Supplement to the Wednesday, January 31, 2018 edition of the Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
Index to advertisers
Admiral Ship Supply .................................................. 13 American Marine Training Centers ............................. 9 Anderson Machine Shop.............................................. 9 Brion Toss Yacht Riggers............................................ 13 Central Welding Supply ............................................. 19 Cunningham Ships Carpentry ..................................... 5 Edensaw Woods ........................................................... 9 Galmukoff Marine...................................................... 19 Goldstar Marine ......................................................... 13 Hasse & Company Port Townsend Sails .................... 19 Haven Boatworks ....................................................... 17 Henery Hardware ....................................................... 13 Jennifer Takaki ........................................................... 17 Jody Coman, Accredited Marine Surveyor ................. 19 Northwest Maritime Center......................................... 5 Northwest Sails & Canvas.......................................... 19 Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding ................ 3 Olympic Game Farm ................................................. 15 Port Shipwrights Co-Op ............................................ 17 Port Townsend Foundry ............................................... 2 Port Townsend Marine Trades ................................... 15 Port Townsend Rigging .............................................. 15 Port Townsend Watercraft .......................................... 17 SEA Marine ............................................................... 15 Sunrise Coffee .............................................................. 9 The Artful Sailor......................................................... 17 The Business Guides................................................... 17 Velocity Coffee ........................................................... 17
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in depth • in touch • independent • since 1889 Publisher: Lloyd Mullen Editor: Allison Arthur Writers: Jake Beattie, Kirk Boxleitner, Robin Dudley, Katie Kowalski, Chris Tucker Production: Scott Herning, Marian Roh © 2018 Port Townsend and Jefferson County Leader
Advertising: Catherine Brewer, ad manager; ad representatives, Jen Clark, Kachele Yelaca 360-385-2900 • ptleader.com 226 Adams Street Port Townsend, WA 98368
ON THE COVER: The Charles N Curtis was dropped into the water in the spring of 2017. It was one of about 130 heavy haulouts done at the Port of Port Townsend each year. Overall, the Port of Port Townsend did 800 lifts in 2017. See more interesting numbers on activity at the Port of Port Townsend on Page 20. Photo by Chris tucker
2018 Working Waterfront • the Port townsend & Jefferson County Leader
PT waterfront: Buoyed by talent
W
elcome to Port Townsend: A Victorian Seaport and Arts Community,” reads the welcome sign at the entrance to Port Townsend. For more than a century, the seaport has been a vital part of Jefferson County and a home to a diverse boating community. Here, you’ll find big boats, little boats, wooden boats, metal boats, old boats, new boats and a few that are in a class of their own. It’s that diversity that has brought not only boat lovers to the community but also tradespeople. And that, in turn, has led to a community of talented people converging on the waterfront. “There is a huge concentration of talent in this town,” is a comment you’ll hear over and over. And it’s a comment that doesn’t just come from people whose boats are being worked on but from people who are coming to Port Townsend to learn about marine trades. Jake Beattie, executive director of the Northwest Maritime Center, talks about that in his monthly column in the Port Townsend Jefferson County Leader. In this publication, Beattie notes that Gov. Jay Inslee
has launched a statewide initiative to focus on Washington’s $17 billion maritime industry. Port Townsend is poised to be a huge player in that industry because of one precious commodity: Talent. That talent is growing thanks to the tradespeople who are involved in educating the next generation to get on the waterfront and do things like Dave Thompson, a master caulker, does. The Port Townsend School District also is setting its sights on the future with the Port Townsend Maritime Academy. And the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding is training the next generation in basics like plumbing, heating, refrigeration and hydraulics. People involved in the maritime industries are also feeding into the rest of the community, including the arts community. Look no further than The Artful Sailor as evidence of that. In this special section, you’ll find stories that showcase some of what’s happening on Port Townsend’s working waterfront. There’s a lot going on. So you might want to come visit and see it all for yourself.
Make a Living craft a life 12-month AOS Degree in Wooden Boatbuilding 6-month Diploma in Marine Systems Week-long intensive classes in Marine Systems
Now enrolling at www.nwswb.edu 42 N. Water Street Port Hadlock, WA (360) 385-4948 Our school is accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC). Financial Aid and Veterans Benefits available for those who qualify.
