By Diana Tally
The 46th annual Wooden Boat Festival will be held September 8th-10th, 2023. For almost half a century, we’ve celebrated our wooden boat fleet and the marine trades industry here that builds, repairs and restores it. Many of our trades feel a part of the festival 365 days a year, using the traditional and contemporary skills we keep alive through our work.
Being on the water through sailing, fishing or rowing is part and parcel of why many trades come to this profession. It’s an understanding through on the water experience, a teacher like no other. Sometimes we forget that understanding, supplant it with our strong work ethic and forget to leave the dock. To ameliorate that condition, several local marine trades have organized a happenin that everyone is invited to.
On Sunday September 10th at 10 a.m., the Row Row Row Your Boat Rally will leave the Boat Haven, head for Point Hudson and invade the festival. Along with the original intent of the Shipwrights’s Regatta, it may be the one day of the year that all competitive marine trades can agree on the same thing, that getting on the water is what it’s all about.
Parents are encouraged to bring their children. This is not a race, per se, but can be whatever you want to make it. Community members are invited to join in, any kind of row or paddle is acceptable, regardless of design and material. There will be no sign up sheet, no entry fee, no classes or prizes, just the prize of spending choice time together with the people you love, out on the water.
Anyone wanting to walk around the festival, will be given a festival wristband. You can beach your boat at the NWMC after the Rally through the marina. Children under 12 are always free. Life jackets or pfds are highly recommended because there’s safety to think about and the $500 fine from the gendarmes, if you don’t have any aboard.
The meet-up will start at 9 a.m. at the boat ramp parking lot. All ramp fees are waived for this event. Coffee, doughnuts and cookies will be provided by the Port of Port Townsend and the Marina Cafe. Additional support is provided by: The Port Townsend Marine Trades Association and The Wooden Boat Foundation.