BARKER BOATWORKS 40, SLOWMOCEAN

A fast cat that's ready for any bluewater adventure

- SAM WHITE

Having a good relationship with a boatbuilder is always a great first step when you're ready to move into a new ride. That was the case with Gary Smith, a lifelong big-game fisherman from Fort Walton Beach, Florida, and owner of a 40-foot high-performance catamaran from Barker Boatworks.

"I had owned a 26 Barker and was just super impressed with not only the boat but also the people at the factory in Sarasota," he says. "They showed me the drawings for the 40 they were building and asked if I'd be interested. I had never even stepped foot on a cat before, but I said sure, just based on our past relationship." Having fished plenty of days and tournaments on his family's 66-foot Viking, Smith wanted to bring that big-boat aesthetic to the new build while also capitalizing on the inherent features of a catamaran design, namely plenty of real estate and high speeds, especially in the short, steep chop that's most frequently encountered in the northern Gulf of Mexico.

Both of those factors can be attributed to the Michael Peters-designed asymmetrical cat hull, according to Barker Boatworks president Kevin Basirico. "In a conventionally designed catamaran, you essentially have two V-bottom hulls side by side. In an asymmetrical boat, you're splitting a single V-bottom down the middle, which results in a sponson with a flat inside edge and an angled outside edge." The result is a superior ride and handling characteristics, and Peters should know-his cat designs have won 18 world championships on the high-performance racing side.