Desmond Thomas Townson
Eulogies
21 October 2008
Brian Peet
Welcome to you all. We are gathered here today to celebrate the life of Des Townson. He was the son of Tom and Catherine Townson and brother of Colleen, Lois and Bill. Des was a loving husband to Sue, adoring father of Claire and a father figure to Aaron and Chay. Des was also a mentor and friend to many, as proved by the number of people here today.
I’m Brian Peet and it is a privilege to have been asked by Des, Sue and Claire to be today’s celebrant. I’ve not done this sort of thing before but in the true spirit of the ‘Do It Yourself’ culture that our two families share, we agreed to give this funeral service a personal DIY touch.
Des wanted this occasion to be a celebration of his life and a number of times over the last few weeks he asked for this audience to be requested to laugh at the funny bits, chuckle at the pictures on the overhead screen and clap after speakers as a way of dispelling any sombreness. I will leave that to your collective judgment, but will offer the caution that I doubt he would condone happy clapping, chanting or Mexican arm waving.
The format Des, Sue and Claire settled on is for a number of their friends and family to take you through the journey that was Des’s life. You will have already seen on the overhead screen a selection of images that represent a snapshot of his seventy-four years. We imagine this ceremony will take about an hour and although initially the Townsons had hoped to open the floor for impromptu speeches, it quickly became apparent that in a life so filled with achievement and friendships, there simply would not be time. Instead we hope you will all remain after the service to share your reflections with the Townson family and friends. Tea, coffee and light refreshment will be available and a cash bar will open for those with more pressing needs.
On behalf of the Townson family I would like to thank the Bucklands Beach Yacht Club for the use of the clubhouse today and their enthusiastic assistance. Thanks also to those who have provided support to Sue and Claire during the final two months of Des’s illness. And thank you to those who have assisted with the preparations for today’s ceremony.
Our family have known Des Townson for over fifty years. My first recollection of Des is from the late 1950s when I was a child on a family holiday at Lake Rotoiti. We boys were told to keep a keen eye out for the approach of a little Austin A30 that would herald the arrival ofour parent’s mystical friend. As youngsters we saw Des as a slightlyethereal person; different from the adults we were familiar with. He was single, didn’t work for anyone, designed and built boats and had an intriguing air about him of reserved, studious intensity. But paradoxically, he was the only adult we knew that insisted we call him by his first name, which was certainly not the norm in the 1950s. In a similar vein my teenage son recently commented Des was the first person to talk to him and treat him as if he were an adult. A couple of weeks ago I relayed this to Des and with a tongue in cheek manor asked him why he hadn’t treated me like an adult. Quick as a flash he said, “Well sometimes you have to skip a generation with these things.”
My parents, John and Dawn, met Des when Des was a teenager who’d just designed and built the sweet little 12 foot Pennant dinghy Mercury. It was light, minimally rigged for the era, very pretty and devastatingly fast. Dad became one of Des’s first commercial customers when he ordered a 12 foot Q Class design - the Nimble. Dad saw the enormous potential in this very shy, awkward, slightly lost teenager and actively encouraged him to design more boats. Des would come to our home whenever he’d completed a new design and for us boys this was a bit of an event. We would surreptitiously creep in to the room to see what his latest yacht creation looked like. For many years Dad was Des’s boat-plan sales agent. For a few years in the 1970s, Des lived in a flat at our place, so overall we got to see quite a bit of him during the course of our lives.
To date Des has completed 82 designs, comprising 50 keelers, 15 centre-boarders, 11 rowing dinghys, 2 launches, 1 steam launch, 1 runabout, 1 canoe and 1 radio controlled sailing model. Helen of Troy may have been the face that launched a 1000 ships but our man did more, although as one wag commented years ago, Helen’s face must surely have been better looking. For the record, there have been about 3500 marine craft created with the Townson name. Numerically that’s over five ‘Half Moon Bays’ of boats.
While stingrays have earned a bad rap after the Aussie crocodile man’s misfortune, many of you may not know that many years ago one of these creatures played a pivotal part in the future direction of Des’s life. Apparently he was wading out to his eighteen-footer, Shamrock, moored off Kohi beach when he stepped on a stingray. The immediate result was the discovery of a previously unknown ability to walk on water for short distances and the second result was the rapid recognition of the pressing need for a small rowing dinghy. This dinghy became design number one and the start of a remarkable life designing and building boats. An interesting aside was that this dinghy didn’t have a seat; Des just knelt on the floor to row. This type of minimalisation became a feature in all his boats and those who have sailed on Des’s own yachts will confirm this point. When questioned about it recently he quickly replied, “What do you mean, Talent is fully equipped, it’s got an engine, toilet, and primus – what more could you need.”
