By Philip L. Watness For Peninsula Daily News
PORT TOWNSEND — Landlubbers and sailors alike braved pelting rain Saturday afternoon to celebrate the opening of boating season.
Dozens of sailors with seawater in their blood got out in Port Townsend Bay to sail, row and pilot their craft in the Opening Day on the Bay and Parade of Boats.
With no wind, the sailboats had to power by as they gave the traditional salute to Port Townsend Yacht Club Commodore Fred Bell in his boat, Roundabout.
The yacht club opened the event to the community about four years ago, said Rob Sanderson of the Northwest Maritime Center, co-sponsor of the day’s events with the yacht club.
The rain didn’t daunt the several dozen boating enthusiasts and supporters on the maritime center pier.
They cheered on their friends and neighbors as they paraded past while Sanderson announced the crew and craft.
He said the weather “is a good idea of what you’re going to get around here” through the spring and summer.
The day featured the unveiling of the bronze sculpture “Three Otters” by Whidbey Island artist Georgia Gerber and a blessing of the boats by Pastor Wendell Ankeny of Port Townsend.
The event brought out Joel Goldstein of Port Townsend, a sailboat owner.
“This is when all your work is supposed to be done and you get to go out and enjoy it,” Goldstein said.
If the work isn’t complete, he said, “You go sailing anyway.”
Goldstein said the day belied the nature of Port Townsend’s boating community and commerce, Goldstein said.
“Some people who aren’t involved in the maritime trades don’t realize the reputation this place has in the rest of the country.
“This is a very special place in the hearts of sailors from all over the place.”
Port Townsend also welcomed dozens of sailors who had piloted the waters of Puget Sound from Seattle for the annual Race to the Straits, a two-day race from Seattle to Port Townsend and back begun 10 years ago.
Scull crews marched out of the maritime center boathouse before noon to prepare for the parade of boats.
The sculls, skiffs, sailboats and powerboats awaited the departure of the Chetzemoka ferry at 12:45 p.m. to signal the beginning of the parade.
Rat Island Rowing Club member Patricia Farmer said the opening day row was as pleasurable as other times on the water.
“Rowing is one of the most physical of exercises, but it’s also one of the most social,” Farmer said.
She was the coxswain Saturday in a Cox 4 sweep during the festivities.
As the scull crews entered the water, Gerber prepared to unveil Three Otters.
Perhaps best known for creating Rachel, the Market Pig in 1986 for the Pike Place Market in Seattle, Gerber said she felt honored to have been commissioned to create Three Otters.
“Already knowing the site, I knew it had awesome possibilities for a public piece,” she said.
She said she hoped the sculpture will welcome the same playfulness river otters exhibit naturally.
“I hope these three [otters] will soon be highlighted and burnished by children and adults touching it, sitting on it, and just mucking about with it,” she said in her unveiling speech.
Port Townsend artist Ray Grier said he was already thinking about placing fish bones or seaweed about the sculpture, just for the sheer fun of doing so.
Grier was among the onlookers of the parade along with Pastor Wendell Ankeny of the Trinity United Methodist Church of Port Townsend, who gave the annual blessing of the fleet.
Ankeny prayed for the boaters, the fishers, the naval servicemen and all those whose lives touch the water.
Longtime Port Townsend sailor Alex Spear got out on the water with Jake Beattie, maritime center executive director, on the 65-foot ketch Shawmanee, to watch the parade and enjoy the official opening day of boating.
“Boating goes on all year round here,” he said.
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Philip Watness is a free-lance writer and photographer living in Port Townsend.
