for sale in our Wooden Boat Chandlery year-round. This year, we’re happy to feature four maritime authors doing presentations. Their books will be on sale at the Cupola House, sponsored by the Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader newspaper, 120 years old this year. Historians, boat designers, tool and children’s authors are all featured in the expanded Wooden Boat Chandlery Bookstore in the Cupola House. Come inside!
Highlights Continued from 10
Ask a Shipwright include: PTMTA Tent near the Woodworking Stage and the Boat Yard Stage (near Travelift). See Schedule for times and names of some of our top, willing shipwrights from PT Shipwrights Co-op, Haven Boatworks, Taku Marine, Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding in Port Hadlock, Sea Marine, Freya Boatworks, Townsend Bay Marine, PT Marine Trades Association, several independents and Charlie Noble. There’s a load of talent, heaps of generosity and tons of humor that keep the best of wooden boat culture thriving in this town.
Marina Room Presentations
Located in the long white building opposite the main gate, across the harbor, this is our best venue for PowerPoint and slide shows (until we open the Northwest Maritime Center Maritime Heritage Building in early 2010). Nearly always packed to the gills, be sure to check the “Marina Room” column in the Schedule or our website, and arrive early for presentations. Enter the Marina Room by walking up the harborside stairs near the Shanghai restaurant, and turn left. Big thanks to Fisheries Supply for sponsorship this year.
Edensaw Woodworking Stage & Boatbuilding Area
Sponsored annually by lifetime WBF members and certified “smart wood” specialists Edensaw Woods, the Woodworking Stage is the center of an entire area of wooden boat builders, schools and demonstrations. Along with top tool companies such as Festool, a leader in innovative, functional top-quality tools for 75 years, and System Three Coatings based in Seattle, there’s a full array of expertise to round out the hands-on tool and boatbuilding at “The Point.” Watch shipwrights and craftspeople in action: caulking, corking, steam bending, planing, oar making, stitch and glue, strip
planking and more. Ongoing demonstrations and great views of the shipping lanes and regattas, combined with bleachers and a Saturday satellite Beer Garden, make it easy to take a seat and enjoy the show! Be sure to stop by the Port Townsend Marine Trades tent nearby to pick up cards.
Compass Rose: A Few Left
Go Sailing Thursday and Support Teen Sailing
Competitive racing returned to Port Townsend in 2007, thanks to collaborative efforts by coaches Erik Coburn, Spencer Snapp, Jim Daubenberger and parents Leslie McNish and Sugar Flanagan of Schooner Alcyone. NWMC’s Rob Sanderson, board and staff, YMCA and a host of local volunteers and parents keep this program growing. Port Townsend sailors raced at NWISA events all over the region and hosted several regattas this year. Boats this year are: Alcyone, Annie Too, Bryony, Crusoe, Grail, Lotus, Martha, Pleiades and Sumatra. Each boat can carry three to six guest/crew, depending on their size. Sail is Thursday, Sept. 10 from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. Only 50 spots are available for $100 per person. For more information, call Jeff or Martine Gibbons at 360-385-2043. All money goes to the Teen Sailing program fund at NWMC & WBF.
Get On the Water During Festival!
Row, haul, tack, reef, paddle or experience a biodiesel or electric motor! There are dozens, if not hundreds, of ways to get on the water or learn something new at dockside during festival. Row and sail NWMC & WBF longboats, the eight-oared, three-masted historic replicas of those used by Peter Puget and Capt. Vancouver when mapping Puget Sound, or paddle a Pygmy kayak. Experience the fast and agile northwest classic Thunderbird 26’ with NWMC sailing instructors. Sail on one of our region’s historic vessels:
12 • 2009 WOODEN BOAT FESTIVAL
Check out the exhibits on display outside and in the boat shops. Photo by Jan Davis
Schooner Adventuress, Martha, Mycia, the halibut schooner Merrie Ellen and Virginia V. All these options and more await you at Center Dock, NWMC or at Cupola House. Sign-up sheets are posted at 9 a.m. daily. Sign up early! Several exhibitors provide demo opportunities in water. Talk to Pygmy Kayaks, Adirondack Guide Boats, Devlin Boats or go sailing with one of the boats for sale or participating in the Festival Regattas! Kids can launch their boats in the old boat-launch area, and on Sunday, watch for the Family Boatbuilding boat launchings at NWMC beach.
Maritime Heritage, Membership & Northwest Maritime Center
Want to know more about our working waterfront community and region? Take your time visiting every vendor, going in each building and aboard each boat. Before you leave, be sure to take a tour of the Northwest Maritime Center & Wooden Boat Foundation. Just a half a block away, visit the restored Jefferson County Historical Society Museum, or take a quarter-mile walk through the historic district to visit Port Townsend’s Public Library Maritime Collection, or head down the beach to the PT Marine Science Center. There’s so much to do in Port Townsend
year-round. Talk with staff at the NWC Member Desk at the Main Gate or step into Cupola House and become a Member. Join online at woodenboat.org or when you come to the festival. Members receive one day free or half off a three-day pass, as well as receiving discounts in the Wooden Boat Chandlery and in NWMC programs all year.
Guided Beach Walk & Snorkel Discoveries
Walk with Libby Palmer, the cofounder of the Port Townsend Marine Science Center and the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding, on Saturday from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Learn how salmon depend on tiny fish such as herring, sand lance and surf smelt – and how we can help protect them. Walks begin at the Cupola House steps. On the other side of the Festival campus, at the NWMC Dock, touch and learn about sea creatures with Anne Murphy, executive director of the PTMSC at Fort Worden State Park, and her snorkel and neoprene-clad friends who will transport sea creatures to and from their underwater homes on Saturday at noon.
Maritime Authors
We love books and feature them in our Library and
From the upper decks or standing in the middle while taking a bearing on True North, the Compass Rose public art at the NWMC & WBF commons is something to behold. Of the 1,500 pavers purchased in support of the project, Port Townsend residents account for 745; Port Hadlock residents 39; Port Ludlow 38; Port Angeles 25; Sequim 20. Off the peninsula, Seattle residents account for 117 pavers; California 43; New Mexico 4; Canada 4. The farthest away? Jonas Goodall of Denmark. A few pavers can be purchased during Festival. See Len Goldstein at the Compass Rose throughout the weekend.
Memorial Bell Toll: Sunday morning
At the Compass Rose at 10 a.m. Sunday, we begin a new tradition. The Memorial Bell Toll was started by Chris Kluck in 2001 and has continued inside the Festival grounds at Main Tent ever since. “Now, everyone can participate,” says Kaci Cronkhite. “This wonderful idea and tradition can now happen on the public waterfront during the Festival. No ticket required. No gates to enter. A public place for a personal tribute.” The bell will toll for at least nine mariners and community who crossed the bar this year: John Doney, Norm Blanchard, Peter Simpson, Phil Bolger, George Calkins, Laurie Dowsett, Jack Pompeii, Ed Lamberson, John Vanderbeek. Nine bells, a moment of silence, a few words, and the scattering of a handful of rose petals. Everyone welcome.
Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader