James Harold Young (7 July 1925 – 18 June 2020) was a New Zealand sailor, boat designer and builder.

Early life and family

Born in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

on 7 July 1925, Young was the son of Cyril Ernest Young and Daisy Winifred Young (née Babington) of

Lower Hutt Lower Hutt ( mi, Te Awa Kairangi ki Tai) is a city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Administered by the Hutt City Council, it is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington metropolitan area. It is New Zealand's sixth most p ...

. He moved to

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 ...

when he was 10 years old, and began a boatbuilding apprenticeship in 1940, working on general boat maintenance and the construction of wooden naval vessels until 1945. He served in Japan as part of J-Force in 1946.

Boat design and building

After returning from Japan, Young began designing and building yachts, first at a shed in Little Shoal Bay,

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...

, and then in

Takapuna Takapuna is a suburb located on the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand. The suburb is situated at the beginning of a south-east-facing peninsula forming the northern side of the Waitematā Harbour. While very small in terms of population, it ...

. In 1949, he won the Sanders Cup in a 14-foot X class yacht that he designed, built and skippered himself. Over the next seven decades, he designed and built numerous innovative boats, including keelboats and catamarans that were successful in racing both in New Zealand and internationally. He is best known for designing the Young88 and Rocket31 (both keelboats), and the Vindex range of wooden cruising boats. Young employed

Bruce Farr Bruce Kenneth Farr (born 1949 in Auckland) is a New Zealand designer of racing and cruising yachts. Farrdesigned boats have won, challenged for, or placed highly in the Whitbread Round the World Race, America's Cup, and Sydney to Hobart Yacht Ra ...

, who would go on to become New Zealand's leading boat designer, as a boatbuilder designer when the latter was a teenager. In the

2012 New Year Honours 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, Young was appointed an

Officer of 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 on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have rend ...

, for services to boat building.

Death

Young died on 18 June 2020. A memorial service was held at the

Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron is a New Zealand yacht club, and the club behind New Zealand's America's Cup campaigns, under the guises of New Zealand Challenge and Team New Zealand. It held the America's Cup from 1995 America's Cup, 1995 ...

in Auckland.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Jim 1925 births 2020 deaths New Zealand boat builders New Zealand yacht designers Officers of the New Zealand Order of Merit People from Wellington City