PORT TOWNSEND — An upcoming presentation that features women mariners telling true sea stories will subsidize an educational program for young women interested in maritime trades.
She Tells Sea Tales, set for 7 p.m. Saturday, March 12, at the Northwest Maritime Center, 413 Water St., “supports the mission to get young women involved in the maritime trades,” said teacher Kelley Watson, the program’s coordinator.
“For two or three hours, 200 people will listen to competent women mariners share their stories. Anyone who shows up can say, ‘I can do that.’ ”
Tickets — $15 for adults and $5 for youths — are available at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-sea-tales. Children younger than 12 will be admitted free.
Telling their tales
Those telling their tales will be former Adventuress Capt. MB Armstrong, as well as Kim Carver, Robin Dudley, Merilee Evans, Sarah Felder, Erin Fristad, Nancy Israel, Christine Jacobsen, Jean Scarboro and Ace Spragg.
The event subsidizes the Girls’ Boat Project, which is in its fourth year of providing free-of-charge woodworking and sailing instruction for young women in Jefferson County.
The program includes light food, cider and beer, with all sales benefiting the program.
Past two years
The event has raised about $4,500 in each of the past two years, an amount Watson said represents its total budget.
“Everything goes directly to the program, and we have no other funding source,” Watson said.
“When we run out of money, we run out of programs.”
This year, the program includes 10 middle school and high school students who are learning woodworking and who will sail on the maritime center’s longboats this spring.
The group meets one Wednesday and one Saturday per month to learn woodworking and sailing.
Watson said the program could include more people, but 10 students “is a sweet place” for class size.
Watson, 42, who has worked in the marine trades since her 20s, said she hasn’t faced tremendous hurdles but wants to make it easier for those who follow.
“I’ve always wanted to find ways for young women to work in the marine trades and not feel like an anomaly,” she said.
“I want to create space for young women to learn these skills where they are not seen as weird.”
Watson said Port Townsend has a large number of women mariners who own businesses and act as boat captains because the town is “more evolved.”
For more information, email kwatson@ptschools.org.
_________
Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
