Boat school projects launched as culmination of group efforts

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, December 10, 2019

PORT TOWNSEND — Bob Spychalski’s family was stationed in England when his daughter began to search for a place to go to college.

“She meant to click Northwest University, but right underneath of it was the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding,” Spychalski said.

He stood on the dock Monday at the Point Hudson Marina in Port Townsend, where two boats built by students in the past two years were launched.

Chief Instructor Sean Koomen directed traffic, which included an 18-foot Gartside workboat named Orca as well as the 19-foot, 2-inch sailboat christened Crysta Melanie after Spychalski’s wife.

Both boats were hauled across the street and into the water at the marina, and more than 50 people who took part in the projects stood along the dock, cellphones in hand to capture the moment.

Spychalski, originally from Indiana, retired in October 2018 after a 35-year military career. He served in both the Air Force and the Marine Corps, and he said his last assignment was in the Middle East in Amman, Jordan.

The Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding sent his daughter an enrollment packet when his family lived in England. Spychalski said she eventually chose a school in Seattle, and he relocated his family to live nearby.

Then he remembered the enrollment packet, and his interest was piqued.

“I said, ‘Hey, that’s interesting. Let me take a look at it,’ ” Spychalski said.

His first day of retirement was his first day in class — Oct. 1, 2018 — and he worked as part of a crew of five for about six months on the boat, Spychalski said.

“I had to leave because we’re building a house over in Seabeck, and our priority is to have a place where we can lay our heads come March,” he said.

The sailboat was built as a replica of the 80-year-old sailing sjekte Havheston, a Norwegian open boat, said Sean Rankins, who owns Northwest Sails and Canvas. He and his wife, Inger, work in a space they lease from the boat school in Port Hadlock.

The Rankinses own the original sailboat, which they bought in Norway 30 years ago.

The Orca also is unique with its rounded hull shape and vertical planking, marine systems instructor John Hill said.

Hill and Kevin Ritz, the lead instructor for marine systems, led a team of 20 to 25 students in one of three areas.

In total, the boat took about two years to build from a 2009 drawing, and Koomen said it’s the first design of its kind — “a classic little workboat” — to be built and launched.

“That’s why we chose this boat, because it was a great teaching project,” Koomen said. “It has a complex hull shape and complex construction. It was a really fun challenge for the students.”

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Jefferson County Managing Editor Brian McLean can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 6, or at bmclean@peninsuladailynews.com.