Bruce Farr talks about his life with Ben Stanley, NZ Herald 21 Apr, 2020.
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Farr’s childhood home in Leigh, near where his Scottish-born father Jim was a commercial fisherman at nearby Ti Point. His son first started working on boats at 13, with his first real builds Moth and Cherub sailing dinghies and 18-foot skiffs.
By 1971, a 22-year-old was working out of his mother’s sewing room, designing his first keelboat. Designed for Rob Blackburn, the 26-foot ‘Titus Camby’ won the New Zealand Half-Ton Championships in 1972 and 1974 and really helped put Farr on the map.
“They were heady times for me,” he says. “At that time, I’d just started up on my own as a designer and builder. I saw [the Titus Camby] as a huge challenge because the only experience I had was the experience of other people’s keelboat designers.
“The number of hours was just exponentially out of proportion to the finished product because I wanted to do it well. I guess that’s a failing I’ve had all my life. I accept nothing except the absolute best I can do.”