PORT TOWNSEND — If maritime heritage really floats your boat, the 30th annual Wooden Boat Festival is bound to put wind in your sails and a song in your heart.
With more boats than ever expected to be exhibited at or near Point Hudson Marina — about 200 — the festival runs today through Sunday.
“Bigger than ever,” said Dave Robinson, Northwest Maritime Center executive director, who was making the rounds Thursday as exhibitors were sailing in and setting up at Point Hudson.
Audrey McSperitt, the festival’s maritime information coordinator, said Thursday that about 175 boats would be exhibited on the water and another 25 on land.
It’s still not too late to catch an ear-splitting close-up shot of a cannon blast aboard the tall ship Privateer Lynx, which will challenge the tall ship Lady Washington in a mock battle in Port Townsend Bay.
There are still plenty of spaces aboard the Lynx, said Jeffrey Woods, Lynx Educational Foundation director, on Thursday.
On board tours of the Lynx and Lady Washington are scheduled during the festival, for donations.
The Lady Washington, which last visited Port Townsend in 2005 along with the Lynx and several other tallships en route to the Tacoma Tall Ship Festival, is a replica of the original Lady Washington.
The Lady Washington was painted in Port Townsend in 2002 for its appearance in the Disney movie, “Pirates of the Caribbean.”
The Lynx is an interpretation of an actual privateer named Lynx that was built by Thomas Kemp in 1812 in Fell’s Point, Md.
The vessels have visited the popular festival in past years.
New this year is a live broadcast of National Public Radio’s West Coast Live from the Wooden Boat Festival.
The broadcast will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday from the Main Stage, near the Cupola House at Point Hudson.
Hosted by Sedge Thomson, who last appeared at the Upstage in Port Townsend for last year’s Port Townsend Film Festival, the show is carried by KALW-FM in San Francisco, and usually is broadcast from Fort Mason.
Guests at the Wooden Boat Festival West Coast Live show will be:
* Tim Snider, one of the festival founders, a former editor at Wooden Boat magazine and a half-time resident of Port Townsend and Connecticut.
* Brion Toss, a local master rigger who prior to arrival in Port Townsend for a Wooden Boat Festival in 1979, was “Mr. Knot” on the Public Broadcasting Service.
* Carol Hasse, local sailmaker whose company is ranked “best in the world for cruising sails.” She is a founding Wooden Boat Foundation board member.
* Kaci Cronkhite, former Oklahoma cowgirl who first went sailing in Port Townsend in 1992, got hooked and sailed around the world.
She finished the circumnavigation at the Point Hudson dock and now in her fifth year as Wooden Boat Festival director.
Musicians for the broadcast include Bertram Levy, tango master and wooden boat owner instrumental in Wooden Boat Festivals since the 1970s; guitarist Joe Euro, who produces a classical and eclectic blend of acoustic guitar and a surprise guest to be announced, who is said to be a rock ‘n’ roll legend.
Tickets for the broadcast show, at $10, can be purchased on the West Coast Live Web site at www.ticketweb.com, or by phoning 1-415-664-9500.
Also new is the Wooden Boat Festival Symposium.
The event features evening presentations at the Point Hudson Marina Room.
Tickets are $10 at the door; $5 for Wooden Boat Foundation and Northwest Maritime Center members.
Other events include boatbuilding for children every day of the festival from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., fish-printing with the Port Townsend Marine Science Center from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, the Pirate Play for Families at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday and at 1 p.m. Sunday on the North Star Stage, and a treasure hunt at high noon on Sunday at the Jolly Roger flag at the Cupola House.
For adults, races and sail-bays are featured. For each, skippers meet at the Cupola House to begin the race.
The 26-feet and under sailing race begins at 1 p.m. today. The rowing race begins at 9 a.m. on Saturday and the Northwest Schooner Cup race begins at 2 p.m., also on Saturday.
Skippers meet at the Cupola House at 2 p.m. Sunday for the 30th Wooden Boat Festival Sail-by. At 3:30 p.m., nearly 200 boats will cruise Port Townsend Bay.
Musical performances on the Main Stage in the tent next to the Cupola House are scheduled through the event, and food vendors are scattered about the festival grounds.
Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