Our first speaker, Murray White knew Des from those early days, is fully conversant with his minimalist ways and has the distinction, apart from sister Colleen, of having a continuous friendship with Des longer that any other person alive. They were friends from primary school, as teenagers raced together in centre boarders, as adults raced and cruised in keelers right up to the end of last summer.
Murray White
To Des I have always been Mudge.
Des could at times be quite sharp. When I wine-glassed the spinnaker, the downhaul came adrift off the bollard, the genoa falls down and over the side, he would say “Murray John you are doing this wrong”. It shows that he was also observant.
After the 1969 campaign in Moonlight, Flap Martinego called me “the Disciple”.
Let me take you back to late March 1939, to the Kohimaramara Primary School. I had been in primer one for two months and this five year old, scrawny, snowy haired kid was put in my charge; Desmond Thomas Townson. Our teacher was Miss Gezzie. Our school motto was “Enter to Learn, Leave to Serve”.
In the 2008 Birthday honours Des was awarded the N.Z. Order of Merit for services to yachting, this award was his “gong” as he called it. It is justified by the pleasure the youths and all yachtsman who have sailed in the many classes he has designed and built over the years.
We did not become instant friends, like the cheese men all good things take time. Des was a bit of a loner preferring athletics with running his favourite. We went through all our classes at Kohi together; among our teachers was Mr Tom Kilfoyle who was a superb builder of full rigged model sailing ships. The school had no swimming pool so we would walk down to the beach for lessons. At the annual school picnic we had model yacht races and Des sailed a beautiful varnished kauri model given to him by his grandfather, Mr Bill Reid. Several years ago Des loaned this model to the Ponsonby Cruising Club.
Des’s dad Tom brought from Tauranga T14; when re-measured she became Vanity, P79. My father, Jack White, built several “P” class; mine named Kohi, P15.
Once Des had his boat we then spent a lot of time together, our boats were kept in an open section near the bottom of Kohi Road on beach trailers and covered with canvas covers. This enabled us to spend every summer weekend and school holidays sailing. Our fathers soon introduced us to sandpaper and paint. After the May school holidays we would take our boats home to sand down, paint and polish ready for Labour weekend. As both our fathers had good workshops under our houses we made sail battens from kauri, oregon or cedar. We also built sledges as Mudford’s farm, with steep hill paddocks was not far from 11 Hawera Road, the Townson’s family home. We built balsa model yachts, 30 inches long and were joined in this with Peter Nelson who has since designed and sailed many fast and good looking yachts.
As the Kohi Yacht Club only sailed on Sundays, (to improve our racing) every weekend early on a Saturday morning we would sail to Westhaven, race, then sail home to Kohi. I remember getting back late in time to go to the Rangi-view dairy and buying the evening “8 o’clock” sports paper to see the results of our racing.
Another time a N.E. gale blew up so we left our boats at Westhaven and in our Hutchwilco life jackets we walked up Curran Street, caught a tram to Queen Street and then a L.J. Keys bus to Kohi, having to repeat this in reverse to sail our boats home.
One day after racing on the return home there was a Port Line cargo ship anchored in the stream. The tide was running out and as she lay back to her anchor we sailed between the chain and hull. It was fresh westerly wind and I was in front of Des when I heard a loud bang, (looking back in a squall he had T boned the ship). He was thrown forward by the impact but only his pride was hurt. I wonder if Harry Highet put a blunt bow on the “P” class knowing this would happen one day.
We would sail to North Head, Bean Rock, Browns Island and Rangitoto. At Rangitoto we sometimes stayed over night under the covers we had over the boats. Once when rain settled in, Mr Noble the shopkeeper at Wharf Bay let us sleep in the old bus. After climbing to the summit, the first time in bare feet, we never forgot our sandals in future cruises.
In 1948 Des won the trials to represent Auckland at the 1949 contest in Dunedin for the Tanner Cup finishing fourth. The next year Des won the trials and went to Nelson where in 1950 he won the Tanner Cup. I had been runner up to Des both times and also went to Nelson to represent Ponsonby Cruising Club and Des representing the Kohimaramara Yacht Club in the Mellish Cup, now the Tauranga Cup. In the last race I beat Des by half a boat’s length; this cost him the double as the Pleasant Point rep won on points. Des was second and I third.
Leaving Kohi School Des went to Auckland Grammar School. In the three years he was above average in top classes and rose to be a Gym Leader, then he left to take an apprenticeship in motor-body building with Mead and Douglas.
