Des Townson

Desmond Thomas "Des" Townson MNZM (16 March 1934 – 15 October 2008) was a New Zealand yacht designer. He was responsible for designing some of the best-known classes in New Zealand sailing, including the Starling, Zephyr Mistral and Dart classes. 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, designed initially for his brother Bill (Mercia). Later the renowned "Moonlight" trialed impressively for the New Zealand entry for the One Ton Cup in 1971. Moonlight was followed by a series of successful designs for his own enjoyment and that of many devotees, where he refined design principles established in Moonlight of strong upwind performance and good all round performance and handling. These included the elegant Townson 32's Starlight and Twilight, the transitional Townson 33 Restless and culminated in the Townson 34's Dreamtime and Talent, his most successful keelboat designs.

Des is credited with having at least 3,500 of his designs produced by 2008.^[1]

In 1950 Townson won the Tanner Cup, the nation's premier teenage yachting championship. In 2008 his contribution to yachting earned him membership in the New Zealand Order of Merit in the Queen's Birthday Honours list. In his later years Townson focused on producing top one design radio controlled Electron racing yachts.

Townson died on 15 October 2008 after a long battle with cancer at his home in Auckland.^[2]

References

Bibliography

• Elliot, Harold Kidd Robin; Pardon, David (1999). Southern Breeze - A History of Yachting in New Zealand (Hardback). Auckland: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-670-88650-5.