Devon trawlerman returns home with super yacht and new bride – Fishupdate.com

Devon trawlerman returns home with super yacht and new bride Published:  23 August, 2010

A FORMER Devon trawlerman who used to fish the English Channel in an old herring drifter has sailed back to his home county – this time in a £100 million super yacht.

Guy Barnett from Dartmouth gave up fishing more than seven years ago and emigrated to Canada where he went to work for John Risley, one of North America’s biggest seafood tycoons.

John Risley not only founded and is owner of Clearwater Seafood based in Nova Scotia, but also has one of the largest fishing fleets on the other side of the Atlantic. He started in business with just a small shop selling lobsters and other shellfish. He charted the yacht as a wedding present for the couple.

Now Mr Barnett has just married Sarah Risley, the boss’s daughter and heiress to the business in Nova Scotia. He told reporters on his return to Dartmouth: “We came back for a wedding reception on the yacht so that our friends here could attend.“It was a great party and we had about 80 guests in the evening, including some of my childhood. It is fantastic and very homely inside.

He added: “I met Sarah when I was working on a yacht as deck crew and she was a guest. We married in Canada and came back for the reception on the Northern Star. It was great fun.”  Mr Risley’s empire also includes a telecommunications firm which operates in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as a fisheries research and development business. The firm has trawlers and fish processing plants throughout Eastern Canada.