Port Townsend Foundry workers Daniel Burgess (left) and Jessie Thomas pour a crucible full of molten aluminum nickel bronze alloy into molds. Photo by Chris tucker
THANK YOU These maritime leaders advise the Boat School on its programs to ensure our students receive an education relevant to today’s workplace. Ann Avary, Northwest Center of Marine Manufacturing & Excellence Steve Bamsberger, Marine Systems Manufacturer Representative, Jack Park Company John Mark Barrett, Marine Systems Manufacturer Representative, Imtra Corporation Ethan Cook, Boatbuilder Sam Devlin, Devlin Designing Boat Builders Sarah Fisken, Washington Sea Grant Jim Franken, James J. Franken Inc. Stephen Gale, Haven Boatworks Sam Gibboney, Executive Director, Port of Port Townsend David King, Retired CFO Townsend Bay Marine, Past Mayor of Port Townsend Jim Lyons, Port Townsend Shipwrights Co-op Member Dan Newland, Pegasus Aeromarine Inc. Peter Proctor, Jensen Motor Boat Gordon Sanstad, Shipwright, Former Marine Carpentry Instructor
2018 Working Waterfront • the Port townsend & Jefferson County Leader
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Revision Marine: The future is electrifying
Batteries are powering up a 92-foot expedition yacht
Last month, Gov. Jay Inslee launched “Washington Maritime Blue,” a statewide initiative to convene policymakers and maritime industry leaders to reimagine how to evolve our state’s $17 billion maritime industry into an innovative and environmentally responsible future. It’s a big initiative, with goals as audacious as the electrification of the entire state ferry system – replacing the diesels with electric propulsion. Systemwide, all the ferries on all the runs burn a total of 1,000 gallons of fuel an hour. Read that again: per hour. Electrifying the fleet would save nearly 5,000,000 gallons of fuel a year. Just a few years ago, this would be inconceivable, a science fiction fantasy. Rising fuel costs and improving technology mean it might become feasible in the near future. With our wooden boatbuilding school, Wooden Boat Festival, Jack Beattie and reputation as a MARITIME Victorian seaport, you might not think of our FOCUS boatyard as a hub of high-tech innovation. You’d be wrong. Since it was founded in 2014, Revision Marine, located in the yard, has been innovating vessels from the inside out, replacing carbon-emitting diesel engines with efficient electric power. If the governor’s initiative is any indication, the cutting edge is just starting to catch up. “There are some big boys starting to do this on paper, but so far, they actually haven’t done it,” said Chris Brignoli, Shipwrights Co-op electrician and Revision Marine cofounder. Revision Marine saw the same problems and opportunities as the ferries, and its goal is to create solutions for vessels looking to reduce operating costs and carbon footprint by replacing standard generators and propulsion systems with electric solutions. It’s all about efficiency. Electric motors are inherently more efficient than combustion engines; even well-tuned diesels can only harness about 45 percent of the fuel’s energy (the rest is lost to heat), but unless the boat trips are short, and the boat has enough power to go to and from a dock, then electric motors are impractical. There are no charging stations in the middle of the Pacific. Revision Marine is working on a solution to that problem by developing a system linking electric propulsion to cutting-edge batteries and then to computer-controlled generators that kick on when 4
Chris Brignoli, Shipwrights Coop electrician and Revision Marine cofounder, left, chats with Matthew Mortensen in the engine room of the New Pacific, a 92-foot expedition yacht that routinely makes round-trips to Alaska. The two have installed efficient electric batteries in the boat with the aim of saving on fuel costs. Photo by allison arthur
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the batteries get low and then fishing boats. Cofounder Matshut off when the batteries are thew Mortensen replaced the charged. main propulsion system on his “It’s called a hybrid energy 68-foot charter sailboat, and system – you run the generanow he can run upward of 20 tors at optimal efficiency, and miles on battery power alone then these batteries are 98 before the generator starts itpercent efficient, as opposed self. “It’s like a 70-foot Prius,” to old batteries, that are more Mortensen said with a smile. “ ” like 50-60 percent,” Brignoli Another customer sailed said. south to Mexico last fall with Not finding batteries large a Revision system augmented enough or good enough to with a solar panel and propelsuit their purpose, Brignoli and ler-driven generator that can be crew developed and built their towed behind their boat when own, based on the batteries they are sailing. “[The power coming out of developments in is] almost unlimited; they don’t the automotive industry. Smallneed to charge on shore or with Chris Brignoli er and more efficient, their their engine.” owner, Shipwrights Coop new batteries saved space and Revision’s latest project is founder, Revision Marine weight. Next, they incorpoits largest: The New Pacific is a rated inverters, then developed 92-foot expedition yacht that computer controls and the sysroutinely makes round-trips to tem integration to manage it all. Alaska. This year, Revision, and the Port Townsend Revision is working together with Port Townsend Shipwrights Coop, is upgrading all of the nonShipwright’s Coop, to innovate, install and test propulsion energy systems before a round-trip to these systems. Hawaii. “It seems like it’s just a bunch of batteries and It’s a big boat, verging on being a ship, and it has inverters, but the key piece is really the control a lot of power-hungry systems. “They used to have system, programming all of the mini computers to to have one generator running the whole time, 24 make it all work,” Brignoli said. hours a day. Now, they only have to run two hours Revision Marine has completed projects on a a day. We’re saving them over 4,000 gallons of fuel number of vessels, from sailboats to commercial
2018 Working Waterfront • the Port townsend & Jefferson County Leader
It’s called a hybrid energy system – you run the generators at optimal efficiency, and then these batteries are 98 percent efficient, as opposed to old batteries, that are more like 50-60 percent.
See REVISION MARINE, page 19▼
Over 50 years experience building and restoring wooden vessels Our company has the ability to change out any major structural components and bring your project to completion with fine custom wood working for your interiors.
