John Welsford - World Renowned Kiwi Designer

[Mike]

Famous designer, John Welsford, pictured at left studiously working at his PC and at right, below, with his wife Denny on a mountain 'stroll' (the sign behind them reads "Civilisation is at least 8000 miles in any direction!" ), is one of those guys whose appearance on any scene will always bring a smile to the faces of those around him. He is an extremely likeable and talented bloke. I use the term 'bloke' thoughtfully as it seems most apt for a New Zealander to be called a bloke. So much better than an Aussie 'Bruce' or a Pommie 'chap', I feel.

Perhaps it's John's sense of humour that endears him most to us. He really is a funny (ha ha) chap with what seems to be an endless store of tall tales and jokes tucked away in his extremely fertile and artistic mind. John designs darned good boats. What's more, he designs them so they are both strong and seaworthy while at the same time still easy, and relatively inexpensive, for us backyard boaties to build.

The range of designs that come off his drawing board is huge. Many of us may yet be completely unaware of his more adventurous forays into boat design. An excellent example of this is his Sundowner which, for some obscure reason, hasn't yet made it onto his website as an available plan. The first build of a Sundowner was by Charlie Whipple, under the watchful eye of John himself and in John's workshop in New Zealand.

If you take a look at John's website, you'll see he offers plans ranging from tiny little tenders and dinghies up to a 21 foot seagoing yacht. Don't be fooled into thinking that's all, though. He has designed larger boats too and a few very interesting designs are beginning to emerge onto paper from his versatile mind and will soon become available to all. I have no intention here of revealing what he has told me in confidence. But I can assure you that he has more than just a few very interesting design concepts up that Kiwi sleeve of his (nothing surprising about that, of course!).

So, what do you say about a man you call 'friend' without seeming too partisan. Well, the first thing is that he is eminently approachable and that contact with him is ... well ... educational and great fun at the same time. He is extremely helpful and always keen to do what you would like. If he has a fault at all (well, as a friend I really must find one, surely, or I might stand accused of favouritism ) it is perhaps his somewhat unreliable memory. In this, we have yet another trait in common. He will promise to do things because he is like that - but he never has enough hours in any day to fulfil some of them. This is not at all intentional but can be darned annoying, made worse by him being so far away at the other side of the world. I think it would be hard to persuade him to live here, or near here, though, unless it was aboard a boat of his own making - that's self-designed and self-built, of course.

John's successes are significant, with some 5000 plan sets sold over something just under 20 years of being at his drawing board. No mean feat by any measure. Perhaps his most successful design to date is his famous 'Navigator'. With more than 650 plans sales, and with so many build blogs and online images available, I don't feel the need to support this fact with any further evidence. We really like his 'Pathfinder' too. As a bigger sister to 'Navigator', it is inevitably a super design, though not quite big enough for our needs. She is heading for huge plans sales too.

John is very much an 'open boat' man, not averse to some serious rowing either. Mind you, he lives in a beautiful part of the world where an open boat can be infinitely more pleasurable than it would be around Blighty. That said, he has a beauty of a cabin version boat in his 'Penguin'. She has an astonishingly roomy cabin in just 21 feet and was a serious contender for our own first build. If it were not for the centreboard keel arrangement, we would perhaps be building a Penguin right now.

I suggest you keep an eye on John's website (see the link above) for some of the new designs soon to be released. There is little doubt that one of those now on his drawing board will be a winner - and perhaps his biggest seller of all thus far.

There is much more on John to come later. Meanwhile, to take a good look right here on this website at some of his many super designs, we suggest you take a stroll through some of his photos posted in our gallery on the Forums page.