9/10/2008 7:56:00 AM Boats ahoy!: Wooden Boat Festival sets records
Historic Port Townsend is the West Coast’s wooden boat capital year-round, and Wooden Boat Festival weekend only makes it more obvious. - Photo by Patrick J. Sullivan, airplane piloted by Tim Snider
Many a sailing and/or marine trades career has started at the festival’s Children’s Boatbuilding bench. - Photo by Melanie Lockhart
More people and more boats than ever before packed Port Townsend for the 32nd Wooden Boat Festival.
Nearly 200 boats anchored on the waterfront, and the Point Hudson Marina held a record 146 boats, according to organizers.
Land boat exhibits quadrupled, and the port's boat haven marina was filled to capacity on Friday and Saturday.
Yet with all the commotion, not a single car was towed for being illegally parked, police made no arrests of unruly attendees, and emergency aid crewmembers didn't even have a bee sting to treat.
The Northwest Maritime Center and Wooden Boat Foundation sponsored the event that has become the largest festival in Jefferson County.
"Bringing people and wooden boats together is our top priority, and we couldn't be happier that there were more of both to work with this year," said Kaci Cronkhite, festival director.
Marketing was expanded to wooden boat networks in Europe and Australia, and more efforts were made to get the word out to people in British Columbia and to folks from Northern California to Idaho and in all regions of Washington, Cronkhite noted.
"The efforts paid off, as early reports show a 6 percent increase in attendance over last year's record numbers," she said Sept. 8.
Cronkhite was most pleased to observe the intergenerational mix of people at almost every venue.
Spectacular summer weather, long overdue for Washington residents, was a great relief as the festival committee made final preparations.
"The experience and skill of this year's festival staff was stellar. The high marks we achieved for efficiency and friendliness are something our whole community can be proud of," said Cronkhite. "Nancy Tocatlian did a great job in her first year coordinating 250 volunteers and improving orientations. Matt Barnett, a student in the first Puget Sound Explorers class 14 years ago and now a licensed Master 500 ton, improved pre-festival communication with arriving boats, increased the number of Harbor Master crew to include a full-time traffic control person at the entry to the marina and more trained staff in push boats. Don Mathrole, third-year Grounds Captain, had the Port of Port Townsend cleaned up by noon Monday.
"Bill Wise, Matt Berberich and Erik Wennstrom made efficient improvements in traffic flow. The list goes on and on," Cronkhite said. "The boat owners, volunteers, many city and marine trades partners and our full-time staff did a great job working together to improve operations. I'm really proud of our crew."
From the George Calkins and Betty Lowman Carey tributes to the celebration of Caveat and the families who contributed so much to sailing in our community, organizers contend this festival will go down in history as one of the best ever.
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