Here in Port Townsend, known for some of the best summer festivals around, the season is winding down. Centrum kicked off the season with an array of music festivals and it’s closing with two of my favorites, the Wooden Boat Festival and the Film Festival. This year was the 36th anniversary of the Wooden Boat Festival. What started off as pretty much just a ‘party’ for locals with wooden boats has turned into a major attraction drawing 30,000 plus people and about 300 boats for three days of boating bliss. Point Hudson Marina was spilling over with every type of wooden boat, from small kayaks to the 115?/170 ton, classic schooner Pacific Grace.

Pacific Grace is a sail-training vessel based in Victoria, B.C. Every year more than 1,700 youths learn the ropes of sailing and crewman-ship. This was my first visit aboard this grand sailing ship and I’m here to say that although she’s only 58′ longer than our boat, Ave Maria (which we sailed around Baja California http://www.nancycherryeifert.com/albums/album2/album.html and click on Baja by Sea), what they say about a boat expanding proportionately in length, width, depth and height is an understatement. The schooner has 38 berths and generally sails with 5 crew members and 31 trainees. Pacific Grace is a new boat making her maiden voyage in 2001. For more information about her check out the S.A.L.T.S. website at http://www.salts.ca/.

As the sun was setting the water reflection on this boat caught my eye. Unfortunately I don’t know the name of the boat, only that it was a beautifully restored old lapstrake boat about 40′ long. If you know this boat please let me know, I’d love to credit the photo appropriately.

And just for fun…

And a face I don’t think I’ll ever forget…

Thanks for reading.
Nancy Cherry Eifert