Join us for Wooden Boat Festival's
'Ask an Expert' Winter Series
Eight behind-the-scenes interviews and demos followed by Q&As!
January–March 2022
When it’s cold and COVID outside join us online for this unique Zoom experience with many of your favorite experts across the country and all over the world! In 8 Zoom sessions, we'll visit with friends on the east and west coasts, pop down to Mexico and Costa Rica, and over to New Zealand. Enjoy these engaging, behind-the-scenes interviews and demos with time to ask your burning questions from the comfort of your home.
Series Pass
- Access to all 8 live sessions
- On-demand viewing through April 15, 2022
All sales are final.
Make it a gift!
Gift a Series Pass or individual session ticket to a special boat lover in your life. Click the "Get Your Ticket" button, select the ticket type you'd like to give, then input the recipient's email address and information in the checkout form. Be sure to purchase their ticket separately from your own.
Questions?
Please contact us at festival@woodenboat.org or 360.385.3628 x100
Lin Pardey
Up Close & Personal with Lin
Join Lin Pardey back at home in New Zealand covering the America's Cup, Larry's memorial, and planning her next sailing trip.
Douglas Brooks
Building a Boat the Japanese Way
A deeper look into the inside world of Japanese boatbuilding and the apprentice system: learning silently, no written plans, secrets, and the differences between Eastern and Western techniques. Douglas will be interviewed by Japanese boatbuilding apprentice Nina Noah.
Behan and Jamie Gifford
Pandemic Cruising in Mexico
Free to move about! Currently in Mexico, Behan and Jamie share knowledge for cruising during the pandemic.
Chris Chase & Susan Shillinglaw
Behind the Scenes of the Western Flyer Project
Behind the scenes of the Western Flyer: the charming backstory about the bandsaw that built the boat twice, partnering with surfboard builders, and more.
Chris Chase, Project Director at the Western Flyer Foundation, brings over thirty years of experience as a shipwright, project manager, and operational director. When the Western Flyer first arrived in Port Townsend, Chris was the lead shipwright and foreman of the Western Flyer restoration. What began as just another restoration for him soon turned into a deep passion and course-changing event.
A Professor of English at San Jose State University, Dr. Shillinglaw was Director of the University’s Center for Steinbeck Studies for 18 years. She has published widely on Steinbeck: A Journey into Steinbeck’s California (Roaring Forties Press, 2006, ’11, ‘19); Carol and John Steinbeck: Portrait of a Marriage (U of Nevada P, 2013) and On Reading The Grapes of Wrath (Penguin, 2014). She also wrote introductions to several Steinbeck books for Penguin New American Library and is currently working on a study of Steinbeck’s ecological vision.
Chris Chase & Susan Shillinglaw
Behind the Scenes of the Western Flyer Project
Behind the scenes of the Western Flyer: the charming backstory about the bandsaw that built the boat twice, partnering with surfboard builders, and more.
Chris Chase, Project Director at the Western Flyer Foundation, brings over thirty years of experience as a shipwright, project manager, and operational director. When the Western Flyer first arrived in Port Townsend, Chris was the lead shipwright and foreman of the Western Flyer restoration. What began as just another restoration for him soon turned into a deep passion and course-changing event.
A Professor of English at San Jose State University, Dr. Shillinglaw was Director of the University’s Center for Steinbeck Studies for 18 years. She has published widely on Steinbeck: A Journey into Steinbeck’s California (Roaring Forties Press, 2006, ’11, ‘19); Carol and John Steinbeck: Portrait of a Marriage (U of Nevada P, 2013) and On Reading The Grapes of Wrath (Penguin, 2014). She also wrote introductions to several Steinbeck books for Penguin New American Library and is currently working on a study of Steinbeck’s ecological vision.
Andy Stewart & Paul Bieker
Designing a Performance Daysailer
From concept to sailing in one year—Paul Bieker of Bieker Boats and Andy Stewart of Emerald Marine take you through the process.
