and sportswomen. The inaugural induction included 120 members with Sir Don Bradman as the first inductee and Dawn Fraser th ...

in 1988, and in 2000 he received an

Australian Sports Medal The Australian Sports Medal is an award given to recognise achievements in Australian sport to commemorate Australian participation in major sporting events. Original recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, offi ...

. In the Australia Day Honours List of 2015, Forbes was made an OAM for service to yachting. In 2018 Forbes and Anderson were inducted to the

Australian Sailing Hall of Fame Australian Sailing Hall of Fame was established in 2017 by Australian Sailing in collaboration with the Australian National Maritime Museum The Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) is a Australian government, federally operated maritime mu ...

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Forbes, David 1934 births 2022 deaths 1970 America's Cup sailors 1977 America's Cup sailors Australian male sailors (sport) Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics North American Champions Soling Olympic gold medalists for Australia Olympic medalists in sailing Olympic sailors of Australia People educated at Newington College Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal Sailors at the 1968 Summer Olympics – Star Sailors at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Star Sailors at the 1976 Summer Olympics – Soling Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees World Champions in 5.5 Metre World champions in sailing for Australia 20th-century Australian people