By Brian Lee
They were the first boats I recall admiring. My dad’s boat, the Sedna, was a Penson ― a plywood gillnetter built the year I was born. It was fast and a great little boat but I felt pangs of disloyalty to her every time we’d pass one of those new Farrell boats.
Their crown-like dodgers made them stand out from most of the other flat-topped cabins on the grounds but I enjoyed the curves of their flared bow and ample rounded stern.They had an an ability to hold your eye, drawing your attention along proud graceful lines. They were sexy.
To my six-year-old eyes they made the other flattish-hulled plywood boats seem kind of homely. They were also faster than most with clean decks and fittings that didn’t look like they were installed by a fisherman. They brought a pleasure boat esthetic to a commercial industry that didn’t worry much about looks.
That’s not to say there weren’t beautiful fish boats already bobbing around out there.
Later on I’d come to appreciate other builders like Gooldrup, Wahl or Frostad but the Farrells always stood out for me. No boat is perfect and I’ve heard it said that Farrells have some deficiencies as traditional fish killers. “They were built by someone who never fished,” means some practical considerations may have been overlooked in favour of a crisp design.
But commercial fishermen are utilitarian creatures who value square usefulness and don’t adopt new ways easily. So it’s a testament to the quality of the Farrell boat that word of mouth sparked an enormous demand for the boats in a very short time. The Farrells became the most popular boat ever to break into BC’s commercial fishing industry. They were at the forefront of a boatbuilding revolution in which lighter, faster hulls could suddenly be mass produced.
Fibreglass boats required much less maintenance than their wooden sisters and despite early concerns by wood holdouts, they were durable. And Barrie Farrell’s timing was perfect, coming along at a time when fishing regulations rewarded speedier boats.
The fact that he went broke a couple of times despite enormous success points to the fact that, like many of the names in BC’s boatbuilding history book, he was a better builder than he was a businessman. But history rarely concerns itself with how much money was earned or lost.
Barrie Farrell’s legacy floats on in the number of his boats — whether they carry his name or not — that still work and play on the Coast.
And, if you talk to him, he seems fine with that.
(For more about Barrie Farrell’s
boatbuilding career, see p. 12.)
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