Pocket Yacht Palooza, 2013

Doryman took a long weekend and visited Port Townsend, Washington for the second annual Pocket Yacht Palooza. The show was scheduled for last Saturday and Sunday, though Saturday was the big event. By Sunday, everyone was restless and on the water to various destinations.

The Port Townsend Pocket Yachters are a relatively new group of seriously fun sail-and-oar affectionatos who are not likely to be found lounging on a beach very long before they are off on a new adventure. The success of this gathering is in the numbers. This year there were at least seventy five boats in attendance. The Commons area at the Northwest Maritime Center was so full, it was difficult to get a clear photo of any one boat.

An added bonus was the Tribal Journey, Paddle to Quinault, which featured 90 US Tribes, Canadian First Nations and New Zealand canoes joining the celebration. Fort Worden was an over night stop on this journey. We watched (from a respectful distance) the welcoming ceremony for the canoes, which stirs the heart.

 
The canoe takes a counterclockwise turn at the approach to the beach and a warrior stands in the boat and asks permission to land, while a welcoming party responds. There are a handful of photos in the slide show (link below...) and I hope to add more, as my companions send them in.

As always, your correspondent was too busy chatting to get many particulars, so I'll simply give you the photos and if you're interested in a particular boat, will try my best to identify it for you.

Organizer Marty Loken has posted more photos on the Pocket Yacht website.

What a great opportunity to visit with friends from near and far. Looking forward to next year already!



In case you missed the link - Photos can be found on Doryman's Flickr site.

The Pocket Yacht Palooza is sponsored by the Northwest Maritime Center, the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding, the Port Townsend Pocket Yachters, Small Craft Advisor Magazine and the Small Craft Skills Academy.

Thanks to all for such an excellent weekend on the water.

Pocket Yacht Palooza, 2013

Don't miss the second annual Pocket Yacht Palooza, the largest gathering of small-craft gunkholing designs held in the Northwest, scheduled for July 20-21 at the Northwest Maritime Center in Port Townsend, WA.

The main focus of this event is on design...not on who has the most coats of varnish. While wooden boats tend to dominate the Palooza, fiberglass hulls are welcome and the whole idea is to share information, as well as time on the water, so that participants come away with a deeper understanding of different pocket-cruising designs, whether rowboats, sailboats or traditional motorboats.

The Palooza is organized by the Port Townsend Pocket Yachters group, a loose-knit club with "no officers, no dues, no bylaws or other signs of organization." In other words, they just like to have fun on the water together. Co-sponsors of the Pocket Yacht Palooza include the Northwest Maritime Center, Small Craft Advisor magazine, Sage Marine, the Port Townsend School of Wooden Boatbuilding, the Puget Sound chapter of the Traditional Small Craft Association and the Port Townsend Marine Trades Association.

Saturday, July 20, everyone is invited to the boat show from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with many boats displayed on trailers at the Northwest Maritime Center, and others hauled up on the adjoining saltwater beach. At 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Peter Guerrero (host of KPTZ-FM's "Boat Talk" program) will lead a waterside discussion of different traditional small-craft sailing rigs--their use, advantages and possible shortcomings. Participants with spritsails, gaff rigs, lugsails, sloop rigs, sliding gunters and others will pull their boats together on the beach to chat about their rigs and how they work. At 6 p.m., there will be a potluck on the beach, followed at 7 p.m. by slide talks in the Maritime Center by Dale McKinnon (who built her own dory and rowed the Inside Passage from Ketchikan to Bellingham), and Kirk Gresham (talking about his years of trailer-sailing a Devlin Eider from California to the Puget Sound area and into the islands of British Columbia).

Sunday, July 21, participating boats will hit the water for a day of rowing, sailing and/or motoring together on Port Townsend Bay, with a picnic lunch on the beach of Rat Island, next to Fort Flagler State Park. The main emphasis of the day will be sharing boats--either boat rides or actual short-term trading of boats so that everyone can experience different designs and their sailing/rowing characteristics. The day of boating will begin at 10 a.m. and end in the late afternoon when many participants will rendezvous on Port Townsend Bay with Native paddlers as they arrive at Fort Worden State Park, their overnight stop, as part of their Tribal Canoe Journey to Quinault, on the outer coast of Washington.

The Palooza is absolutely free to participants and the public--no registration fees, complicated forms or other requirements. Just let organizer Marty Loken know you're coming and include a brief description of your boat when you email him: Norseboater22(at)gmail.com.

For updated details on the Palooza, check the Port Townsend Pocket Yachters website or follow postings on the Port Townsend Small Boats forum.

Hope to see you there!

Small Craft Weekend

A photo essay

When two great events happen at the same time, it can be hard to decide which way to go. But then, a busy summer schedule often trumps, which was the case for Doryman last weekend.

