I love the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival so much! When I moved to the Pacific Northwest I fell in love with this town with its boat traditions: the smell of pine tar and sawdust, the Port Townsend Sails sail loft (still incredible even if Carol Hasse is retired), the amazing Maritime Center and the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding, the Port Townsend Foundry where they cast amazing bronze fittings, and the amazing shipwrights like Leo rebuilding amazing boats like the Albert Strange-designed Tally Ho.
I started going to the PT festival years ago, and have probably been to 7 or 8 of them, which is a lot because I ALSO attend Seattle’s Lake Union Wooden Boat Festival AND the Mystic Seaport Wooden Boat Festival.
Yeah.
I know.
So 2017 was a nice year because my whole family joined me, and not just my wife and kids, but my stepdad Phil, my cousins Joyce and Jim, AND my cousins who live in Port Townsend Suzanne and Stephen. It was lovely. Some shots:
Epic lapstrake planking
Small day sailors are my favorite boats.
My beloved cousin Jim ties net and chats with someone about his riverboat "Olo"
A Caledonia yawl by Iain Oughtred.
Stepdad Phil taught me to sail and introduced me to boats.
Single cylinder motors have a wonderful "pok-pok-pok" sound.
Some of my favorite guys.
Pedal power is becoming popular in small boats, as is solar and hybrid.
Not all cool wood things are boats!
Cousins!
My family humors me.
My cousins hosted us for dinner. I gave them about forty minutes warning. Shameful!