Wooden Boat Festival 2013 Port Townsend

The maiden voyage of the Stone Horse, Belle Starr was north from Olympia, Washington to Port Townsend, Washington, on the Salish Sea. What a fabulous week!

This voyage began last Wednesday, in rain and thick fog with occasional lightning and ended yesterday in beautiful blue skies with a downwind run home.

In between was the always satisfying Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival. Three days of navigating one hundred nautical miles northward by GPS, with hardly a sight of land, culminated in glorious skies Friday, as Belle Starr set anchor off the Port Townsend wharf.

The festivities had already begun and spirits were high with anticipation of a fine weekend. Belle Starr proved to be in good shape, with few problems and performed as her pedigree predicted. We tried all potential sail combinations and discovered a few rigging shortcomings, but nothing to put a damper on the fun.

Doryman has friends in high places (lucky man) and soon after arrival, Belle Starr was invited to tie-up at the dock inside the Basin and join the Festival, even though that was not her intention. She elected to stay outside, at anchor, the better to spread her wings at a moments notice.

You will discover, therefore, most photos in the Doryman archives are on the water, under full canvas. Shooting while handling a sailboat is not ideal for photography, though looking through the photos might give you the feeling of being there. (Thats my excuse, and Im sticking to it.)

Event Photos:
Dorymans Flickr site
Northwest Maritime Center (facebook)
Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding (facebook)

Thanks to all my good friends for making this a week to remember (you know who you are). Doryman is fortunate indeed, to be a member of such a stellar tribe.

Your happy skipper

Belle Starr on Marristone Island. A happy boat.














  Sleeping Seals on Eagle Island from doryman on Vimeo.

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Toledo Oregon Wooden Boat Show 2013

Whew! Just recovering from a long weekend at the annual boat show in my home port. This show happens every third weekend in August and its always a lot of fun in the sun, on the water. Of course there are the boats, many of which were created by their owners. The live music is excellent, the food is very good, there are activities for kids, demonstrations of kayak skills and paper boat races. The last is completely insane. Toledo is a mill town and the paper used in making the boats is a water resistant packing material donated by the mill. The rest is up to the imagination. Im afraid that to get the full effect, you have to visit the show.

My cruising dory, Mistral was in the thick of the action, at her usual mooring and I talked myself hoarse in three days, visiting friends from near and far. Our Teak Lady sailboats were in action, giving rides up and down the slough and the Toledo Community Boathouse provided rowing and paddling craft for free, to all comers.

I asked some friends to help take photos, which you can find on Dorymans Flickr site. You will recognise many boats from previous years as well as newcomers to the fleet (some of us just cant quit building).

Speaking of building, a real highlight of this show is the Family Boat Build. Starting on Friday, each group begins their boat, which was a  kayak this year. By Sunday afternoon, the boats are launched and tested by the proud owners. This little fifteen foot kayak is so appealing, Im going to build one myself. The hull is already begun. It will be the annual winter boat build, here on Doryman, so stay tuned

Electric Tug from doryman on Vimeo.

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Everglades Challenge 2013

This years Everglades Challenge starts March 2nd at dawn, on the beach at Fort Desoto Park, Tampa Bay, Florida. Its billed as a 300 mile ultra-marathon. Most contestants take it very seriously, others are content to simply finish. Some years, finishing has not been simple.

Good Luck to all contestants! Here are some photos of preparations on the beach Friday, courtesy of Dave Lucas. Dave tells me he will not be up at dawn to see the participants off...
Additional photos, videos and links will be added throughout the event and can be found at the end of this post.

If you have access to facebook, more photos and information can be found on a page maintained by
Chuck Leinweber of Duckworks.

The Saturday Morning Start:



More coverage can be found on Aqua Lifestyle.

Heres a fun video from Runs with Beers and Excitable Boy on their Sea Pearl, Allez

03/04/2013
The winners of he 2013 Everglades Challenge and a close second are two Core Sound 20s:
This from Sailing Anarchy:

"The surprise of the event so far has been the dominating performances by the team of Paul and Alan Stewart (tribal names DanceswithSandyBottom and SOS) and the team of Phil Garland and Dan Neri (SambaSailor and Sailsalot) on their plywood Core Sound cat ketches."

" They arrived at the final checkpoint last night neck and neck, but it was the Stewarts who used their vast experience to it’s greatest advantage when they departed Flamingo to cross the treacherous and shallow Florida Bay at midnight while Garland and Neri waited for daylight. DWSB/SOS arrived at the finish at 7:02 AM this morning, which was nearly nine hours faster than the previous monohull record and one of the top five fastest finishes of all time."
                                                         by John Bell

Congratulations, Paul and Alan. 300 miles in 48 hours, quite an achievement.

Kite-cam photo courtesy of Planing Around

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