Cunningham ShipS carpentry, llc
775 Haines Place, Port Townsend, Washington 360-385-9824 2018 Working Waterfront • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
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PT Foundry forges alliances Metal hardware for the famous, the locals, and those in between Robin Dudley Contributor
Pete Langley, of the Port Townsend Foundry, forges alliances between metals to create hardware that’s strong, beautiful, and exactly fit for its place and purpose. He’s also a bundle of energy, a powerful networker and advocate for community partnerships among local marine trades. Pete and Cathy Langley have run the Port Townsend Foundry since 1983. It’s named for a local foundry from 1883 that manufactured steam engines, street cars and hardware that can be seen on most of the downtown buildings. The Langleys have five employees at their PT Foundry on Otto Street where there are a variety of projects under way, all with a story. DECK PADS, CHIMNEY In the machine shop, run by Kyle Reed, the eye is drawn to a gleaming row of silicon-bronze deck pad eyes is for David Crosby’s former schooner, “Mayan.” There’s also a deck iron (part of a chimney system) for a woman who’s planning to give birth on her boat and needs that part for heat onboard. There’s also an enormous bronze anti-tumbling block for the lifeboat davit falls on the 295foot U.S. Coast Guard barque “Eagle.” “The block weighs 80 pounds with the sheaves,” Langley said. “They managed to drop one of the blocks overboard,” and the Foundry managed to make a new one that was ready for shipment in five days. To make a metal casting, sand is pressed (rammed) around a pattern to make a mold, which is filled with molten metal. Jessie Thomas heads up the molding and melting 6
Molten aluminum nickel bronze alloy flows into a mold. Photos by Chris Tucker
department. The cavernous space inside the Foundry is dominated by a mountain of blackened olivine sand, and the scent of hot metal. Silver reflective suits hang on the wall. Huge leather gloves, thick boots and blackened work clothes are the norm. Foundry employees build the wooden patterns upstairs in a sunny workroom, where employee Lindsey Moore recently worked on a pattern for a manhole cover for the steamer “Mascot” in Louisiana. This model was done in Saran rubber. “We start with cameraready artwork,” Langley said. “Basically, it’s box printing technology.” Moore has worked at the Foundry for three years, and said she likes “any time there’s something new, or some new problem we can solve.” A wooden model of another ship’s caprail and stem repose on another table, awaiting a patternmaker to add the bullnose, brackets, bow rollers, and chutes for the ship’s double anchors. The exact wooden models are made using “shrink rulers,” measuring devices engineered to make the patterns slightly larger than actual size, to allow for shrinkage of the metal. “All of the alloys shrink
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It’s important for good copper to get recycled to keep new mines from opening. Pete Langley, owner Port Townsend Foundry differently,” Langley said. “The longer a part is, the more lineal shrinkage it has.” PARTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD The wooden patterns can be re-used, and a large “library” of patterns fills a cool, dusty room. The collection of wooden mock-ups of specific pieces of hardware, from specific vessels, is a veritable maritime history lesson, with parts from ships around the world. For example, the binnacle housing from Humphrey Bogart’s schooner “Santana,” the windlass Pete built for the schooner “Alcyone,” and many more parts and pieces that hold together, propel or otherwise comprise hundreds of other gorgeous, historic
2018 Working Waterfront • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
vessels. Langley is a sailor himself, often crewing aboard the schooner “Martha” in races. His knowledge of sailing makes him an invaluable as a maker of parts. Another current project is gears and clutch wheels for the anchor windlass on “Pacific Grace,” a 115-foot Grand Banks schooner with a full schedule of taking kids on multi-day sail-training trips. The huge, rusty mechanism squats on the foundry floor, awaiting some “reverse engineering,” so as to make the replacement parts. Daily anchoring causes a lot of “guck on the deck,” Langley explained. “Any wood boat that’s got iron leaching out gets rust into the wood and deteriorates the wood.” TOUCH SCULPTURES The Foundry is also restoring bronze “touch sculptures,” kiosks about the size of a phone booth, with amazingly realistic animals sculpted on all four sides. Originally built to be zoo kiosks, the sculptures were produced “by the people that made the illustrated Zoobooks for kids,” Langley said, casually flipping the cover sheet back over the jaw-dropping art. Although PT Foundry specializes in marine hardware,
they don’t discriminate. In the works are architecturaldetail portholes for a local home; badges for the 2018 Rhody Run winners; bearings for the Port Townsend paper mill; a fake sheriff’s badge for Pete Parrish’s retirement from the Port of Port Townsend; an aluminum mask, cast from a wooden carving done in Native American style by a retired Evergreen State College professor. These landlubber items get the same expert treatment as the backing plates with rope detail for a customer in Florida, the set of cheek blocks for the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding, and a telescoping brass-and-bronze pole, to be used as a speaker stand that screws into a deckplate for the 1906 Herreshoff-built yawl “Royano,” now in San Francisco. Langley is also working with local shipwright Robert d’Arcy to make keelbolts, chainplates, hanging knees and other hardware for a Spidsgatter called “Bout.” The finished pieces range from pale silvery aluminum to the rosy glow of silicon bronze. The first place Rhody Run medallions are manganese bronze (copper, zinc, and aluminum). Second place Rhody Run medallions are white bronze (copper, tin and manganese) third place medallions are silicon bronze (copper, silicon and manganese). Aluminum nickel bronze is far stronger than silicone bronze, Pete says, comparing the characteristics of various ratios and mixtures of iron, nickel, manganese, copper and aluminum. “Casting characteristics vary significantly, too,” he said. “It’s pretty interesting how 2 or 3 percent of a different element added to something changes it.” The trick, he says, is keeping the alloys consistent. RAW MATERIALS, RECYCLING PT Foundry gets raw materials from Federal Metals “partly because they recycle a lot,” Langley said. “Ninety See PT FOUNDRY, page 7▼
ABOVE LEFT: Port Townsend Foundry co-owner Pete Langley shows off one of his shop’s rugged, shiny creations: a halyard block. ABOVE RIGHT: Port Townsend Foundry pattern make Lindsey Moore (left) and foundry co-owner Pete Langley use a drill while working on a wood pattern for part of a deck plate. BELOW LEFT: Port Townsend Foundry workers Jessie Thomas, left, and Daniel Burgess use a bridge crane to pull a crucible full of molten aluminum nickel bronze alloy from the foundry furnace. BELOW RIGHT: Port Townsend Foundry worker Jessie Thomas uses a shovel to move sand into a mold. Photos by Chris Tucker
▼Continued from page 6
percent of their copper is from above-ground sources.” The foundry’s grinding dust, slag and other leftovers are sent to Federal Metals’ reprocessing facility in Bedford, Ohio.
