Thursday, January 23, 2003

By Laurie Morrison

Nick Barron
ORANGE, Calif., - The Southern California Marine Association presented the Lifetime Achievement Award, its highest honor, to Hallett Boats’ president Nick Barron.

Barron, a cornerstone in Southern California's performance custom-boat industry since the 1960s, has created innovative new products while maintaining an exemplary reputation for quality and craftsmanship, officials said. Barron, a former SCMA president, sat for many years on its board of directors.

Hallett Boats, of Irwindale, Calif., has manufactured and sold its line of custom powerboats for more than 40 years. “Nick is really one of SCMA's strongest supporters. His willingness to serve the organization with his valuable time and wisdom has meant a great deal to the success of this association,”said Executive Director Dave Geoffroy.

In receiving the award, presented at the annual Christmas party Dec. 5, Barron shared the honors with his wife Shirley. He also called his wife a key member in the Hallett success story. “I've been fortunate to have such a great team of employees and loyal customers,” said Barron. “This has been an incredibly rewarding business, thanks to all of the people involved.”

Barron started in the business with a man named Hallett who built wooden boats. After years of racing, the company started producing more family-oriented boats. It later returned to manufacturing ski- and circle-racing boats as part of Barron’s love of developing new products.

Barron personally supervises the construction of every Hallett boat. By doing so, he has become an expert in all aspects of boat manufacturing - from design and engineering through rigging.

His vast experience has created a company recognized as innovators that produce boats of cutting-edge performance and technology without sacrificing standards of workmanship. The results are boats that achieve numerous speed records and receive industry awards. The company currently manufactures a line of 12 boats ranging from Player, a 21-foot electric boat to its 54-foot luxury performance craft.

When he first started, the company just sold bare hulls, and customers outfitted the rest of the boat themselves. Today, in a service-oriented society, people don’t even wash their boats themselves, he said.

But, with more people making time for recreation, yet flying less, Barron believes the boating industry will continue to grow this decade. He also said the industry may have to make some changes to comply with new and tougher environmental regulations.

Barron joins an exclusive group of lifetime-achievement award winners that include Clarence Herrmann, the first honoree in 1974; Catalina Yachts founder Frank Butler; Ed Nichols, SCMA's first executive director, and several former presidents including Bud Aronis and Ashley Hartman.

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