The team at Hunda had decided to ask the public for help when they couldn’t agree on a name for the Scottish built vessel, and the call for ideas went out on social media.
Orcadians were tasked with suggesting a name inspired by the local geography, in keeping with Scottish Sea Farms’ regional tradition in Orkney.
Smaller vessels in the area are named after Orkney folklore, such as Mither o’ the Sea and Stoor Worm, while larger boats, such as Eday Sound and the Sandoyne Lass, take their names from places.
The response from the public was overwhelming – with 79 suggestions via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and email – and choosing between them was a tough task.
After much deliberation, Hunda Farm Manager Martin Mladenov, along with Orkney Regional Manager Richard Darbyshire and Orkney Engineering Manager Myles Heward, awarded prizes for the three best names.
Third place went to ‘Hunda Rose’, suggested by seven-year-old Robbie from Burray, via his mum Hannah Thomson. Robbie wins a £25 voucher for Kirkwall Bid & Beyond.
Second place was ‘Hunda Heather’, put forward by Lorna Coupar (Drever), who wins a £50 voucher.
The winning name of ‘Laxigar Lass’ was suggested separately by Helen Davidson and Ingrid Mackenzie. They will each receive a £100 voucher and will be invited to be guests of Scottish Sea Farms at the official naming ceremony.
Together, they’ll be given the honour of smashing a bottle of J. Gow Spiced Rum (produced at Lambs Holm, the closest distillery to Hunda farm) over the bow of the new workboat.
All four winners will then be invited to visit the new farm at Hunda once it is stocked in the early autumn.
Darbyshire said: ‘We thought we might receive a couple of dozen suggestions to pick from, but the challenge of coming up with a name for the new workboat seems to have really caught the imagination of the Orkney public.
We’d like to thank everyone who took part in our competition, which resulted in a really strong name that we likely wouldn’t have come up with ourselves.
‘It’s deeply rooted in the local geography of Hunda, but with ‘lax’ being Old Norse for salmon, it’s also a nod to our Norwegian ties past and present.’
The £705,000, 17m workboat, currently under construction at Northwind Engineering in Kishorn, is due to be delivered by the end of July.
Scottish Sea Farms is investing £3.2 million in the Hunda farm, which will have 12 x 100m pens and has consent for 1,677 tonnes of biomass.