“It’s important for good copper to get recycled to keep new mines from opening,” he said. “Last time we sent a load back East, they had 30,000 pounds of scrap on a railroad car,” including old boat fittings and plumbing hardware. New, pure cop-
per is needed for electronics, he added. PT Foundry also makes durable outdoor “cleat benches,” which resemble comically oversized nautical cleats. Made of the sand used to make the molds in which metal pieces are cast, “they’re a recycling project for us,” Langley said. “We convert the molding sand to concrete. It allows us to re-
utilize it as opposed to throwing it in a landfill.” Four cleat benches received a waterbased acrylic stain in early January before shipment to a private dock in Astoria, Oregon; another in Anacortes, another to Poulsbo. Cleat benches have made their way to Wisconsin, Iowa, Alaska and California, plus the Port of Kalama and Port of Friday Harbor in Washington, and 30
in the city of Tacoma at Point Ruston, plus some in Port Townsend. Langley says the Port Townsend Foundry is an example of the strength, resilience and community spirit of Port Townsend marine trades. Firmly local, they ship all over the world, as well as supplying local shipwrights, builders and businesses like the Port Townsend Paper Mill.
2018 Working Waterfront • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
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Stop that leak
Caulking expert shares some tips Robin Dudley Contributor
Visiting a shipyard, a wooden-boat aficionado might listen for the “tink, tink, tink” sound of caulking, the process of filling the seams between a boat’s planks, which makes a distinctive and far-traveling sound. Dave Thompson of Port Townsend has caulked boats for 45 years, and is regarded as an expert on caulking. It all starts, of course, with a leaky boat. “And then you start looking for a resolution to the problem,” Thompson says. Using a hardwood mallet to hit an iron wedge, caulkers drive lengths of fiber into the narrow space between planks. To caulk a boat, place one end of a long snake of fiber in the seam, set the curved edge of the iron against it, and whack the iron with the mallet. Scoot the iron over, picking up more thread like a knitter pulls yarn, and whack it again. Moving down the side of the boat, seams are filled, inch by inch, row by row. “It creates a lot of tension between the boards, so you end up with a stressed skin on the boat,” he said. “You drive wedges in every seam with the same tension, and so it tenses up the skin.” Irons are simple metal wedges, slightly convex at the business end, and knife-thin for narrow seams, or up to half an inch thick for filling wider ones. “If it’s a thick plank you use a line of cotton in the back and fill it with a line of oakum,” Thompson said. “It’s more robust, lasts longer; it’s a coarser fiber.” Mallets are often black mesquite or live oak, from 12 to 16 inches long. Iron rings at the hitting ends are slid down as the mallet wears down with use. “I’ve got an ebony [mallet] which is real loud, too,” Thompson said, and grinned. “When you’re dealing with tourists standing around, fire up one of those real loud ones and they all go away.” ‘INCREDIBLE SHIPWRIGHTS’ Thompson first caulked a boat at around age 27, when he was a student of international relations and anthropology at the University of Washington in Seattle. He lived on a boat because it was cheap, and friends asked for his help repairing their own leaky boat. 8
Dave Thompson holds a tool of his trade in caulking. He’s considered an expert on the waterfront in Port Townsend. Photo by Chris Tucker
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A fisherman knows what a day’s work looks like, so they’re not as averse to paying for a day’s work Dave Thompson, caulker Port Townsend “I just pecked away at the places that leaked,” he said. “It worked.” He’d read some of Howard Chapelle’s books on naval architecture, and “learned a lot more when I came to Port Townsend and started working out of the shipyard.” That was in 1974. “Then Mark Burns showed up and started the Boatworks,” he said. “The hippie troller fleet started to show up and Mark started to employ excellent shipwrights. And he offered me a job to caulk boats, so I got to work with some really incredible shipwrights,” like Richard Wilmore, Miguel Winterburne, and designer Carl Chamberlain. “One of the nice things about Wilmore is he always made every
2018 Working Waterfront • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
seam exactly the same,” Thompson said. “If the shipwright makes shitty seams, he’s not a friend of the caulker.” Most shipwrights and boatbuilders have done some caulking, said Ray Speck, an emeritus teacher at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding. “You have to really be paying attention,” Speck said. “If they’re hitting it twice, they haven’t gotten it. You don’t want to waste any movement. Hitting it twice is crazy.” “It’s all in the wrist,” Thompson said. “You don’t swing the hammer, you kind of flick it.” To cure a sore wrist, wrap a piece of silk around it, he added. “Silk has an electric charge to it.” Thompson prefers working on work boats. “A fisherman knows what a day’s work looks like, so they’re not as averse to paying for a day’s work.” They also go out in the most severe weather, which works the seams, thereby depending on the caulker’s work, “not sitting at the dock as a platform for Martinis.” LARGER ISSUES Thompson said of caulking, “it’s a contemplative thing. After everything becomes automatic, you’re free to contemplate the larger issues.” He served as Port of Port
