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Captain Ed Farley

After choosing to pursue an education by experience, Capt. Ed participated in the pilot internship programs of Dynamy in Worcester, Mass., and worked with the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School and the Apprecticeshop in Maine. Then, sailing south from New England in the fall of 1971 and discovering the Eastern Shore with its active fleet of working skipjacks., Capt. Ed had found "home". He holds a United States Coast Guard 100 ton auxilliary/sail license, and has been making his livelihood from sailing skipjacks and from wooden boat building and repairs ever since. He purchased his first vessel in 1975, and after extensive rebuilding, started utilizing the skipjack year round by oystering from November through March and for carrying charters during the warm months. In 1977, Capt. Ed had the privilege and pleasure of working with James Mitchner, who was researching his book Chesapeake. In 1985, Capt. Ed helped to develop and operate a sailing skipjack environmental educational program with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and over the next seven years carried in excess of 14,000 school children.

By 1990 the working fleet of skipjacks was diminishing along with the oyster population due to two viruses, MSX and Dermo. In an effort to save another of these last skipjacks, Capt. Ed sold his Stanley Norman (build 1902) to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and purchased the H. M. Krentz. After three years of effort the Krentz was ready for the Coast Guard inspection so that it too could earn its keep year round.

With a life long interest in outdoor, environmental, and experiential education, Capt. Ed, through Ecotourism and oystering, approaches the 21st century with a commitment to keeping the heritage of the working skipjack alive.