In 1950 we both turned 16 and sold Vanity and Kohi. Des sailed his father’s frostbite and I brought a Zeddie, which I kept for one year, as I did not have a regular forward hand. I joined Alan Barclay in the Silver Ferns, first Astra then Cheeta. As Alan was over the age limit for the juniors trophies, we had Des skipper with me forward hand. Des and I then brought a Zeddie Z6 Kitty, as it was our last year age wise to enter the Cornwall cup trials; we failed to shine.
Des then brought the Couldrey 18 footer Shamrock, V71 to convert to a cruising boat. The stem had dry rot; this Des replaced and added a cabin over the forward part of the cockpit and kept her on a mooring off Kohi Beach. This was the beginning of his boat building, having sort advice from Dave Marks.
Leaving Mead and Douglas he designed and built Eagle, Mercury and Mercedes. He then got work at Kawerau, where he travelled back and forth on a large Sunbeam shaft driven motorcycle, a forerunner to to-days touring bikes. After Kawerau he sold the bike and purchased an Austin A30.
Then in 1954 came a big breakthrough for Des as John Peet asked him to design a 12 foot “Q” class based on Mercury, this boat Q8 Nimble was fast, pretty and very well sailed. John and Dawn Peet, with David, Graham and Brian are true and very good friends to Des, Sue and Claire.
In July 1956 I returned in Wanderer from Suva and was helping Tom Buchanan clean and tidy up the boat on her mooring in Okahu Bay when a small mono-sailed yacht came along side; it was Des in Atarangi. He came aboard while I went sailing; this being the forerunner of the Zephyrs. Once the Zephyr program was underway he designed the Mistral. One day in 1959 he picked me up and we drove to Narrow Neck Beach and here Robert Brook launched Sparkle #8, the first Mistral to hit the water. Several weeks later we went to Mission Bay where Whisper #4 was launched. This time we went sailing and I knew this was the boat for me as I had married Noeline and we had a small but growing family.
Prior to the Mistral Des purchased Storm, a 26ft Woolacott short-end keeler. On one of his first sails in her he invited Noeline and me to go for a day sail. Sailing up the East Coast Bays we decided to have lunch in the Weiti River. At the entrance Des and I were admiring the scenery and the pleasure of sailing when all of a sudden the dingy rammed the stern; we were aground and we had not felt a thing. Disappointed at the lack of power Des sold Storm and designed a powerful 26ft hull, fin keel, spade rudder, fractional rig, bendy mast, full length battens, through-mast roller reefing flyer E68 Serene. By this time Noeline and I had brought an old house at the bottom of Kohimaramara Road. Des kept Serene on the mooring off the beach and his dinghy behind our hedge.
Our first race at the end of the season was around Rangitoto and Motutapu to Islington Bay. Des as skipper, Ned Kelly cockpit and me forward. A lay through to Rangi light, then we hardened the sheets in the building N.E. wind and waves. Off she went, soon leaving our division astern and gaining on the larger yachts ahead. Several tacks later and before we got to Billy Goat Point the wooden boom fractured. Having roller reefing we took one turn, then laid an oar alongside, half a turn. Laid the other oar into the fold, another turn and we had fished the boom. On rounding the Point we reached across Waikalabubu set the spinnaker, ran down to Emu Point dropped the kite, reached into the finishing line and got the first of many guns.
Dropping the jib, rolling up the mainsail, we dropped anchor, opened a beer and congratulating ourselves; we were able to watch our competitors finish. One of whom after anchoring asked us over for a drink. As this was a cruising race we had towed a 7’9” pram dinghy, as it was inconvenient to carry it on deck. Des being the purist that he is did not believe in sleeves or ring rowlocks. He went below to get the oars and rowlocks but could not find the oars. Ned had the dinghy alongside; he and I were waiting. We knew we had the oars as we had in the morning rowed out to the mooring. It was some time and with much mirth we realized we had used them as splints and they were still rolled up in the mainsail.
One weekend Des asked Robert, aged 5 and me away on Serene. Des loved illegal rock oysters and as we were at the back of Rakino Island we rowed ashore to gather “pippis”. On Monday when Noeline and Robert were at our local grocers Robert was asked if he had had a nice weekend away. Robert replied in his usual loud voice “Next time we go to get pippis, I’m taking my own hammer and screw driver.”
My proud possession is Des’s builders half model of Serene, which I found in an old 44 gallon drum covered in dust over 30 years ago. This I asked for and lightly sanded, clear finished, made a backboard and had it sign-written. Restored it now sits on our wall, the waterline at eye level; I pass and look at it every day. A thing of beauty is a joy forever.
Our last race together on Talent with Roy Dickson and Dave Russell was in the classic regatta at Mahurangi last Anniversary weekend. Our last cruise in February with Des, Roger Hamlin, Frank Davis, Roy Dickson and myself was to Great Barrier Island on two of Des’s wonderful yachts Aria and Talent.