Bill O'Brien

Bill O'Brien was a catamaran designer. It was said that he built his first by lashing two pig trough's together aged 7. Born in Dublin in 1920, Bill grew up on a farm in the Irish town of Carlow.

After serving as a rear gunner in the RAF, stationed in Egypt in the Second World War, Bill moved to Weston in Hampshire to work in the aircraft industry in Hamble where he worked with the company setting up a boat section.

During this time he designed and launched the catamaran class Jumpahead. The JUMPAHEAD was introduced at about the same time as the Prout SHEARWATER, and was one of the earliest 'production' catamarans from the UK. It is thought that several hundred were built. In the early 1960's, a very few of a fiberglass version were built by Grampian Marine. Originally drawn in 1946 Jumpahead was launched as a class which Bill pioneered seeking support from the Prouts and others to get catamaran racing started in the UK in the 1950's. 

His first production cruising catamaran design was the 22 foot Shamrock built by  Hawker Siddeley Hamble Ltd where bill was employed as a naval architect. He then started his own company selling Bobcats which were popular family cruisers at 8 metres and 10 metres. Built solidly in timber and sheathed ply they had an energetic sales force in Tom Lack and his family. More than 200 were sold. Later Tom Lack set up his own successful business with a range of grp catamarans called Catalacs. they followed a similar patten to the Bobcat with "v" chined hulls and full bridgedeck, low rigs and very high stability.

The grp Oceanic 30 foot motorsailer was a popular ocean voyager from Bill's board and one of his last designs was the Amazon also a grp catamaran. A version of this called the Channel Rover was designed to be self righting with a masthead float and a weighted keel under the bridgedeck. Many of Bill's designs sailed trans ocean. The Swale family sailed around the world via Cape Horn in their Oceanic Anneliese between 1971 and 1974. later Bill designed them a around the World racing catamaran called Granary Loafer. Rosie Swale (now famous as Rosie Pope-Swale - an adventurer and charity fund raiser) wrote a series of books about their adventures and bringing up very young children while sailing a catamaran around Cape Horn.