A flotilla of classics to sail along the North Olympic Peninsula in next two weeks
Allison Balser, 8, left, and Emily Balser, 5, both of Port Angeles, take their turns as imaginary ship’s captains at the wheel of the 122-foot schooner Lynx on Saturday at Port Angeles City Pier. -- Photo by Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News
By Jeff Chew and Leah Leach, Peninsula Daily News
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The ships are arriving from all over the world for racing in the first race of the American Sail Training Association Tall Ships 2008 Challenge.
They'll also stop off for festivals in Victoria and Tacoma, and have added a few races just for fun.
Continuing to be docked at City Pier in Port Angeles today is the Lynx, which arrived on Friday.
Dockside tours will be offered from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
A $5 donation is asked of adults, while children 12 and younger will be admitted free of charge.
An adventure sail is scheduled from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.
The cost is $65 for adults, with children 12 years old and younger charged $30.
The Lynx is expected to stay at City Pier through Tuesday.
The Bounty, built in 1960 for MGM's "Mutiny on the Bounty," was expected to arrive in Port Angeles on Friday, but had to stop for repairs.
On Saturday, Bill Larsen, the retired master of the Lady Washington, who lives in Port Angeles, said that the Bounty had just left Coos Bay, Ore., and was not likely to visit Port Angeles.
Gathering this week
This weekend's visit by the Lynx is only a taste of what will come.
More than 20 tall ships will gather in Victoria's Inner Harbour for the Victoria Tall Ships Society festival Thursday through next Sunday, which is expected to attract up to 40,000 people.
Some may be seen in the Port Angeles Harbor as early as Monday, as they make their way to Victoria, said Jeffrey Woods, director of operations for the Lynx Educational Foundation, but they won't be available for tours or sails.
Stars of the show in Victoria will be the Eagle, the three-masted flagship of the U.S. Coast Guard,; the Nina, a replica of Christopher Columbus's flagship that crossed the Atlantic in 1492; the Lady Washington, which was featured in "Pirates of the Caribbean" — and perhaps the Bounty.
Mock battles, wooden boat-building, sail making, live entertainment and children's programs of scrimshaw carving and model boat building are to be offered at the Victoria festival.
The Parade of Sails will be at noon Thursday.
Tickets for single-day access to the site and ship boarding will be on sale each day for $15.
Four-day passes that include access to the festival site and boarding on all three available days are $35.
For more information, phone 800-663-3883 or check www.tallshipsvictoria.ca.
Race from Victoria
On June 30, ships will cross the Strait of Juan de Fuca in the first race of the Tall Ships 2008 Challenge race from Victoria to Port Angeles.
Another race is planned on July 1 from Port Angeles to Port Townsend, Woods said.
Passengers can reserve a spot on a ship for either race. The cost is $150 per person.
Passage can be booked on a tall ship leaving Port Angeles for Victoria on Wednesday, according to the Lynx reservation phone line.
For reservations on the Lynx or another tall ship, phone 866-446-5969.
Some 13 tall ships are expected to be in Port Angeles Harbor, and 11 in Port Townsend Bay, on July 30 and July 1 for clearance through U.S. Customs before they go on to the Tacoma Tall Ships Festival July 3-7.
In Port Angeles, ships will tie up at City Pier, east of City Pier, west of the ferry dock, northwest of the Boat Haven, and at Terminal 3.
In Port Townsend, they will dock at the Maritime Center pier, City Dock and Union Wharf.
Party for crew
Excited Northwest Maritime Center representatives on Friday announced they will host the tall ships and their crews for the stopover from Victoria.
"We'll be hosting their crews and giving them places of refuge," said Kaci Cronkhite, the Northwest Maritime Center's managing director.
Rob Sanderson, Northwest Maritime Center waterfront programs manager, said the crews will be hosted at the Maritime Center's offices at the Cupola House at Point Hudson Marina.
"It will give the crews a night off," he said, adding that is was "kind of a pre-party" for the future Maritime Center ground-breaking ceremony, which is scheduled on July 3.
No on-board public tours will be conducted during the Port Townsend stay.
The public, however, will get close-up views of the crafts at all three piers, Cronkhite said.
While weather, tides and other unforeseen events could delay their arrival, the Northwest Maritime Center's managing director said the visit should give visitors a close-up glimpse of what Port Townsend's waterfront looked like more than 100 years ago.
"The benefit to the Northwest Maritime Center is our programs train people to crew on board those tall ships," Sanderson said.
"We're a maritime campus and we want to train maritime crews."
On July 2, passengers can make reservations to sail on a tall ship from Port Townsend to Quartermaster Harbor on Vashon Island, via Seattle, Woods said.
After the festival in Tacoma — which will host about 30 vessels including the Hawaiian Chieftain, the Lady Washington and the HMS Bounty — the ships will go on to visit Port Alberni, British Columbia, from July 10-12; San Francisco from July 23-27; Oxnard, Calif., from Aug. 7-10; San Pedro, Calif., from Aug. 13-17; and San Diego from Aug. 20-24.
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Jefferson County Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-385-2335 or jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
Managing Editor/News Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or leah.leach@peninsuladailynews.com.
Last modified: June 21. 2008 9:00PM