After 40 years on Bay street, Toronto, where he was associated with a firm specializing in Tort Law, retired in February 1992 and now lives on the beautiful Bay of Quinte, Lake Ontario, with his wife of 57 years, Madeline (Mandy), where he conducts research into the days of sail on the Great Lakes.

Has been a contributor of articles and stories on sailing to many sailing magazines over the years. Currently a regular contributing editor to "Ontario Sailor".

Past District Governor, Lions International

Chair and leader of Independence Afloat Sailing School (13 years)

Director Canadian College Bowl (Vanier Cup) 13 years.

Past President Canadian Hearing Society

Past Skipper of Shellback club Toronto.

Past Chairman of the Mariner's Park Museum, South Bay Ontario,

Past Chairman of the Prince Edward County Museum Board,

Founding member Friends of Main Duck.

Canadas Yachtsman of the Year, 2002

Recipient of the Queens Jubilee Medal.

Bob and Mandy are Honourary Life Members of the Whitby Yacht Club.

Author of several books and papers about the sailing vessels, mostly schooners and yachts, that have sailed the Great Lakes; their builders; the people who have sailed them; and the ports to which they have sailed during the developmental years of central North America, from the very early 1800s to the early days of the 20th century."

Tales from the Great Lakes, a book of stories of Schooner Days on the Great Lakes.

Published by Dundurn Press

Available through University of Toronto Press,

Master Mariner follows the outstanding career of Capt. John Williams 61 years of sailing the Great Lakes

Virtual Impact Publishers and Marketing

1 800 850 7721

True stories of the maritime history of Prince Edward County;

Virtual Impact Marketing Inc.

1 800 850 7721

Bobs Nautical,

A dictionary and glossary of nautical words and terms and all things nautical.

Virtual Impact Marketing Inc.

1 800 850 7721

The last Naval Battle for the North American Continent between the French and the English.

Virtual Impact Marketing Inc.

1-800-850-7721

Who was Canadas Greatest Yachtsman;

Yachtsmen of the Millennium Past

Virtual Impact Marketing Inc.

1 800 850 7721

.The Story of H.M.S. Speedy,

Odyssey Publishing,

1 613 394 2682

The story of H.M.S. St.Lawrence,

The ship that won the war of 1812

odyssey Publishing

1 613 394 2682

Papers include several on the History of Main Duck Island.

The Story of Abigail Becker.

 Cruising Lake Ontario.

When Canvas was King "The Builders"

His Majesties Britannic Navy on the Lakes and Rivers of Canada

known as THE PROVINCIAL MARINE.

When you first meet Bob Townsend he strikes you immediately as a lumbering bear of a man but a gentle bear. Yet, the minute he speaks, the physical impression flies out the window, and his passion for things nautical rings clear.

Bob began sailing early in life and continues through to this day. He and his wife of 55 years, Mandy, have spent their entire married life aboard boats. Every year their Alberg 30, Odyssey, was traditionally the first into the water and the last out at The Whitby Yacht Club.

As an Alberg 30 sailor, Bob regularly competed in class events along with racing in the 1985 Bermuda One-Two race and on Chesapeake Bay. Along with Mandy and their family of seven kids, Bob cruised far and wide in Odyssey. In 1978 he made a white-knuckled passage to Bermuda and in 1980 and 1983 organized flotillas to the America’s Cup in Newport.

But Bob has always been more than just a sailor. Sailing writer and photographer, Bruce Kemp, considers Bob to be one of the great, unsung heroes of Canada’s nautical literary scene. He has eight books of regional maritime history to his credit and more waiting in the wings.

Bob’s love affair with the watery world extends to his charitable work. He was a driving force behind Independence Afloat, and he chaired the campaign to save Maple Leaf Quay as a nautical centre.

While spending his working days with the law firm of Thomson Rogers, he was District Governor of Lions International, sat on the Board of the Vanier Cup, and served as President of the Canadian Hearing Society. After 40 years of service, Bob and Mandy retired Prince Edward County where he was chairman of the Mariner’s  Park Museum and Prince Edward County Museum Board.

Now thinks he might consider retiring—’officially".

It is a privilege to call Bob our 2002 Yachtsman of the Year-