Townsend Commissioner from 2006 to 2014 because, he said, “you’re just not satisfied with the way things are going.” He grew up in Spokane, joined the U.S. Navy Reserves, and was on active duty on the USS Rupertis, a destroyer, from 1961 to 1963. Being overseas made him question “the illusion of what you’re told in school” about the USA, he said, “’we’re the best, we’re the strongest, we’re the coolest.’” He quotes Mahatma Gandhi, who said, when asked about western civilization, said “I think it’d be a good idea.” Thompson decided to study international relations when President Kennedy was assassinated. “I think it instilled a curiosity about what the hell is going on,” he said, though his studies “have been a huge distraction. Once you get into international relations, every time you listen to a politician talk, you can kind of see through it, and you can identify the bullshit factor.” Although he’s no longer involved in politics, “You can’t ever get out of it.” He doesn’t go to port meetings, but supports people working on their own boats in Port Townsend. “I taught the caulking class at the boat festival for the first 30 years,” he said. “Whoever is interested in learning, I try to show them how to do it.”
2018 Working Waterfront • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
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Leave the heavy lifting to us. At the Port of Port Townsend, you’ll find flexible workspace with do-it-yourself opportunities, or you can consult the superior craftsmanship of on-site marine trades. With our experienced lift crew, you’ll get the best value pricing in Puget Sound. Call us today to book your haul-out, reserve storage or schedule moorage. Your vessel is in good hands, so leave the heavy lifting to us. Pictured are the Port’s 75 Ton and 300 Ton Travel li�s hauling the P/V Resolu�on and F/V Discovery, respec�vely. Photo by Kimberly Matej.
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2018 WORKING WATERFRONT • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
www.portofpt.com | 360.385.6211 2018 WORKING WATERFRONT • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
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Courses prep students for maritime jobs Students already earning jobs, seaman certificates
For the details
See ptschools.org/ maritimeacademy
Kirk Boxleitner kboxleitner@ptleader.com
The Port Townsend Maritime Academy is already making good on its mission statement of preparing middle and high school students to enter the state’s maritime workforce, with one Port Townsend High School (PTHS) sophomore working for a local maritime business. PTHS sophomore Matt McColl is currently enrolled in his second year of boat-building at the school. After McColl and 13 of his classmates built skin-on-frame kayaks last school year, he was hired for a paid afterschool job at Pygmy Boats in Port Townsend. McColl started working at Pygmy in October, two days a week for two hours each day, performing errands in the warehouse, with the promise that he could be promoted to using power tools when he turns 18. HANDS-ON LEARNING It’s a far cry from the aimless eighth-grader who admitted he didn’t know what he wanted to do back then, other than expressing a vague interest in shop courses. “I didn’t know what to think about this program at first, but I’ve loved it ever since,” McColl said. “When you have so many classes where you just sit down and listen, it’s nice to have one class where you’re doing handson learning.” Both McColl and PTHS freshman Jenna Hiegel are enrolled in Kelley Watson’s vessel operations classes, and see those as a gateway to careers in maritime navigations. “It just goes along with the skillsets I’ve developed,” McColl said. “It all clicks,” Hiegel agreed. “I understand how to do this. Some people have brains for literature. I can break down the components of navigation, and actually get what I’m doing.” McColl sees himself joining the U.S. Coast Guard or Merchant Marine after high school, while Hiegel hopes to attend the Northwest Maritime Academy. Bboth are aiming for roles on a ship’s bridge, with Hiegel additionally aspiring to become a captain or first mate. “I want to teach myself to navigate by the stars and the sun,” said 12
Port Townsend High School freshman Jenna Hiegel, left, and sophomore Matt McColl practice maritime navigation techniques. Photo by Kirk Boxleitner
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This is the only high school I know of that offers opportunities like this, so of course I’m going to take advantage of it. Matt McColl sophomore, PTHS Hiegel, whose ultimate goal is to travel to the Polynesian islands, to learn that skill from the natives. Watson, who’s teaching 22 students to make their own stand-up paddle-boards this school year, is confident that Hiegel and McColl can achieve their dreams, since one of her seniors last year, Jacob Massie, has since gone on to earn his ablebodied seaman license from the Tongue Point Job Corps Center’s seamanship training program in Astoria, Oregon. “My parents are huge ocean people,” Hiegel said, noting that her father was a champion surfer who now owns Port Townsend Paddlesports. “I’ve always been fascinated by boats and the ocean.” GRANT FUNDS MEAN MORE COURSES Watson reported that the PTHS maritime career and technical education (CTE) classes recently benefit-
2018 Working Waterfront • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
Port Townsend High School students Jack Cahill, left, and Matt McColl, right, got to know other woodworkers from the Olympic Peninsula at the Woodworkers Show in Port Townsend in November 2017. McColl built the canoe, which has a ballistic nylon skin coated with polyurethane. A sophomore, McColl plans to continue with the woodworking classes in high school. Leader file photo
ted from infusion of roughly $118,000 in grant funds, to train students to become workers in the maritime field. The grant represents a partnership between the Olympic Consortium and the Pierce County Workforce Development Council, with the Northwest Maritime Center serving as the project subcontractor.
