James Backus was born in 1946. He attended Bryant College in Providence, Rhode Island, working for residential architects while attending Bryant. Jim applied for, and was accepted to, the Rhode Island School of Design Masters Architecture program but was then drafted into the US Marines. To complete college, Jim joined the US Marines on a 180-day delay program, with grad school put on hold. A near fatal helicopter incident caused Jim to fear heights so he turned his attention to yacht design.

Jim graduated from the Westlawn School of Yacht Design, apprenticed with Pearson Yachts in Portsmouth, Rhode Island and worked as a designer with Robert H. Perry, Yacht Designers, Seattle, Washington. In 1982 Jim opened his own office and his first design was the Victory 37 tug. Jim designed production and custom boats, commercial fishing boats and pleasure boats, in fiberglass, aluminum, traditional wood and plywood.

Jim moved back to Connecticut when a recession hit, accepting the Chief Instructor position at Westlawn while continuing to design. He became president of Westlawn and held that position for seven years. Much of his later work was in conceptual design development having transitioned from traditional hand drawing to computer-developed designs.