Little Wing: A Welsford Penguin

By Mat Conboy and an update from designer John Welsford

Little Wing – A Welsford Penguin

by Mat Conboy

Part 1 – The driveway chapter.

We first noticed Little Wing several years back, hanging off her Cornelian Bay mooring. Even from a distance, the distinctive Welsford design was instantly recognisable. Over the years we would often sail around her, hoping one day that the owner would be aboard so we could learn more about this pretty little boat.

One day after tying up our own boat at the Prince Of Wales Marina, we noticed that Little Wing was right next to us, with her owner in attendance. He had just bought her in for slipping with the intention of preparing her for sale. To cut a long story short,  just 24 hours later Jo and I took possession of our fifth Welsford-designed boat (yep…we really like John’s designs).

Little Wing is a Penguin, one of the biggest boats in the John Welsford Small Craft Design catalogue—at 21 feet, she’s just a few inches shorter than the Sundowner. John originally designed the Penguin for a magazine competition. The brief was for “a family oriented cruising trailer yacht of about 6 / 6.5m long, a boat that would be easily constructed by home boatbuilders from materials that would be readily obtainable and need only simple tools”. John’s  resultant design ticked all those boxes and more. However, two of the judges were not entirely convinced, so the design was recognised as a special mention. The Penguin went on to be a popular success, with many being built around the world. Most recently, in a popularity poll of Welsford boats, it rated fifth out of 34 designs – this alone speaks volumes considering the strength of the competition.

ABOVE: The work begins. BELOW: Removing portholes.

Our Penguin was built in 2001 by Greg Pullen in Cygnet, Tasmania. She had spent her entire life in the water until earlier this year when we had her craned into our driveway to start a long-overdue refurbishment. Little Wing was built to a high standard, perhaps overbuilt as she is a few hundred kilograms over design weight. Considering her many years in the water, she was in very good condition. Our refurbishment was going to be easier than we had expected.