For anyone with an interest in traditional wooden boat building, Port Townsend is one of the last places on the west coast where you can see traditional shipwrights plying their trade. Home to the Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building, The Boat Haven Shipyard, The Northwest Maritime Center, and the Annual Wooden Boat Festival, this is a town soaked in nautical history. Spend any amount of time there and it starts to feel like every other person you meet has gone on some incredible sea voyage, or is restoring some derelict yacht in their backyard. It's a romantic place to be sure, and every year I am fortunate to be invited to the NW Maritime center to teach a week long class in their amazing space, rubbing elbows with real boat builders, and lining my diminutive little watercraft up next to the beauty of varnished planking and copper rivets.
With a scaled version of my West Greenland kayak, two F1's, and two LPB's, we had plenty of diversity to keep things interesting. Sometimes a variety of boats can slow things down a bit, but the ample light, and warm, clean, spacious shop kept us on track for easy days. I love my barn, but it's hard not to have shop envy building in a space like this!
Walking the docks at lunch or visiting the chandlery with it's abundance of bronze and wooden sailing bits, one starts to feel the ache to build a small wooden sailer and set off on some ill-advised voyage. Fortunately, I grew up sailing on boats both big and small so I know the difference between the fantasy and the reality of such a project. It brings to mind words from the late Andrew McAuley on his voyage to sea kayak the coastline of Antarctica: "Sailing is the worst sport in the world, It's like standing under a cold shower while continuously tearing up money!"
So cool to check out all the other projects going on in the background. Bob (left) is building a new interior for the historic Schooner Adventuress, while Matthew (right) spiles new planking on a restoration in progress.
Fort Worden with it's labyrinth concrete barracks was a fun place to explore, and as a barefoot runner it's always sweet to kick off the shoes and feel new sand on my feet. One of the things that endears me to my fellow humans is that everywhere there is a beach and a scrap of wood, someone will always build a fort.
I stopped to gawk at the massive steel and wooden ships under restoration at the Boat Haven shipyard. I'd never seen big fishing boats drydocked before and I was struck by just how much of the mass lies below the waterline compared to a yacht of comparable shape and size.
We made some beautiful kayaks over the course of the week, and begrudgingly I learned to be a little less of a curmudgeon about my LPB design. It really is a pretty boat, even if it is more waterline than most people have any use for.
FInally it was time to launch, but the wind was blowing a sustained 25 knots. Not exactly ideal conditions for the first trip out in brand new boats, especially the tippier race boats and Greenland kayak!
Testing out a new version of the LPB I was almost certain that it was going to weathercock with that kind of a crosswind, so I was delighted when I took Lorens boat for a quick spin and it tracked on all points of wind! Nice.
A wing paddle with a skin-on-frame? Sure! Sheri is a seasoned racer and has the push to make the LPB sing.
Testing out a new version of the LPB I was almost certain that it was going to weathercock with that kind of a crosswind, so I was delighted when I took Lorens boat for a quick spin and it tracked on all points of wind! Nice.
A wing paddle with a skin-on-frame? Sure! Sheri is a seasoned racer and has the push to make the LPB sing.
Happy people in boats on the water. My work here is done.
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