BILL O'LEARY IS A MULTI-TICKETED PROFESSIONAL MARINER LIVING IN PHUKET THAILAND
 
Here's a video for Thai Cable Tourist TV called "Diving with Billo"
By Justin of Ants Media
 
The O'Leary family crest depicts a sailing ship and a red lion under a sword with Gaelic 'Laidir is e lear righ' or "Strong is the King of the sea".


The ancestry is lived on with both Bill and elder brother John O'Leary choosing careers as boatmen. Bill in Thailand and John in Australia.

BILLO'S BOATING HISTORY

Bill enjoyed all things nautical from an early age. His Irish immigrant father, the famous Flying Doctor Tim O'Leary was a keen boater keeping a fishing dinghy at their holiday home on the canals at Rio Vista on Australia's Gold Coast.

As a teenager Bill loved the water - swimming competitively, board-surfing, fishing, diving and water-skiing.
Deciding life was more fun on boats, he acquired his first Queensland Marine Department speedboat license at age 18, a commercial Whitsundays Launch Master certificate at 23, a Queensland Marine Department USL Code Unrestricted Master Class V at 26, a Honduran 500 Ton license at 31, a Thai Marine Department 200-ton Masters at 33 and more recently an RYA / MCA 200-Ton offshore yachtmasters at 47.


His personal boating adventures span 3 decades. He purchased a share in a 36-foot spotty-gum carval-planked cutter-rigged-ketch called "Garuda" back in 1982. It was a classic British racing green hull that was converted from a commercial mackerel trawler. It had maroon rags and looked great - but it sailed worse than a fridge door.
Regardless; he called it home and sailed Queensland's east coast and sailed Queensland's east coast instead of taking cheap flights and other comfortable means of travel. He became known as a drifting hippie vagabond finding work as a professional rugby league player and small boat skipper in the Whitsundays.



The famous 'Garuda' en-route to the Airlie Beach Fun Race in 1983

After mucking around skippering 'Tinnies' on Linderman Island, crewing alloy Cats and Wavepiercers to the Great Barrier Reef on Hamiton Island, day-sailing skipper on Hutch's 'Banjo Patterson' and finally delivering the famous 'Stormvogel' from Australia to Phuket in 1987; he thought he knew a bit about boating.
How wrong he was!
He didn't know diddly-squat... and humbly accepts that he's still learning much about boats today. The technology is changing so fast - it's almost impossible to keep up.


After arriving in Phuket, Bill and Carolyn stayed on chartering 'Stormvogel' in the Andaman Sea to Phuket's first European guests. The waters around Phuket were deserted. In anchorages like Phi Phi, Similans, Krabi and Phang Nga Bay they were often the only vessels in the bays.
Bill discovered many of the now-famous tidal caves and sink-hole 'hongs' in Phang Nga Bay by paddling inside them on his surfboard in 1987; long before a single commercial sea-canoe had ever entered them.



'STORMVOGEL' and Billo are the same vintage - 1961. She stays close to his heart after carrying him to a new life of fun and adventure in Thailand in 1987.
Bill and Carolyn fell in love with Phuket ( who wouldn't ) jumping ship to work at the famous Amanpuri late in 1988 - just after it opened. Bill retired as General Manager of Amancruises in Febuary 2009 after 20+ years at the helm.

Amanpuri was the first and remains the flagship property of Amanresorts, famous for having created a brand of small intimate luxury resorts for the world's most wealthy and discerning travelers.



AMANPURI'S POOL DECK
REMAINS ONE OF THE MOST PHOTOGRAPHED SCENES IN THE KINGDOM
 
AMANCRUISES

Amanpuri did not only secure the only beach worth developing for clients at the super luxury top end - It secured a luxury fleet of boats - incorporating this landmark decision with Amancruises birth in 1988. Bill joined the team in the same year. 

During the setup and ongoing management of Amancruises, Asia's most exclusive motor-yacht charter company; Bill operated, maintained, crewed and chartered more than seventy charter vessels and trained upwards of 120 Thai crew.

He would not have been able to achieve any of this without the support and professional technical assistance of his best friend Captain Jimmy Blee,

who has since moved down to Indonesia to operate his own ship-building and marine services company - Indonesian Marine Services. The one-stop shop for all things marine related in Indonesia.


