Jim Young (boat Builder)
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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 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 third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...
on 7 July 1925, Young was the son of Cyril Ernest Young and Daisy Winifred Young (née Babington) of
Lower Hutt Lower Hutt () is a list of cities in New Zealand, 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#Wellington metropolitan area, Wellington metropoli ...
. He moved to
Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...
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 Little Shoal Bay is a bay of the Waitematā Harbour in Auckland, New Zealand. It is located on the North Shore, New Zealand, North Shore, separating Birkenhead, New Zealand, Birkenhead from Northcote, Auckland, Northcote. The Birkenhead and Nor ...
,
Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...
, and then in
Takapuna Takapuna is a suburb located on the North Shore, New Zealand, North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand. The suburb is an isthmus between Shoal Bay, New Zealand, Shoal Bay, arm of the Waitematā Harbour, and the Hauraki Gulf. Lake Pupuke, a volca ...
. 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 R ...
, 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 The New Year Honours 2012 were announced on 31 December 2011 in the United Kingdom, New Zealand,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 r ...
, 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 until 2003, beco ...
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 Artisans from Wellington City