Category: Boats

John Steinbeck's boat

If you’re familiar with the work of writer John Steinbeck, you may know “The Log from the Sea of Cortez,” a book he wrote with marine biologist Ed Ricketts after a research voyage they made in 1940. Steinbeck and Ricketts chartered the Western Flyer out of Monterey, California for six weeks and the Log is a narrative of the experience. After a long and interesting history, the Western Flyer has arrived in the Port Townsend shipyard, unquestionably worse for wear.

The Western Flyer is a 76-foot wooden purse seiner built in Tacoma in 1937. Over the years it worked as a fishing trawler in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska and as a survey vessel along the coast of British Columbia and Alaska. Eventually renamed the Gemini, the boat finally ended up in Washington’s Swinomish Slough where it sat idle beginning in 1997.

A real estate developer who owns several buildings in Steinbeck’s hometown, Salinas, California, bought the Western Flyer in 2010 intending to restore and return it to Salinas, to display inside a restaurant and boutique hotel. The boat ran out of patience last year. In September it sank in 30 feet of water. A crew raised it, pumped out the water, and put a temporary patch where planks had given way. In November it sank again.

Coated with barnacles and sea life inside and out it was hauled to Port Townsend earlier this month. Estimated restoration is $700,000 and a nonprofit group hopes to raise funds for the work. As you can see, they have their work cut out for them.

The Marina

Although the wind was cold it was a beautiful evening last week when the Lady Washington was in Sequim. Here’s a view of the John Wayne Marina where she berthed. And if this is the first time you’ve heard of it, yes, it’s named for the actor. He rather liked to go boating here and his family donated the land for the marina (they hope to further develop the area one day).

A grassy bluff next to the marina provides a great view of Sequim Bay with Diamond Point in the background. There are benches and tables for those who might want to settle in and have a picnic.

Lady Washington came to town

The tall ship Lady Washington visited Sequim last week in her only Olympic Peninsula visit this summer. She berthed at the John Wayne Marina for several days and gave residents a treat with an evening sail one evening, shown above, and a mock sea battle with the Hawaiian Chieftain the next afternoon.

Lady Washington and the Chieftain are run as part of a maritime history program operated by Grays Harbor Historical Seaport Authority. You can see young crew members aloft, unfurling sails as the ship got underway. It was a very windy evening. We weren’t sure the sail would take place, but out they went.

The original Lady Washington was the first American-flagged ship to visit Japan in 1791.

The Hawaiian Chieftain stayed at some distance while we watched. You can catch a glimpse of her on the right side, above.

The Scamp comes home

First it was a viewing of the Scamp at the Wooden Boat Festival in 2011. Then it was a year’s worth of dreaming, comparing, and more dreaming. Next it was a set of plans and a class scheduled on the calendar. A few weeks ago it was a pile of lumber. Last Saturday, this is what came home from an intensive two-week class: our very own Scamp, the work of my frankly awesome husband.

Our new Scamp, now living in the shop, still has a way to go before she’s ready to launch. She will be named “Perigee” and will have a dark green hull with black and yellow boot top. The topside will be buff and she will have a tanbark sail. These are classic yachting colors – my husband is a traditionalist when it comes to boats. Think he looks happy?

Builders at work

It takes a village to build a boat. Last Friday they discovered a hitch with a piece of the precut lumber and there was some focused problem-solving on the shop floor. Once solved, each builder was walked through the work-around and everyone moved forward.

The shop is a beehive of activity. Here’s a view of the goings on from the second floor which has a glassed in view of the large, bright shop. There are six new boats being built here. A seventh is substantially completed but still undergoing the perennial tinkering that’s a passion of some boaters.

Week one of Scamp Camp

Here is what my husband has produced after one week of intensive boat-building. What doesn’t show are “dry” fittings and re-fittings of parts and pieces before each piece is permanently glued in place. And until the planking goes on the outside it can be hard to see the boat taking shape. The bow is on the left of this shot.

This is what our boat will look like when it’s all grown up. Different colors, but the same hull. It is estimated to be only 30-40% complete by the end of this week when the class ends. My husband is at the higher end of this range because he’s built the mast, some of the fittings, and has prefinished some of the wood. He will still have to paint it and fit out the interior decks and veranda. But at least it won’t entail a daily commute to Port Townsend.