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Asia Catamarans, Phuket’s most success- ful boatbuilding company, was officially launched in 2013. Today it has built 25 sail and power catamarans.
The company’s manager Alan Carwardine designed and built his first stealth catamaran in Brisbane, a Stealth 12c called, As mad as a cut snake, which he launched on 2007 while he was the Man- ager of Allyacht Spars (that boat is still doing well on the Australian race course winning a Brisbane to Gladstone Yacht Race not too long ago). Prior to this period Alan designed and built many of Australia’s fast monohull sports boats and trailer-sailers
At that time, there wasn’t a designer out there who could design a cat Alan liked that focused on performance, ergonomics and was suited for tropical climate conditions so he designed one himself. But he soon realized that catamarans couldn’t be built profitably in Australia because of the costs associated with labour, sheds, service, and insurance – Alan always knew he had to go to Asia if he wanted to build boats for a business. Alas, many designers can’t sell their designs because they can’t get their boats built.
Alan moved to Thailand in 2009, working as the Asia-area manager for the UK deck hardware company Lewmar. During that time, he met Roger Diggelman of Composite Yacht Constructions, having helped consult on the Andaman Cabriolet catamarans Roger was building for Grenville Ford- ham and Bob Mott.
Alan’s second Stealth cat was Sidewinder, a Stealth 12.6c, which he built in Brisbane, but cut
up and shipped to Phuket in a 40-foot container where Roger assembled it at his yard in Phuket. It was launched in 2010 just prior to Phuket Raceweek, and sold to John and Libby Punch in 2012. They renamed it Nautilus and is now based in Darwin. It won the Darwin to Ambon Race a few years back and has been continually cruising thru Indonesian waters since bought.
Alan thought that joining forces with Roger would tick all the boxes for a future boat building and design business. Roger had a small company with
eight employees that Alan believed needed funding to expand the business, to build a new shed, and pur- chase some new tools, consequently the idea of Asia Catamarans was born. Most boat designers would kill to have the situation Alan has now, whereby he has his own facility to build his own designed boats but Alan is also much more multi-faceted than most designers given his boat-building and managerial background.
Realizing that an alliance with Roger would work, he informed Lewmar at the start of 2013 that he would be following his dream of being a full-time designer and builder of catamarans. With Roger and Alan as 50/50 partners Asia Catamarans was formed and immediately started production.
Alan then started with a brand-new page of Autocad and re-designed the Stealth hull and deck for a better look and better performance. The earlier two Stealths were a little “nose-divey” and pitchy. A new hull and deck mold was made and modern build- ing techniques adapted. The first boat under this new design was Hurricane, a Stealth 11.8s, built for Alan and his wife June, launched in January, 2012.