Port Townsend is for boaters

If you’re married to a mariner, as I am, you learn that places like this are catnip to a boater. I’ve learned to enjoy and appreciate the lines of a classic boat, and to keep myself occupied while my husband haunts marine supply depots. I took this rainy day view during a shopping trip for boat paint. Port Townsend is a center for boats and boating and there’s a boatyard that’s a hubub of haulout activity.

The Voyager, above, is hauled out for repairs. It is a purse seiner fishing boat, which means that it sets a net in a large circle on the top of the water. A rope around the net at its bottom is tightened to draw in the catch. The big block at the back of the boat pulls up the net.

In addition to working boats like the Voyager, Port Townsend is home to yachts, sailboats, and a population of people who live aboard various seagoing vessels. In the 1970s Port Townsend became the center for a West Coast renaissance of classic wooden boats and has hosted an annual Wooden Boat Festival since 1976.

Tomorrow I’ll take you on a visit to the Northwest Maritime Center in Port Townsend.