Sailmaker to row route of canceled SEVENTY48

PORT TOWNSEND — A solo rower intends to travel the SEVENTY48 course in June despite the race having been canceled.

Emiliano Marino, author and sailmaker, who has twice rowed the SEVENTY48 race course round trip and twice circumnavigated Kitsap Peninsula, will celebrate his 70th birthday on what was to be the day of the race, June 5.

“A seventy-mile pull, a mile for each year of my life,” Marino said. “ I can’t let that pass just cause the official race is called off.”

The Northwest Maritime Center on Friday canceled SEVENTY48 along with Race to Alaska in June; the Salish 100, Pocket Yacht Palooza and the Palooza Crooza in July; and the Wooden Boat Festival in September.

Marino is the lone member of Team Artful Sailor. He will row TASWENS from the starting line at the Glass Museum in Foss Waterway, Tacoma to Port Townsend.

The name of the boat, a 15.5-foot Bolger design Gloucester Gull Dory, is an acronym for The Artful Sailor Whole Earth Nautical Supply.

“There’s a lot of meaning in it for him,” said Pami-Sue Alvarado, owner of The Artful Sailor, “and we know there are a lot of people who will be disappointed by this.

Said Marino, a consultant for The Artful Sailor, in a press release: “Team Artful Sailors’ rowing is a tribute to the spirit of the people involved in all the boating events that have been called off for the summer and fall of this year.”

This will be his third time rowing the route.

In the race’s inaugural year, he finished in just under 39 hours, Alvarado said, adding that his second year, he improved, crossing the finish line in just under 29 hours

Marino, the author of the “Sailmakers Apprentice: A Guide for the Self-Reliant Sailor,” emphasized that he will be entirely on his own.

“Same parameters: course, no cheating, human-powered, maximum 48 hours but, this time no fees, no inspections, no classes, no general support boats, no monitoring, no trackers, no parties and no prizes,” he said in the release.

He’ll be responsible for his own welfare and for recording his own finish time at City Dock in Port Townsend.

“It’s kind of a flash birthday boating cruise by moonlight,” Marino said.

He plans to leave for Tacoma from the Northwest Maritime Center boat ramp in Port Townsend early June 1.

“I might be able to use sail power on the way down, but on the return it’ll be strictly human-power, just like the SEVENTY48 race would have been.” he said.

Other than a cell phone he’ll have no electronics aboard. Navigation will be entirely by chart, compass, nature and past experience, according to the release.

All the safety gear that would have been required in the SEVENTY48 will be aboard, plus the provisions and camping gear necessary for the venture.

“I was really up for the SEVENTY48, the first to register, in fact,” Marino said.

”What it comes down to is this: if someone calls off a ruckus, you gotta raise your own.”

Follow Team Artful Sailor and TASWENS at instagram.com/theartful sailor, Facebook.com/the artfulsailor and www.theartfulsailor.com.