PORT TOWNSEND — The 39th annual Wooden Boat Festival, which winds up today, provided a blend of the traditional and the modern under picture-perfect skies, organizers said.
“The Wooden Boat Festival is a paradox,” said Betsy Davis, executive director of the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding.
“It celebrates traditions that go back generations. It also provides relevance to new generations that is finding relevance and enjoyment working in maritime.”
The festival continues today from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in and around Point Hudson and the Northwest Maritime Center, 431 Water St.
At 3 p.m., the harbor will fill with boats in a “sail by” open to all boating participants.
Tickets for today are $15 per person or $10 for senior citizens, active military or teenagers. Children 12 and younger get in for free.
Barb Trailer, the festival director, said 220 boat owners pre-registered for the festival, and more may have come.
The festival supplied a comfort zone for repeat visitors, offering seminars, exhibitions, music and the opportunity for people to admire and inspect each other’s vessels.
While much is always the same, there are differences this year.
Details of a second Race to Alaska were announced, a historic boat was relaunched and a 30-foot-by-40-foot shallow pool was constructed so people could test their paddleboarding skills.
While the Northwest Maritime Center previously had announced the intention to sponsor a second Race to Alaska, more details about the event were released at a Friday night gathering that drew about 250 people, among them several race participants.
Jake Beattie, executive director of the maritime center, said the decision to run a second race wasn’t automatic.
“We had to do around two months of deliberation asking really hard questions, such as why do we want to do this, why is it important and why do people like it,” he said.
“We are going to take it one year at a time, so for all of you who are planning two or three years out, we may not do it two or three years out, so don’t get comfy with your assumptions.”
Like the first Race to Alaska, the second will begin in Port Townsend and end 750 miles later in Ketchikan, Alaska, with no restriction on crew or size but a requirement that boats travel without motors.
First prize will be $10,000, while the second boat to arrive will win a set of steak knives.
The inaugural race took place between June 4 and July 4 this year and drew 53 entries, with 16 finishing the race.
Forty finished the first leg, a 40-mile journey to Victoria. Twenty-nine teams continued on the 710-mile journey to Alaska.
The schedule has changed, with the race set to begin June 23 to accommodate student participation.
There are also several side bets, such as $1,000 for the first boat under 20 feet to finish and a small outboard awarded to the first boat to be seen by the sweep boat.
A third side bet is specifically targeted at billionaire yacht enthusiast Larry Ellison, Oracle Corp. co-founder.
Beattie promised Ellison his own set of steak knives should he finish the race, but it would have to be in a craft that raced in the America’s Cup. Ellison’s boats won the America’s Cup in 2010 and 2013.
Al Hughes of Team Elsie Piddock, which won first place this summer, said he wants to participate in next year’s race, “but since we borrowed the boat this year, we are going to have to borrow it next year.”
Hughes said he didn’t participate for the money, adding that he “sort of broke even” after earning the $10,000 prize.
On Saturday, the Rat Island Rowing Club relaunched the Kathy Lazara Whitman, a 62-foot-long wooden classic racing shell, taking it for a spin in the harbor following a five-month, $10,000 renovation.
Built in 1976 by Pocock in Everett, the boat accommodates up to eight rowers with two oars each.
It provides speed and stability beyond that of other craft, according to club member Francine Rose.
Rose said the newly restored craft will remain in the boathouse and be used by the club, although for special occasions only.
“It was a lot of work to get set up this year [for the festival] because we did some new things,” Trailer said.
“We built a paddleboard pool, and [entertainment venue] Bar Harbor is using zero plastic and is serving beer in mason jars.”
Trailer said the festival drew a good selection of boats.
“It’s been awesome,” she said.
“There is great energy and great boats.”
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
