40th Annual Port Townsend Wooden Boat festival

Two weeks have already slipped by since the festival!  I am late to express my deeply felt gratitude to everyone who makes the festival happen, (http://nwmaritime.org/) , all who participate, and all who come to talk wooden boats and all things boaty. I realize that is a big blanket statement.

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Our booth with WEST SYSTEM EPOXY and 3 PT 11's on display!

For the past 5 years we have been very fortunate to share a tent with WEST SYSTEM EPOXY. This year Alan Gurski (CEO) and Bruce Niederer were on hand with their comprehensive and unbiased knowledge about epoxy; its uses, history, and the very chemistry of it all. If you want to understand epoxy, pros and cons, these are the guys to talk to.

There were more than a few of our customer boats in the festival. PT 11 nesting dinghies and PT Spear dinghies were to be seen on boats, behind boats, at the docks, and out in the bay.

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A PT 11 primly nested on Xanadu's deck/
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Pato; T/T Vito Dumas
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A completely painted PT 11 as t/t SKYE. PT SKIFF, MOJO in the back ground.

Two customer PT Skiffs graced the festival as well. Both boats are mind blowingly beautifully built and equally unique interpretations of the kit. High compliments are due to these two builders.

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The totally tweezed PT Skiff Mojo, built by Mark Ramsby of Portland OR.
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Mojo's Instrument panel
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Mojo parading during the Sunday Sail-by. Note the PT 11 sail in the back...
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Takin' Five PT SKIFF built by Steve Merrill.

Steve Merrill wipes the morning dew from his PT SKIFF, Takin' Five. Steve has been meticulous with his build, taking his time. He says he has been really enjoying it and getting creative especially with his 'expanding' driver seat and his self bailing installation.

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Unique expanding driver seat.

This seat hinges up, slides forward and ......

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Expanded seat. NO PLANS so DON"T ASK!

....expands into a romantic, "side-by-each" joy ride seat. My jaw dropped upon seeing this. But, alas, there are NO PLANS for it so you will have to charge up the brain-waves to create your own if you want one!

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The PT 11 out in the bay with an RC sailboat and a classic motor yacht.

Our friend, Cooper Parish, took time off  from his high-tech job at Scaled Composites in Mojave, to help us at our booth again this year. We love having him! We want him to keep returning every year so we make sure he gets plenty of sailing time in! In spite of being the smallest boat with the least sail area, Cooper sailed 'Rascal', a PT SPEAR, to a 3rd place finish (out of 6) among the Non-T-Bird class in the 26ft and under race.

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The PT 11 and CLC's Pocket Ship.

ptwatercrfat.comOf the events in the bay over the weekend, I totally missed getting photos of the Schooner Race. With a piping wind, it was one of the fastest schooner races on record at the festival. It was over before I could get to the beach with the camera. I hear it was eventful! John and Anne Bailey's recently re-launched , Sir Issac, snuffed the fleet.

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The Baileys on Sir Isaac in September 2016.
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The early morning rowing race at the Festival.
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Lots of varnish!
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layers of boats...

The PT Wooden Boat Festival is always a colorful affair.  It is an overwhelming weekend for us, exciting, exhausting, and encouraging. Customers often visit us at this time and we see our 'family' growing. We are seriously looking forward to holding a casual, PT11 sailing regatta of sorts and I will keep you posted on any development in that direction.  Thank you all again. AEB 😉

Fun overview Video off of You Tube..