JS Yachts Designer
John Swarbrick – Founder JS Yachts talks about the artistry of yacht design and provides a glimpse into his new dinghy designs.
About JS Yachts
John Swarbrick comes from a family of yacht builders, who, under his father, Harley Swarbrick’s management, Swarbrick Bros became the largest builder of production yachts in Australia. The company was known for building seaworthy yachts that are easy to sail short handed which is why so many of their yachts made records for single-handed sailing.
The company built the first yacht to be sailed single-handed twice round the world (skipper Jon Sanders) and single-handed round the world by the two youngest skippers (David Dicks and Jessie Martin).
Current Focus
John’s focus in the last few years has been to draw upon his 50 years experience across a wide design palette to develop a range of smaller dinghies that are accessible and fun for all.
His expertise has resulted in the development of the signatory JS Yachts dinghy designs that marry the highest technology and well-engineered and ergonomically designed boats that can be sailed single handed by all age groups and levels of ability. His unique timeless design is minimalistic in its intelligent use of interchangeable sail plan configurations.
John Swarbrick
Designer of the America’s Cup Kookaburra series and the legendary JS-9000
John Swarbrick has been designing yachts since the age of 16. He lives in Albany, Western Australia, where he designs and tests his boats in Princess Royal Harbour and King George Sound.
John is notably known for his America’s Cup designs of the Kookaburra series, the Whitbread 60 series and his signatory design style seen in the JS‑9000.