Obituary - Hal Wagstaff

World Sailing is saddened to report that New Zealand’s Hal Wagstaff, a former World Sailing Vice President, has passed away.

Hal Wagstaff passed away on 2 October aged 88 after a short stay in North Shore Hospital in New Zealand.
 
Hal Wagstaff had plenty to talk about. He was an architect, sailor, yachting administrator and international judge and umpire but probably best known as a renowned boat designer.
 
He trained as an architect, moving to London in 1953 and, after working for several years in and around the UK merged his interests and began designing yachts. He built his first boat aged 16.
 
Hal developed, among others, the R Class, Cherub, Javelin and various keelboats. He enjoyed designing boats within classes that allowed innovation and evolution and designed and built the first moth to New Zealand in the 1960s and developed the design which was later adopted as the international Moth.
 
The class has recently joined the foiling revolution and it’s something Hal probably approved of given his philosophy to design.
 
Hal was able to bring this approach to yachting administration over more than 70 years.
 
He had been a top youth sailor at Wellington’s Evans Bay Yacht & Motor Boat Club and joined the club’s administration in the 1948/49 season.
 
This developed exponentially and, among his many roles, he managed the New Zealand sailing team to the 1972 Olympics, was a member of the executive on the New Zealand Olympic Committee (1970-93), Yachting New Zealand president (1989-91) and in 1994 he became the first New Zealander appointed as a vice president of the International Sailing Federation (now World Sailing).
 
As an international judge and umpire, Hal officiated at more than 50 major international or world championships regattas.
 
He was widely recognised for his service and accomplishments, receiving an OBE in 1985, membership of the New Zealand Olympic Order in 1994, a long service gold medal from ISAF in 1998, life membership of both ISAF and Yachting New Zealand and he was also made a fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Architects.
 
Hal’s own racing career continued until 2009, winning various regional, island and national titles, and loved nothing better than to sail and compete with old friend Don St Clair Brown on Dragons and then Anticipation. Many of his designs also enjoyed considerable success nationally and internationally.