Death of Trevor Gowland, boat builder and sailor

by Peter Campbell on 10 Jul 2007
Trevor Gowland, the esteemed boat-builder and Sydney Hobart winning yachtsman, has died at his home at Point Clare on NSW Central Coast at the age of 75 after a brief illness.

Gowland worked for much of his life with the Halvorsen family of yacht designers and boat-builders, and was responsible, as a skilled shipwright, for building such famous yachts as the 1962 America’s Cup challenger Gretel, Sydney Hobart overall winners Freya, Anitra V and Cherana, Admiral’s Cup team boats Gingko and Apollo II and the maxi yacht Ballyhoo which look line honours in the 1979 Hobart Race, as well many prestigious motor cruisers.

Gowland was a sail trimmer aboard Gretel in Australia’s first challenge for the America’s Cup in 1962 and also sailed on the Halvorsen brothers’ Freya in its unbeaten record of three successive overall wins in the Rolex Sydney Hobart, as well as Anitra V when it won the ocean classic. He also raced on Ballyhoo and on Ted Turner’s American Eagle when it took line honours in the Hobart Race.

His last Hobart was the 50th Race when sailed with John Keelty aboard Cherana, the Tasman Seabird he also built.

'Trevor was one of Australia’s leading boat-builders, noted for his interpretation of the designer’s plans into hull construction,' Keelty, a longtime friend, said today.

In later years, Gowland managed the large Halvorsen complex Bobbin Head until the business was sold. He retired to the Central Coast where he was an active sailing member of the Gosford Sailing Club, including competing in the club’s Gosford to Lord Howe Island Race on several occasions.

He was a member of the CYCA until moving to Point Clare.