Autobiography of Richard Woods
The internet and web sites in general can be very impersonal, so the aim of this page is to show that boats designed at Woods Designs are designed by a person, not a computer!
(Note this autobiography was written in 2001 amd is copied from the www.sailingcatamarans.com website)

I sailed my first catamaran in 1959, which means I could be considered a pioneer, if it wasn't for the fact that I was only 5 years old at the time, and my Dad had built my 6' long cat out of scrap timber and oil cans! But the (rather shaky) photo does show me sailing with my 2 year old brother as crew.The boat was safely tied to Dad who was holding a (very) long painter!

So, my first real sailing was in dinghies, first the Poole AB, a local children's class somewhat similar to the Optimist. But I stopped racing that once I had won the National Championships and moved on to the Mirror dinghy.A 9th place at the European Championships and second junior was my best result. I also found time to race monohulls in the Solent, mainly 1/4 tonners and 1 Tonners.

Then came a succession of International Moths (probably the most extreme singlehanders ever designed). A 10th place in the Europeans came just before I started as a yacht design student at the Southampton College of Technology.
I had been on an electronic engineering degree course at Imperial College, London University, but after 2 years I realised I prefered sailing to working in a factory, so left in 1975. The Southampton course was (maybe still is) the only full time yacht design course in the world. Many famous designers have studied there, Bill Dixon was in my year, Dave Alan Williams the year above, Ed Dubois had also been a student there. I left in 1978 with distinctions in design, structures and stability.

As an aside: This technical background obviously helps me design good, safe boats, but it also led me to being asked to sit on the ISO stability committee. This international committee has been meeting for many years and comprises known experts in their fields and discusses and formulates rules for all craft. I am the only multihull designer on the committee, other members have expertise in power boats and monohulls. I also used my dinghy sailing and rowing boat design work to help with small boat stability. I have since been asked to sit on the UK's MCA small craft advisory working group. I don't believe in bureaucracy so always consider the needs of sailors and boatbuilders first. It doesn't always make me popular!
Throughout my dinghy sailing and monohull racing days I had maintained my interest in catamarans - monohull design simply didn't interest me at all. I remember as a child I was always making catamaran models and dreaming of winning races or sailing oceans - always in catamarans.

Despite advancing years(!) my love of dinghy racing has not diminished. I have always favoured fairly extreme singlehanders, and raced a Blaze for two years - only selling it after I had won the National Championships.

I then decided there was a market for a home builders performance singlehander and so I built the 14' Stealth.

It seems from the above that all I do is sail - well maybe that's true. My motto is "The sea is for sailing on, and boats are for sailing". So I don't mind what sort of boat I sail, so long as it sails well. In that respect I am very different from the majority of designers who tend to only sail their own boats (if they sail at all that is).

Apart from anything else I feel that they are missing out a lot, and their designs suffer as a result. Its only by experiencing all types of boat in all conditions that you can really learn what makes the ideal boat. As examples of this wide range of sailing experiences in the last few years I have been crewing on a First Class 8 racing monohull (we ended up club champions), represented my sailing club match racing and competed in numerous regattas in my Stealth dinghy. And that's not forgetting a trip back from the Mediterranean in a Flica 37, racing in the Capetown to Rio Race etc!

So, I'm not someone who became a yacht designer because they liked designing boats. Rather it was because I liked sailing, but couldn't find any designs that offer the compromise between comfort and performance that I wanted.

You've got this far and must now be wondering just why its important to know as much as possible about your chosen designer. Well, clearly for most people a large boat is a huge financial investment, often even more than their house (the materials alone for my Eclipse cost more than my apartment). But in some ways what is more important is that you will spend an even more valuable asset, that is your time on this earth, building and then sailing a boat. So its vital that you have a well proven boat and, to offset your time, one with a good resale value.

Maybe you are just looking at this site to just cover all your options, and actually plan to build another designers boat.

But before you do, I would urge you to check on their credentials. For example:

Have they been professionally trained as a yacht designer? (I have)
Have they had over 25 years experience as a full time boat designer? (I have)
Have they been successful at designing both cruising and racing boats? (I have)
Have they designed a large range of different types and sold in sufficient numbers to prove their designs? (I have)
Do they build, sail and OWN their own designs (I do)

In fact, if you chosen designer can answer "yes" to all these questions then I'd like to know who he is, for to my knowledge no one else comes close to having the same experience as I do.