While Watson’s students can’t start clocking the sea time they’ll need to log to earn certifications such as their captains’ licenses, she touted her “complicated, upperlevel” courses, such as vessel operations, as putting those students “light years ahead” in their training. Not only does the Port Townsend Maritime Academy include vessel operations, boat-building, maritime robotics and maritime manufacturing through its PTHS maritime CTE classes, but the PTHS maritime CTE and the Northwest Maritime Center also offer after-school vessel operations courses to Port Townsend and neighboring school districts. And through the West Sound Technical Skills Center, the Port Townsend Maritime Academy offers a “Maritime 101: Adventures at Sea” summer vessel operations class, that’s open to all school districts within the West Sound Technical consortium. “Last year, we had 23 kids, from as far away as Belfair, Kingston and Bainbridge Island,” Watson said. “The students ran the boat operations as though they were the crew, and earned school credit for it.” MORE CLASSES SOON Watson looks forward to offering even more maritime courses soon, including basic safety training, starting this spring and continuing with a second class during the summer, as well as maritime internships and apprenticeships for high school students. Watson switched from having her students build kayaks last year to paddle-boards this year to keep it fresh for those who were returning for a second year of studies. She added that skin-on-frame vessels require less building materials, and a smaller amount of potentially toxic materials, which in turn lowers the cost of building enough for every student to build their own vessel. “It gives them a greater sense of ownership and investment,” Watson said. “It also allows them to instruct each other.” “This is the only high school I know of that offers opportunities like this, so of course I’m going to take advantage of it,” McColl said. “It isn’t just learning sailing,” Hiegel said. “You’re learning future life skills.”
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2018 Working Waterfront • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
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Marine trades: Changing to meet market needs NW Marine Trades Association helping prepare next generation Chris Tucker ctucker@ptleader.com
Crafting and maintaining boats, dealing with changing markets and passing on Port Townsend’s marine trades legacy to the next generations are two of the goals of the Port Townsend marine trades, says Port Townsend Marine Trades Association (PTMTA) adviser Ernie Baird. The working waterfront businesses offers a diverse group of people who are serving a number of markets. Baird said there were roughly 100 businesses in the PTMTA and about 400 people making a living on the working waterfront. Many of those jobs paid a “family wage,” Baird said, of the jobs that pay $25-an hour to $30 an hour, with benefits. Baird, 70, arrived in Port Townsend 40 years ago. He is the founder of Baird Boat Co., now Haven Boatworks. The PTMTA serves as a united voice for workers in the marine trades, Baird said, but many of of the working waterfront businesses were happy to just do their own thing and not get involved with the PTMTA. The marine trades were focused on making sailboats and maintaining boats in the 1960s and 1970s, Baird said. But the market kept changing and growing.
Arren Day, president of the Port Townsend Shipwrights Co-Op, left, and Ernie Baird, adviser for the Port Townsend Marine Trades Association, stands at Point Hudson Marina on Jan. 17. Photo by Chris Tucker
markets shift,” Baird said. “In the ‘90s we were able to identify bigger boats as a market we could serve in the place of the work that was falling off with the salmon fleet in southeast Alaska,” he said. WOOD BOAT NICHE To enable work on larger boats, members of the “And then Mark Burns, who is pretty much the trades gave up some of their profits to help the port ‘grandfather,’ you know … he’s the seminal person purchase the 300-ton lift and the dock to support in the marine trades here [and] managed to idenit, Baird said. As a result, the port can handle larger tify this niche market of wooden boats” 30-60 feet vessels that are now “a mainstay of [the port’s] revlong for commercial fishing that helped kick off the enue stream.” marine trades. That market The trades adjusted to hadn’t been served at the meet market needs by addtime, Baird said. ing the ability to work on Some Alaskan salmon metal boats as well. fishermen developed an “There is undeniably a emotional attachment to process of attrition that takes their boats, and wanted to wooden boats out of the keep them afloat, Baird said. fleet and introduces steel “They didn’t want to boats into the fleet especially watch them rot. They wantin a commercial application,” ed them fixed. And Mark Baird said. Burns figured out how to fix Arren Day, president of them,” he recalled. the Port Townsend ShipOver time, the salmon Ernie Baird wrights Co-Op, said “a woodfishing market changed due adviser en boat is still very viable for to increased competition an up-and-coming fisherman, Port Townsend Marine Trades Association from farmed fish and from somebody starting out in the sport fishing. marine trades. But what hapThe trades responded to pens is the fishing fleet loses the changes by focusing on recreation vessels, sail three to four boats a year. They sink, they catch on training vessels and larger fishing boats that could fire. And the new ones being built are composite be used for halibut and black cod. or steel. It’s not new wooden boats to refresh the “One of kind of the permanent conditions of our wooden boat market.” life is we have to be sensitive to markets, and the “Part of our relationship to the commissioners
“
One of kind of the permanent conditions of our life is we have to be sensitive to markets, and the markets shift.
