I know.  I promised to say something about the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival...and honestly, once again, I was blown away.  It is not only the largest wooden boat festival in the Pacific Northwest, but it is also the only place you are going to see 200 plus wooden boats sailing on the water in the traditional sail-by last day of the festival.

As Boatwright Jay Smith said to me...and I'm paraphasing here:  so many  beautiful wooden boats sailing in Port Townsend Bay is something you will never see anywhere else on the West Coast.  And, you know, he is right!

I spent Friday and Sunday at the festival.  On Friday, Cary Tolman and I took the ferry at Keystone and headed for Port Townsend.  The walk from the ferry dock to the NW Maritime Center is only 10 minutes.  Plus, there are some interesting shops, book stores, cafes, etc., along Water Street.  The City of Port Townsend has done a good job in making this area a wonderful downtown park with easy access to the water.

My plan was to visit the boats on Friday.  Talk to the owners, etc., and spent enough time to take a close look at the many large and small boats in the harbor.  Really, you have your pick...like a kid in a candy store.  I spent the morning talking to people who converted an old fishing boat to a liveaboard; and I talked with boat builder Sam Delvin who did the same thing.  I also talked with several boatwrights like Jame McMullen and Tom Regan (Emerald Marine Carpentry & Grapeview Point Boat Works) who have built boats designed by Iain Oughtred such as the popular ness yawl or the much larger caledonia yawl.

On Sunday, ACMC member Carolyn Barney and I returned to the festival to see the sail-by.  Like I said earlier, this is something you don't want to miss.  On the ferry, we met four other ACMC members -- Patty & Veron Lauridsen and Nikki & Herb McMurtry.  Later, we had a beer with Patty & Vernon at Sirens (highly recommended) while we watched the sail-by; and, we had dinner with Nikki & Herb at Tim's place located on the festival site near the inner harbor.

While Patty & Carolyn visited the downtown shops, Vernon checked out the boats.  I attended several workshops.  The festival does a great job in holding several different workshops on various marine related topics.  Workshops are on everything from sailing to Alaska, small craft ventures in the San Juan Islands, and especially, British Columbia, backyard boat building projects, boat maintenance and serious boat repair.  For example, I attended four workshops -  these included varnishing, corrosion problems, recent innovations in electronic navigation, and my very favorite, taking your wooden boat to Alaska presented by Anacorte resident Mark Bunzel.  Note, you really get your money's worth at these workshops.  They more than make-up for the $15 entry fee to the festival or $20 festival three-day pass.

There is a whole lot of things I could say about the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival.  Like, don't miss it next year!  The Director of the festival is Kacy Conkite.  She has done a wonderful job for several years; but unfortunately, I hear through the grapevine she is moving on, etc., and this is her last year.  So,  I just want to say "thank you Kacy " for a wonderful festival and some great times - Lyndon