Andy Stewart has been working on wooden boats professionally for over 30 years. As a craftsman, his passion is to use tradition and appropriate innovation to keep wooden vessels and his trade alive.
Paul Bieker is the founder and owner of Bieker Boats, which recently relocated from Seattle to Anacortes, WA. He is one of sailing's most revered and prolific performance boat designers, and has drawn everything from the fastest International 14s in the world to the hulls of the most recent America's Cup multihulls, and many things in between.
Andy Stewart & Paul Bieker
Designing a Performance Daysailer
From concept to sailing in one year—Paul Bieker of Bieker Boats and Andy Stewart of Emerald Marine take you through the process.
Andy Stewart has been working on wooden boats professionally for over 30 years. As a craftsman, his passion is to use tradition and appropriate innovation to keep wooden vessels and his trade alive.
Paul Bieker is the founder and owner of Bieker Boats, which recently relocated from Seattle to Anacortes, WA. He is one of sailing's most revered and prolific performance boat designers, and has drawn everything from the fastest International 14s in the world to the hulls of the most recent America's Cup multihulls, and many things in between.
Ernie Baird & Diana Talley
Estimation and Precision in Boatbuilding
When to go fast and when to go slow. Ernie and Diana share their boatbuilding wisdom and experience: when you can estimate and when precision is imperative and non-negotiable.
Ernie Baird started his wooden boat career in 1978 as a laborer, then lead shipwright, eventually owning Baird boat Company. He worked for many years prior to that as a merchant seaman, as deck crew on fishing boats and square riggers. Ernie has mentored and taught many students through teaching positions and volunteering. He completed the Race to Alaska in Grace B, his classic open wooden boat that he built in 1985. He has served his community through many organizations, from the Planning Commission to Jumping Mouse, setting up Big Brothers and Sisters program in Jefferson County, and being on the advisory board to the Coast Guard for inspecting wooden charter vessels. He and his wife are avid tango dancers and enjoy gardening.
Shipwright, finisher, raconteur, and straight-talking mentor to countless women entering the trades, Diana owned the first and longest-run woman-owned boat shop in Port Townsend. From sleeping in the back of a pickup truck in Sausalito—inspired to the trade by Ray Speck—to salting her skills fishing with a husband and baby in Alaska, setting up her boatshop Taku Marine with partner Rick, and co-founding the Port Townsend Marine Trades Association, Diana has generously, doggedly, honestly, and often hilariously contributed to what most people love and admire about Port Townsend’s passionate maritime culture—authentic wit, grit, and passion.
Ernie Baird & Diana Talley
Estimation and Precision in Boatbuilding
When to go fast and when to go slow. Ernie and Diana share their boatbuilding wisdom and experience: when you can estimate and when precision is imperative and non-negotiable.
Ernie Baird started his wooden boat career in 1978 as a laborer, then lead shipwright, eventually owning Baird boat Company. He worked for many years prior to that as a merchant seaman, as deck crew on fishing boats and square riggers. Ernie has mentored and taught many students through teaching positions and volunteering. He completed the Race to Alaska in Grace B, his classic open wooden boat that he built in 1985. He has served his community through many organizations, from the Planning Commission to Jumping Mouse, setting up Big Brothers and Sisters program in Jefferson County, and being on the advisory board to the Coast Guard for inspecting wooden charter vessels. He and his wife are avid tango dancers and enjoy gardening.
Diana Talley is the former co-owner of Taku Marine in the Boat Haven, Port Townsend, now retired.
John Welsford
Turning a Dream Into Reality
All about boat design—from working up a design brief to translating that into plans to produce a craft that will fit the clients needs and resources.
Danielle Doggett
Ceiba: Building a Cargo Ship in the Jungles of Costa Rica
Wednesday, April 7, 6:00–7:30 PM
The amazing story of building Ceiba: carbon-neutral shipping, sustainability, and making the world a better place.
The amazing story of building Ceiba: carbon-neutral shipping, sustainability, and making the world a better place.
Questions?
Please contact us at festival@woodenboat.org or 360.385.3628 x100
