Desmond Thomas Townson (16 March 1934 – 15 October 2008) was a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

yacht A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

. As a teenager he won the

Tanner Cup The Tanner Cup is a New Zealand youth inter-provincial sailing competition. One under 17 year old sailor from each region competes in P Class yachts. The competition is named after George Tanner, who donated the trophy, and was first sailed in ...

in 1950, the nation's premier teenage yachting championship"Des Townson, in a class of his own"
May 12, 2003, NZ Herald and he designed some of the best-known classes in New Zealand sailing; including the

Starling Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Sturnidae. The Sturnidae are named for the genus ''Sturnus'', which in turn comes from the Latin word for starling, ''sturnus''. Many Asian species, particularly the larger ones, ...

Zephyr In European tradition, a zephyr is a light wind or a west wind, named after Zephyrus, the Greek god or personification of the west wind. Zephyr may also refer to: Arts and media Fiction Fiction media * ''Zephyr'' (film), a 2010 Turkish ...

Mistral and

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dinghy classes. As well dinghies, he also designed many classes of light and medium displacement keel boats, commencing with the Townson 26 flyer Serene, followed by the plywood Townson 22 Pied Piper. Later the renowned "Moonlight" trialed impressively for the New Zealand entry for the

One Ton Cup The One Ton Cup is a trophy presented to the winner of a sailing competition created in 1899 by the Cercle de la voile de Paris (CVP). Synopsis The One Ton Cup regattas were at the beginning of races between one-tonner sailing dinghies, acc ...

in 1971 and he followed this with a series of successful designs including the Townson 32's Starlight and Twilight, the transitional Townson 33 Restless - and culminating in his most successful keelboat designs, the Townson 34's Dreamtime and Talent. He is credited with having at least 3,500 of his designs produced by 2008 when his contribution to yachting earned him membership in the

New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant (document), royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Monarchy of New Zealand, Queen of New Zealand, "for those ...

in the

2008 Queen's Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 2008 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as part of the Queen's Of ...

. In his later years Townson focused on producing his one-design radio controlled Electron racing yachts."Townson's Electron was his 'brushstroke'"
Michelle Cooke, 23/10/2009, East & Bays Courier Townson died on 15 October 2008 at his home in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

after a long battle with

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

References

Bibliography

* Des Townson Deaths from cancer in New Zealand Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit New Zealand yacht designers 1934 births 2008 deaths {{NewZealand-bio-stub