Sponsored in part by Northwest Maritime Center and Dovetail Workwear, the Future of Maritime tent at this year’s Wooden Boat Festival will showcase the inspiring movements taking place to connect and transform the lives of people connected to the blue parts of our planet. Capturing the essence of regionalization and transformative efforts of humans and their relationship to water and …
The Harbormaster’s Picks
Harbormaster Daniel Evans has scoured over every boat application to fill this year’s harbor with beautiful wooden boats from near and far. There are so many amazing boats coming to this year’s Festival. These are just a few of the must-sees on his list! Introducing the 2023 Harbormaster’s picks: Gray Wolf Wood can be speedy! Winner of the 2023 international Race to Alaska, Gray …
Admire the Beauty of Handcrafted Boats
In the last few years, we’ve seen a wonderful resurgence of craftsmanship. More and more people are building small handmade boats—putting their love and care into creating something beautiful with their own hands. Throughout Festival grounds, a stunning array of meticulously crafted trailerable boats and kayaks will grace both land and water. The First Fed Commons will be the focal …
Historic Thunderbird Sailboats #1 and #2
By Guy Hoppen Thunderbird #1, launched in November of 1958 and known as Number 1 or Thunderbird, and Thunderbird #2, named Pirouette and launched in August of 1959, will be moored together perhaps for the first time since the 1960s at the 2023 Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival! The Thunderbird sailboat was inspired by a Douglas Fir Plywood Association design …
First time at Festival?
The Wooden Boat Festival is a celebration of boatbuilding skills, craft, education, and adventure. There are hundreds of wooden boats of all shapes and varieties, hands-on demonstrations and presentations, activities for kids, and a number of ways to get out on the water. If you’re new to Festival, you may be wondering—where do I start? Here are some tips and can’t-miss activities …
A Smile on the Sea: Allen and Sharie Farrell’s China Cloud is still riding high
By Dan Rubin Sometime in the mid-1970s, Allen and Sharie Farrell, renowned for their hand-built sailing vessels and offshore adventuring, were living in a little cedar shake floathouse in False Bay on Lasqueti Island, when Allen began sketching plans for a vessel unlike any they had ever built. They had already managed to obtain their beautiful boat, Native Girl, back …
Arshay Cooper and “A Most Beautiful Thing” to Headline Wooden Boat Festival 2023!
Join us on Saturday night at Festival for a special cinematic experience as we present A Most Beautiful Thing with Arshay Cooper—the movie’s inspiring protagonist—on-site to hold a Q&A session after the screening. Inspired by Cooper’s 2015 memoir, A Most Beautiful Thing is a 2020 documentary film chronicling the history of the first US African American public high school rowing …
Jake’s Fave Five
Before he was hired here (and helped us improve event security), Northwest Maritime Center Executive Director Jake Beattie brought boats, volunteered, and snuck into Wooden Boat Festival for the better part of a decade. “I’m a festival fanboy.” After getting him off of his soapbox (“What do you mean I only get five?”), Jake shared his top five can’t-miss activities …
The Harbormaster’s Picks
Header photo by Mitchel Osborne Harbormaster, Daniel Evans, has scoured over every boat application—learning about each vessel and filling this year’s harbor with wooden boats from near and far. Through this process, he’s compiled his five must-see boats at this year’s festival. Introducing the Harbormaster’s picks: Lady Washington Owned by Grays Harbor Historical Society, Lady Washington is the official tall …
Get inspired at the Adventure Stage!
Header photo by Thomas Hawthorne We have an epic line-up of speakers on the new Adventure Stage across the harbor in the newly renovated Pygmy building. Some of the speakers on the Adventure Stage this year include: Karl Kruger The only stand-up paddleboarder who has finished the 750-mile Race to Alaska on a paddleboard. Karl is currently attempting to become …
