Francis Dewar Bethwaite (26 May 1920 – 12 May 2012) was a New Zealand

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, author and Olympic meteorologist.Official website

Biography

Bethwaite was born in

Wanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whangan ...

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, and built his first boat (a 16 ft sailing canoe) as a teenager. He joined the

Royal New Zealand Air Force The Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) ( mi, Te Tauaarangi o Aotearoa, "The Warriors of the Sky of New Zealand"; previously ', "War Party of the Blue") is the aerial service branch of the New Zealand Defence Force. It was formed from New Zeala ...

at the outbreak of the Second World War, becoming a flight instructor and test pilot before flying bombing missions over the Pacific during 1944 and 1945. He rose to the rank of squadron leader and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. After the war he became a commercial airline pilot for Tasman Airways (later

Air New Zealand Air New Zealand Limited () is the flag carrier airline of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 20 domestic and 30 international destinations in 18 countries, primarily around and within the Pacific ...

).University of Sydney website
/ref> Bethwaite had four children with his wife Nel: Christine,

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(an Olympic and World Championship competitor), Nicola (also an Olympic and World Championship competitor) and Julian (World Championship Competitor and boat designer). After settling in Sydney, Bethwaite designed a small boat suitable for his youngest children to use to learn how to sail. This became known as the Northbridge Junior (now known as the 9er). Bethwaite is most well known for designing the TasarSailing Networks
and

Laser 2 The Laser 2, or Laser II, is a sailboat that was designed by New Zealander Frank Bethwaite and Canadian Ian Bruce as a one-design racer and first built in 1978. Production The design was built by Bruce's company, Performance Sailcraft, in ...

Dinghy Classes. He was awarded the Medal of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

in 2000 for his services to sport. In 2006 he won an Innovation Hero lifetime achievement award from

The Warren Centre for Advanced Engineering The Warren Centre for Advanced Engineering is an Australian engineering and science policy think-tank, established in 1983 and named for Australia's first engineering lecturer. The Sydney-based centre describes itself as Australia’s premier inde ...

at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

for the design and commercialisation of innovative high-performance sailing craft. He died in 2012.

As author

During his time as the meteorologist for the Australian sailing team at the

1976 Summer 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 ...

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, Bethwaite collected copious wind data that led him to write his first book, ''High Performance Sailing''. In 2008 he followed this up with a further volume, ''Higher Performance Sailing'', also published by

Adlard Coles Nautical Adlard Coles Nautical is a nautical publisher, with over 300 books in print. The company publishes books on topics of interest to sailors and motorboaters and also ‘landlubbers’ with an interest in the sea. Their list includes almanacs, cruis ...

. A third volume, ''Fast Handling Technique'', was completed shortly before his death and published in January 2013.

External links

Official site of Bethwaite Design

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bethwaite, Frank 1920 births 2012 deaths New Zealand yacht designers Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal Commercial aviators