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2018 Working Waterfront • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
is to help identify the markets that we can serve in collaboration with the port. We have this symbiotic relationship: We can’t work on the boats unless we can get them to the shop; The port can’t make money unless it’s hauling and storing boats. And so we do this dance together,” Baird said. “We’re trying to help the commissioners understand the business environment in which we’re able to continue this dance. The rates that they set have to allow us to be competitive,” or businesses would fail, he said, referring to lease rates. Local trades had a long history and strong ties to the community, he said. As such the companies were “planted here ... and so the port can count on them.” Some trades are especially sophisticated, such as Tim Nolan Marine Design and also Turn Point Design, “that does remarkable composite construction and computer generated patterns and molds and dies,” Baird said. EYE TO THE FUTURE The Northwest Maritime Center (NWMC) was helping to keep the boatbuilding legacy in Port Townsend alive, he said. “All of us who have raised children here have longed for a way to get the kids to relate to the water. We try to do some of that through the Wooden Boat Foundation and sail training. With help from the NWMC, “we see a lineage. We see that this is something viable from generation to generation, and it really matters. And the Maritime Center is part of that because it grabs the kids, you know.”
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Preserving, perpetuating maritime traditions The Artful Sailor encourages sustainability self-reliance for sailors Katie Kowalski news@ptleader.com
Walk into The Artful Sailor on Washington Street and you might catch a whiff of a pungent scent reminiscent of a smokey campfire in evergreen woods. It’s the smell of pine tar, used to coat marline sold at the shop. The naturally sourced material derived from the conifer of the same name is a traditional one used in the maritime industry, and is one of the many elements that connect the newly founded downtown nautical supply shop with Port Townsend’s heritage. “We’re evoking that Victorian era, but in a hands-on, practical sense,” said co-owner and author Emiliano Marino, of “The Sailmaker’s Apprentice” fame. Inspired by Marino’s sailing, sailmaking and nautical writing career and founded by Pamela-Sue Alvarado, The Artful Sailor is a “whole earth” nautical supply business that aims to educate people on marine trade traditions, encourage sailors in becoming self-reliant and promote sustainable practices. SUSTAINABLE The term “whole earth” pertains to the businesses’ commitment to sustainability and eco-friendly practices. “The way we focus on that is by seeking materials, tools and techniques that have natural sources,” said Marino. “We also care about how the products are used, and we also care about what happens to them afterward … there’s a continuum there, and we try to pay attention to all of it.” In addition to using natural sources in the products sold, Marino and Alvarado have furnished their shop with repurposed and recycled materials from the boat yard or dump. A wooden crate acts as one of their counters; a work bench is a refashioned dresser. Alvarado also uses recycled guitar strings to make nautical jewelry featuring sailor knots. SELF-RELIANCE, TRADITION The Artful Sailor encourages sailors to become self-sufficient and selfreliant through learning traditional
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ABOVE: Emiliano Marino and Pamela-Sue Alvarado are co-owners of The Artful Sailor in Port Townsend. The shop opened in 2017 after Marino returned to the sailmaking world following a 15 year hiatus in which he pursued a musical and theater career. He performs as Raven and is known in Port Townsend for his annual readings of “A Christmas Carol.” LEFT: Sailors can learn basic techniques by sewing a ditty bag. The Artful Sailor carries kits to make your own ditty bag. Photos by Katie Kowalski
maritime skills. “Much of this is a lost art,” Marino said. “This is the kind of work that the people were doing [before 1914, when electricity came to Port Townsend], and this is how they did it.” The businesses’ main product is a kit to make the ditty bag described in “The Sailmaker’s Apprentice.” Completing the kit not only produces a hand-made ditty bag but also teaches those crafting it the basic techniques needed to make and repair
2018 Working Waterfront • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
sails by hand – something essential to becoming a self-reliant sailor. “If you’re a voyaging sailor at sea there’s nobody out there to help you,” said Marino of one of the reasons why self-reliance is essential for a sailor. It also costs less to be self-sufficient, he said, and helps people learn traditional survival skills. “If you turn off your electricity, what can you do?” poses Marino. “If you don’t have various machinery, what can you do?”
ON THE HORIZON Marino and Alvarado opened their shop in May 2107 and said they’re grateful to the support from their maritime neighbors and the community. “It’s been tremendously encouraging,” Marino said. “It takes a little time to get things afloat and self-supporting, but we’re feeling very positive about it.” Their shop’s located in downtown Port Townsend in the Point Hudson area at 410 Washington St. Visitor’s can stop by or learn more at theartfulsailor.com. Marino and Alvarado are also hosting workshop and events in their shop, including maritime readings, an art show and canvas work class. Check out “On the Horizon” on their website for upcoming events.
