Desmond Thomas Townson MNZM (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[1] and he designed some of the best-known classes in New Zealand sailing, including the Starling, Zephyr Mistral and Dart dinghy classes.
He is credited with having at least 3,500 of his designs produced by 2008,[3] when his contribution to yachting earned him membership in the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2008 Queen's Birthday Honours.
[4] In his later years Townson focused on producing his one-design radio controlled Electron racing yachts.
[5] Townson died on 15 October 2008 at his home in Auckland after a long battle with cancer.