Father-son team gets ready for R2AK

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It’s hard to know where this story starts. It would be easy to point to Port Townsend’s Maritime Discovery Schools Initiative.

Now a senior at Port Townsend High School, Henry Veitenhans was in Kelley Watson’s maritime classes as a sophomore during the first Race to Alaska (R2AK) in 2015.

“We had a whole project about the race. Designing boats, planning the route. We learned a ton,” recalled Watson, who currently is teaching three maritime-based classes at the high school. Watson was impressed with Henry.

Part of the place-based project’s strategy was to use the race as a way to engage students in learning.

“The project was focused on boat design, but behind that was critical thinking, math, writing . . . it was layered. Henry just took to it, knocked it out of the park,” he said.

This year, Henry chose to build a boat for his senior project and race it in the full R2AK.

Just as easily as beginning at school, the story could have started with Henry’s family. Henry’s dad, Greg Veitenhans, the sole team member older than 20, has spent a lifetime fishing commercially in Southeast Alaska.

“I’ve been making that trip [to Ketchikan] for 25 years. Done it hundreds of times,” Greg said.

Has he ever rowed it? “No.”

Henry worked with his dad during the summers, fishing out of Ketchikan for nine of them. This was something that used to be more of the norm for Northwest families.

Henry hasn’t rowed to Alaska before either.

How did they hear about the race? “We watched the teams go by during our sets. We’re from Port Townsend, this is us . . . it’s the Iditarod of the south!”

However the story began, and whatever the reasons, the Veitenhans’ Team North to Alaska was born from both the innovations and the traditions that run deep in Jefferson County: R2AK, maritime schools, the workboat fleet, and the spirit of engagement and community.

Henry had a mission when he was looking to round out his team with two of his peers. “I wanted to make this trip an opportunity for people who might not have the opportunity.” So, he chose fellow senior River Yearian and 2016 PTHS grad Sean Westlund. Westlund was chosen for his involvement in the Port Townsend High School sailing team. (For all of the maritime experience of the Veitenhans family, Westlund is the only crew member with sailing experience.) Henry wanted Yearian on the crew because “he’s tough.”

26-FOOT SHARPIE

The boat Henry is building for his senior project is cool: a 26-foot aluminum sharpie that is a mashup of a 200-year-old working boat design from the age of sailing and modern construction techniques. The native son of the wooden boat capital of the world is building a traditional boat out of aluminum. “It’s bullet proof,” he said.

In true Jefferson County tradition, people are coming together to make Team North to Alaska’s trip possible; notably, Wayne Chimenti and Force 10 Sailmaking and Rigging are volunteering time and materials to help the team make its sails.

If all goes according to plan, Team North to Alaska will be hitting the bay for training in April, and then heading north with the start of R2AK on June 8.

Local schools, local race, local team, local support – innovation carrying on our community’s maritime tradition into future generations and future-focused materials. Port Townsend’s maritime ecosystem marches on. Hope you feel as proud as I do.

(Jake Beattie is executive director of the Northwest Maritime Center in Port Townsend. He’s a small-boat enthusiast. He’s often blamed for the Race to Alaska. His column on maritime concerns is published monthly in The Leader.)