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Boat school forging new path with marine systems Traditional craftsmanship key to new programs Leader staff
Teaching traditional skills and craftsmanship while also preparing students to enter marine trades is the mission of the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding, based in Port Hadlock. The school is growing thanks to support from the community, the state Department of Commerce and EDC Team Jefferson as well as private donations, says Executive Director Betsy Davis. Davis says the school relies on a Program Advisory Committee (PAC), composed of maritime industry professionals and educators, to guide curriculum priorities. In the last two years, the committee has put an emphasis on need for more skilled marine systems employees and determined that is was critical to add marine systems to the curriculum, she said. Chief Instructor Sean Koomen said that the marine systems programs will be taught with the same priority on craftsmanship, quality, and integrity that the school’s programs have been known for over its 37-year history. NEW INVESTMENT In 2017 and continuing in 2018, the school is investing more than $500,000 to build new programs, enabled by wide-spread community support, says Davis. An initial grant of $100,000 from the state Department of Commerce with support from EDC Team Jefferson kick-started the project and enabled the school to pilot week-long Marine Systems Intensives in June 2017 to 28 employees from more than 15 different Jefferson and Clallam county businesses. Stephen Gale, Owner/Manager of Haven Boatworks, serves on the PAC and supported program development by sending employees to help test the pilot Intensives. “I sent three employees to the intensives and saw spectacular results. They returned ready to apply what they’d learned,” Gale said. “It worked better than I would have hoped.” In parallel, a $25,000 grant from First Federal Community Foundation, along with $75,000 in private dona18
As part of the diesel engine intensive at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding, instructor Walt Trisdale looks on as Drew Mickle practices removing and replacing the engine’s alternator and starter. Photos courtesy Rick Myers
About the school The mission of the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding is to teach and preserve traditional and contemporary wooden boatbuilding skills while developing the individual as a craftsman.
tions funded the construction of a new mezzanine classroom dedicated to Marine Systems programs, in the Hammond Boat Shop. And two family foundations have contributed $65,000 to adapt portions of the curriculum for a high school audience. The school is still identifying high school program partners to build and test the new modules of instruction, Davis said. Davis notes that establishing the new classes required four key elements: Identifying the instructors, creating a space to teach the programs, creating curriculum and purchasing equipment and building needed mock-ups for students to practice installations and trouble-shooting. “We are thrilled that Kevin Ritz and Walt Trisdale have agreed to help lead the new programs,” Davis said. “They bring years of collective experience in
2018 Working Waterfront • The Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
the field, and a commitment to high quality workmanship. Their commitment to the new program is inspiring us all.” NATIONWIDE EXPERIENCE After running his own marine services company for over a decade, Ritz served as an instructor nation-wide for the American Boat and Yacht Council (ABYC). He is an ABYC Master Technician and holds certifications in Marine Electrical, Marine Corrosion, Marine Systems, and ABYC Standards, instructing Coast Guard and industry
professionals in each of these areas. Ritz also acts as an electrical investigator for multiple agencies involving in-water and onboard fatalities across the nation. He has been an investigator and consultant for many years for marine corrosion issues from coast to coast, Davis said. Trisdale is a familiar figure in Port Townsend’s boatyards. Since 2005, Trisdale has owned a boat repair business in Port Townsend, working on engine and transmission repairs and rebuilds, re-power systems design and installation, hydraulics design and repair, propulsion and steering, welding and fabrication, and custom machining on everything from Alaskan fishing vessels to small sailboats. “Both instructors support the school’s approach that blends theoretical knowledge with hands-on practice,” Davis said. Students learning about marine corrosion take hull potential readings from vessels in the field with a variety of hull types (aluminum, wood, fiberglass, steel), and students in the marine electrical class design, mount, and wire AC and DC panel boards and circuits. Trisdale is fabricating mockups that students will use in the classroom to practice installing and trouble-shooting mechanical systems. The new six-month program will serve people entering the trad, and people already in the trade may choose the week-long intensive in hydraulics, diesel engines, marine corrosive and marine electrical systems.
Lead Systems Instructor Kevin Ritz shows the effect of using the wrong gauge wire during a class at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding.
REVISION MARINE
RE-POWER & REFIT
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per year,” Brignoli explained. Fuel savings, together with the environmental savings of not running generators at inefficient levels, significantly improved maintenance costs (cut almost in half); plus, there is the improved experience of quieter operation. “The owner hated running the generator all night in the quiet anchorage and polluting with all that exhaust and noise. He didn’t want to be that guy,” Mortensen said.
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By the numbers
7
The number of experienced yard crew on hand to lift, place and splash your boat at Boat Haven
34,054
Number of gallons of fuel supplied annually at the Jefferson County International Airport
38,290
800
Number of linear feet of boats hauled in 2017 at the Port of Port Townsend
Lifts made in 2017 at the Port of Port Townsend
171, 364
4,436
Number of times guests spent overnight at Boat Haven Marina in 2017 (boats)
Number of gallons of fuel supplied at Boat Haven and Quilcene fuel docks
600,000
4,709
Number of times guests spent overnight at Point Hudson Marina in 2017 (boats)
Capacity of hoist to lift a boat at Port of Port Townsend (330 U.S. Tons)
8,1 81
1,1 54,559
Number of nights stayed at the Point Hudson RV Park in 2017 (RVs)
Number of acres in Jefferson County served by Port of Port Townsend
Source: Port of Port Townsend 20
2018 Working Waterfront • the Port townsend & Jefferson County Leader