The closest event was a gathering of Coots on Fern Ridge Reservoir, in the beautiful Willamette Valley, near Eugene Oregon. So, I dropped by just in time Saturday to visit as the boats returned to the docks from a day on the water. This is my home team, so you've seen some of these boats before.

First up is Bob Larken in his Wavewatcher, a Bolger designed Birdwatcher. Bob is an electronics and computer wizard and his boat is tricked out with amazing stuff. He recently installed a remote controlled tiller pilot so he can steer from any location on the boat.

This is John Kohnen's Redwing, Lazy Jack. He bought this boat recently from a fellow Coot and I think he's happy as a man can be.

Dennis McComber just finished this little runabout from a batteau.com plan. His son started the build and abandoned it. Dennis picked up where he left off and did a great job.

Cal Drake designed and built this Garvey and it's the powerhouse of the group. I don't know how much horsepower it has, but it's a lot. You might have noticed, some of the Coots are moving toward being a power squadron!

Not entirely. Hal Colvin brought his Pacific Pelican, Retta Ann. I've sailed with Hal before in this boat. A very capable craft.

And Lou Brochetti came with his newly refurbished Devlin Egret. So new, she doesn't have a name yet.

Lou likes to tinker with a design as much as I do. He says the sail rig is a bit small and too far forward. We're looking for the upgrade soon Lou!

This is the beauty that caught my eye. The new caretakers of Richardson State Park and the custodians of these docks, own this boat.

She's a Sam Rabl Picaroon and the story is, she was built in 1954 by Sam himself. Obviously the boat has undergone some extensive refitting and I'd like to know more.

A planked Picaroon is rare. The examples I've seen were all made from plywood.


A proper little yacht.

Speaking of proper yachts, north of here a few hundred miles was the first ever Pocket Yacht Palooza, in beautiful Port Townsend, Washington State. This new event was organized by the Port Townsend Pocket Yachters, co-sponsored by the Small Craft Skills Academy and Northwest Maritime Center, and held May 19 at the NWMC.



Marty Loken worked hard to make this inaugural event a success. Give the man a hand!

Photos can be found on the Packet Yachters' website and additional information is provided by Joel Bergen on his Navigator site.

Watch for this one next year.



Here's a teaser from last Saturday, sent in by our friend Brandon.......

Pocket Yacht Palooza 2012

Photos by Brandon Ford

Port Townsend Pocket Yachters Boat Show

There's a new boat show in Port Townsend, Washington: Pocket Yacht Palooza.



Port Townsend’s Northwest Maritime Center will be the site of the first annual Pocket Yacht Palooza, a one-day boat show organized by the Port Townsend Pocket Yachters club to celebrate traditional small rowing and sailing boats.









The show, free to the public, is scheduled for Saturday, May 19, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.





Pocket Yacht Palooza will feature boats belonging to several Puget Sound area groups, including the Port Townsend Pocket Yachters and the Puget Sound chapter of the Traditional Small Craft Association. Boats from the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding and the Northwest Maritime Center’s boatshop will also be displayed.


Organizers are appealing to owners of small rowing or sailing craft in the 10-foot to 23-foot range to participate in the event and everyone interested is invited to participate. Newcomers are more than welcome.
And, if you are in the process of building or restoring your small craft, they're interested in that too.








“We’re eager to celebrate a wide variety of smaller boats, whether built of wood or fiberglass and we know there are hundreds of interesting trailerable boats on the Olympic Peninsula, so we’d like to hear from owners who might be willing to display their small craft during the Pocket Yacht Palooza.” says my friend, Marty Loken.

No entry fees will be charged, Marty tells me.

“This is not one of those judged shows where people need to worry about whether their boat is in perfect condition.” The main goal, he said, is to display a variety of interesting designs and appreciate the different ways in which designers and builders have produced smaller watercraft that are functional, seaworthy and suited for surprisingly lengthy cruises.






“Most of us appreciate the famous quote of Larry and Lin Pardey, a couple who circumnavigated twice aboard a pocket cruiser. 'Go Small, Go Simple, Go Now.'”




The Pocket Yacht Palooza is co-sponsored by the Small Craft Skills Academy, a four-day program that begins May 20 at the Northwest Maritime Museum. The Skills Academy is being organized by small-craft adventurer Howard Rice, who will speak the same Saturday evening, May 19, 7 p.m. at the Northwest Maritime Center, describing his harrowing rounding of Cape Horn—both directions—in a small Klepper sailing canoe. The public is invited to attend. Admission will be $7.00 per person. Sponsored by the Northwest Maritime Museum and Small Craft Advisor Magazine.


The Port Townsend Pocket Yachters are great folks. I guarantee you will enjoy this show - the weather is always sunny in Port Townsend!

The address for the Northwest Maritime Center and location of the Pocket Yacht Palooza is:
431 Water St, Port Townsend, WA 98368





Those who are interested in bringing a boat to display in the water or on a trailer should contact organizer Marty Loken: Marty@islandboatshop.com

There goes Marty now...