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posted to rec.boats
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OT Ping Chuck Gould
wrote:
There's a classic yacht show each year at Pier 66.
It begins with the fleet parading in from Elliott Bay, and that's quite
a sight in and of itself.
Our local classic yacht association is pretty dedicated. For instance,
the boats are members of the association- not the boat owners. The boat
owners are considered "caretakers" or stewards by the association.
To belong to the association, a boat has to be of a certain age. As I
remember, I think it's 40 years but I could be mistaken. I do know that
owners of some of the later wooden production boats have complained
their boats are too "new" to be accepted.
Admission to the show is free, and while boarding privileges are not
automatically extended to everybody and various "stewards" are free to
decide whether the public will be allowed to tour their boats, most of
the boats are freely available for public inspection.
Other exceptional wooden boat festivals in the region include an annual
event in LaConner,
one in Victoria, BC, and an event every September that *should* be
bringing in astonished tourists and wood boat lovers from across the
country; the Wooden Boat Festival in Port Townsend.
Port Townsend might be my favorite place in Washington. It's where I'd
live if I didn't want to work for a living. There was a big building
boom in the 1890's, and then fortunes were reversed when the railroad
never arrived as expected. Most of Water Street, the main downtown
thoroughfare, could pass for the 1890's if you moved all the cars to
another block. There is a super-active artist community, hundreds of
old hippies everywhere, some excellent restaurants, and fabulous
scenery. Each September they close the Point Hudson Marina and bring in
one of the largest groups of wooden power and sailboats to assemble
anywhere. Most open for inspection. Any wooden boat fans considering a
visit to Washington State and wondering what time of year would be best
should come to Port Townsend in September....(one of our few relatively
dry months, with shirt-sleeve weather almost every day).
We have a modest version of a Wooden Boat Festival late July about 80km
south west of Halifax. Mostly medium & smaller sailing vessels.
http://www.woodenboatfestival.org/
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