HISTORY OF PHUKET'S LUXURY YACHTING INDUSTRY

Andy Dowden, Vincent Tabateau, Jan Jacobs and Bill O'Leary kick-started Phuket's luxury Marine Tourism industry back in the late 1980's.
They were laughing known locally as the FAB FOUR.
Long before there were any marinas in Phuket, this group incorporated Phuket Yacht Services who built a marine operations base at Laem Phrao near the Sarasin Bridge.

Back then Phuket Yacht Services (PYS ) was the first and only purpose-built floating jetty and marine maintenance base in Thailand -- offering technical services to Amancruises, Thai Marine Leisure, East West Siam and assisting the first SUNSAIL bare-boat charter base in Asia.

PYS operated from 1989 - 1995 before the partners agreed to sell it to the Prataraprasit family who constructed The Yacht Haven marina on the same site.

Together with Andy, Vincent and Jan, Billo invested in Thai Marine Leisure Co. Ltd. and built charter and marine service centers at Laem Phrao, Bang Tao Beach and Rattanachai Shipyard in town.

TML were the first agents for marine hull insurance providers QBE and they oversaw the building of several commercial Thai vessels including Ed Tuttle's famous "Maha Bhetra" and converted "Rice Barges" for Bill Heinecke's Royal Garden Resorts in Bangkok in the mid 90's.

SAILING GUIDES TO THAILAND AND THE ANDAMAN SEA

TML provided all the technical information for the first sailing guides to Thailand - "Sail Thailand" first published in 1990. This publication had 4 editions.

Billo and Andy sold out from TML in 2000 but retained the rights for the sailing guide creating the first ANDAMAN SEA PILOT with friend Grenville Fordham and Image Asia in 2004. This year's ASP will be their 3rd edition.

Well actually, this year's cruising guide has just been launched and it has a new name.
THE SOUTH EAST ASIA PILOT

 
Alan Parkhouse wrote a full page article in Sunday edition Bangkok Post on 23rd August  2009. Read how he says it's 'The Yachtsmans' Bible' for yachts visiting Asia.


FIBERGLASS BOAT BUILDING

 Billo loves building boats!

 Billo and long-time friend Tony Green started building STEPPA BOATS in 1990.



Billo and Tony onboard "Siamseas" a 36 foot Steppaboat recently built for Four Seasons Resort Koh Samui

The name "Steppa" is derived from Captain Stephen ( Steppa ) Marks a good friend who slaved away building the first designs for H20 Sportz and Phuket Water Taxi Co. Ltd back in 1990. Steppa's legacy lives on in Phuket with these fantastic fast versatile fiberglass boats.


STEPPA 36 Flybridge Design at the Similan Islands

From a small shed at the south end of Bang Tao beach to the Steppa Boats factory in Phuket Town, Billo and Tony have produced over 50 vessels for commercial and private pleasure use throughout Asia.
Billo's personal favorites for commercial charter work are the "STEPPA 36" flybridge monohull 'Plabin' ( Flying-fish in Thai ) designs and the "STEPPA CAT 3500" a composite closed cell foam flybridge cat.


STEPPA CAT 3500
During the tsunami Billo was on-board "Blowfish" - an original Steppa 36 with Anil Thadani and jumped the surge wave after 'hiding out' between Koh Yao Yai and Yao Noi as it hit the west coast.
From this experience Billo wrote the charity book Tsunami Stories Thailand - detailing 16 friends personal tales of survival - he's currently adapting it to screenplay.




Billo has extensive knowledge of the Andaman Sea area and remains available to answer any questions fellow boating enthusiasts may have for him.






BILL AND WIFE CAROLYN ENJOY LIFE AS GUESTS ON BOARD SUPERYACHT 'SENSES' AT THE TUAMUTOS TAHITI 2006

BILL'S FAVORITE BOAT IN PHUKET?
- NO CONTEST -



THE 1931 CLASSIC - "MAID MARIAN II" SEEN HERE AFTER HER LATEST REFIT





THEN A CLOSE SECOND WOULD BE

 
Blowfish - the tsunami jumper. Bill and his kids were on this boat during the Tsunami
 
 
 
 
Here's the new "Diving With Billo" from the Thailand Treasures TV Show done by my mate Justin Weily. Shows Anil's Pershing and a bit of what I'm up to lately.
 
ENJOY
 
 
 
SAFE BOATING
 
If you're interested in having Bill involved in your boating activities, check out his Australian Superyachts Crew Application or Contact Bill on 081-8912895