The Starling is 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 ...

sailing dinghy Dinghy sailing is the activity of sailing small boats by using five essential controls: * the sails * the foils (i.e. the daggerboard or centreboard and rudder and sometimes lifting foils as found on the Moth) * the trim (forward/rear angle of ...

Des Townson Desmond Thomas Townson (16 March 1934 – 15 October 2008) was a New Zealand yacht designer. As a teenager he won the Tanner Cup in 1950, the nation's premier teenage yachting championship 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 ...

was conceived and the design commissioned by John Peet in the late 1960s. At the time, there were no single-handed boats available in New Zealand, for bridging the gap between the P-class and the adult Finn, OK, Cherokee and

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 ...

classes. Many young sailors were leaving the sport because the step to the adult classes was too great. A stepping stone class was required. In consultation with parents of current P-class sailors, a set of criteria was formulated for the proposed class: :* The boat should cater to teenagers or any one heavy enough to sail one that are not able to cope with adult monotypes. :* Crew weight could be approximately . :* The boat should be easily handled in fresh conditions, plane readily and have good windward performance. :* The appearance of the boat to be of high priority. :* Buoyancy to be of P-class standard. :* Cockpit space for two teenagers or one adult. :* Construction to be simple. :* Very close restrictions so that all boats to have equal performance; e.g. masts from standard aluminium extrusion, sails from the same material and same loft. Des Townson, the designer of the successful Zephyr, Mistral and Dart yachts of the period was approached to design the boat, and he completed this in June 1969. To confirm the simplicity of the construction concept, teenager David Peet built the

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...

as his first boat-building project. The Starling was launched at Westhaven,

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 ...

on Anzac weekend 1970. Extensive testing of the prototype was completed over the following months, by dozens of P-class sailors. Feedback was very supportive and encouraging, with a great deal of enthusiasm expressed for the concept and the finished prototype. The prototype Starling was sailing off the

Glendowie Boating Club Glendowie is a suburb in Auckland, New Zealand. It is under the local governance of Auckland Council. It was under Auckland City Council from 1989 until the merger of all of Auckland's councils into the "super city" in 2010. Location Glendowie i ...

in the early 1970s. Originally, the sail design was fully battened; however, this was changed to the current format after feedback from sailors indicated a flexible sail layout was more suitable. Quote excerpted from StarlingWebIntroduction.pd

Current Starling activities

The Starling is still a popular bridging class between the P-class and senior boats for competitive sailors in many parts of

, and is officially supported by

Yachting New Zealand Yachting New Zealand is recognised by the International Sailing Federation as the governing body for the sport of sailing in New Zealand. Yachting New Zealand also facilitates training in sailing in and around the country. History The emigration ...

and organised by the Glendowie Boating Club. Over 1300 boats have been built. The Starling Nationals is held once a year. It is normally held as the last summer season Starling regatta. The Starling Nationals in 2006 and 2007 had approximately one hundred and fifty entrants per series.

References

External links

Starling Web Introduction by John Peet

* ttp://www.yachtingnz.org.nz/index.cfm?pageid=345&parentid=641 Yachting New Zealand details on the Starling and P Class
The google group for New Zealand South Island Starling sailors

YouTube: Starling sailing in strong winds

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20081014032921/http://www.hyc.org.nz/zephyr/navigation/History/DesT-DesignList.html List of Townson Designs- from the Zephyr Owners Association website.
Grahame Anderson (1999) FAST LIGHT BOATS, a Century of Kiwi Innovation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Starling (Dinghy) Dinghies 1960s sailboat type designs Sailboat type designs by Des Townson