After twenty years now, I finally met John Welsford, the man who quite literally changed my life. And I was able to tell him that, shake his hand and thank him.
My wife and I are back from four weeks in New Zealand. On our second to last day in New Zealand, the Pilgrim and I were hiking on Rangitoto, a volcanic island just outside Auckland's harbor.
As we stood at the peak, I looked around and could see some wonderful protected harbors below. I thought back twenty years to when I came across a blog (no longer existent) that was called something like openboatnz. It was published by a man named David. He sailed a boat called a Navigator, designed by his fellow-Kiwi John Welsford. I can remember distinctly David writing about doing two and three-day cruises out of Auckland to Rangitoto, anchoring in those nice little coves, knocking a few oysters off the rocks and making oyster omelettes for breakfast. And I thought it was oh-so-wonderful. Maybe I could do something like that someday....
Reading that blog about a Navigator led me to John Welsford. John Welsford's site led me to his just-off-the-boards Pathfinder design. Because of John's approach to boatbuilding, I was able to build SPARTINA. First it was day-sailing, then four-day trips, week-long trips, two weeks and now four or five week trips. Maine, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Almost most too many miles to remember. And along the way I met new friends, the truest and best friends I have known.
So standing there on Rangitoto, I felt like life had somehow come full circle. Twenty years ago David was sailing a Welsford boat, now I am sailing a Welsford boat. And I got to spend time with John Welsford to talk about it all. How nice!
What is John like? He was friendly, modest, and incredibly welcoming to us. He insisted on picking us up at the airport in Rotorua, then insisted on bringing us out to his home for a tour of his workshop, followed by dinner.
John is very proud of his designs (deservedly so) and enjoyed telling us about local sailing clubs where out of a dozen boats in the club, most of them were his designs. He delights in tales of journeys people have made with his boats, his great memories of boat building camps where he would coach a dozen or so people in building one of his designs and the satisfaction he finds when people sail his boats.
The stories came tumbling out of John. Stories of people and places, his many years of sailing his boats in New Zealand. He talked about what is important in his designs, emphasizing his basic theory that comfort on a boat equals safety. So comfort is a factor in every one of his drawings. I was interested to see a new design on his drawing board, he is still at it.
We spent a long evening chatting in his dining room, then met again a couple of days later for dinner at a nice restaurant in town. I wish we had booked a few more days in Rotorua, but time came for us to leave. Over ice cream cones down by the lake front we said our goodbyes, and I thanked him one more time for what he had done for me.
