In the 2000 New Year Honours, Davidson was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to yacht designing.\n', '

He was inducted into the America\'s Cup Hall of Fame in 2007.\n', '

After leaving school he qualified as an accountant and worked in that profession until in 1969 he joined Morely Sutherland\'s boat building company at Greenhithe. In 1970 Tony Bouzaid commissioned the Blitzkrieg a half-ton yacht designed by Davidson. Davidson captained it to win the inaugural New Zealand Half Ton Championship. Encouraged by this success Davidson bought an Olivetti computer and with software sourced from Sparkman and Stephens and began using the computer to design yachts. He was subsequently the first New Zealand yacht designer to hold the IOR rule on computer.\n', '

Return to Laurie Davidson Autograph Profile