Port Angeles, Port Townsend to have tall ships visiting today
By Paige Dickerson, Peninsula Daily News
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Ships should be sailing into the harbors by early afternoon in Port Angeles and 5 p.m. in Port Townsend, said Bill Larson, retired captain of the Lady Washington, and Stan Cummings, executive director of the Northwest Maritime Center.
The ships are due to leave Victoria's Inner Harbour this morning following the city's four-day Tall Ships Festival, which closed at 9 p.m. Sunday.
Victoria organizers, who predicted up to 40,000 visitors before the festival started, said they won't have exact attendance figures for a couple of weeks.
But they said the warm weather helped to spur a turnout better than they could have imagined, CFAX radio reported Sunday evening.
The ships are next due at the Tacoma Tall Ships Festival beginning Independence Day eve, but they're planning to race across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Port Angeles and Port Townsend first.
About 13 ships should call for the night in Port Angeles as they complete one leg of a race — the Tall Ships Challenge — along the West Coast, said Larson, who helped make arrangements for their visit.
However, if wind conditions are as poor as they were on Saturday and Sunday, the ships might just drop that leg of the race, he said.
"If there isn't enough wind, they'll call over and say they are dropping out of the race and just come in on their own power," Larson said.
"I expect that they will start getting here at about 1:30 p.m., but if they come in on their own power it could be a lot earlier than that, or if some sail in then it could be later."
The National Weather Service forecast westerly winds on the Strait today from 10 knots to 15 knots, rising to 25 knots later in the day.
Some of the ships will tie up at City Pier, while others will be anchored in the harbor.
10 due in Port Townsend
About 10 other tall ships will stop at Port Townsend Bay today and Tuesday — five on each day, said Cummings.
"My guess is that it will be a catch-as-catch-can affair — difficult to predict when and where they will arrive with any precision," he said.
Some of the ships will tie up at the Port Townsend city piers and at the Northwest Maritime Center pier, while the rest anchor in the bay.
After Tuesday, all of the ships will head to Tacoma where they will take part in the Tall Ships Tacoma Festival, which begins Thursday.
"They have to be in Tacoma by Wednesday by about noon, so they will be out of [Port Angeles] pretty early on Tuesday," Larson said.
Among ships that will stop for the night in Port Angeles before heading to Tacoma on Tuesday
It is the Port Townsend-based ship which ran around in the San Juan Islands a week ago, was hauled out of the water Tuesday and given a clean bill of health by the Coast Guard to sail to Victoria on Wednesday.
It already visited Port Angeles last week and will be making a return visit.
Passing through
Five others will make a stop in Port Angeles today and will head to Port Townsend.
The Lady Washington, Hawaiian Chieftain and Lynx also spent time in Port Angeles last week.
Direct to Port Townsend
Five ships will head directly to Port Townsend today before heading to Tacoma.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
Last modified: June 29. 2008 9:00PM