THE SEATTLE BOAT Show, held simultaneously at the Qwest Field Event Center and South Lake Union, wrapped up Sunday.
The North Olympic Peninsula was well represented during the 10-day event.
Joe Beck of Armstrong Marine, the aluminum boat fabricator on U.S. Highway 101 between Sequim and Port Angeles, has been staffing the company’s booth, which includes showcasing a new, 26-foot aluminum catamaran.
The boat is one of four harbor security patrol boats that Armstrong will deliver to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla.
According to Joe, many of the visitors to the show have come by the exhibit, scratching their heads and wondering aloud why the Air Force needs a patrol boat.
One person even asked him: “How do you fly this thing?”
Joe explained that the boundaries of MacDill encompass a fair amount of Tampa Bay water that the Coast Guard has been patrolling.
Once Armstrong delivers the boats, the Air Force assume those responsibilities.
As to the question about “how to fly this thing,” the boats are powered by twin Mercury outboard motors generating a combined 500 horsepower — but it is not quite enough to allow them to become airborne.
Platypus at the show
Capt. Charlie Crane, director of sales and marketing for Platypus Marine Inc. of Port Angeles, represented the company for the entire 10 days of the boat show.
During the show, Charlie said the attendance seems to be greater than last year’s, and the mood of those attending is more upbeat than it has been for the past couple of years.
He also said he has signed up some business, but more importantly he is meeting new boaters and introducing them to the marine industry in Port Angeles that many were unaware existed.
The Port of Port Angeles has a booth next to that of Platypus Marine.
At various times throughout the show, guests learning about Port Angeles and the North Olympic Peninsula had an opportunity to speak with Commissioner George Schoenfeldt, Executive Director Jeff Robb, Marketing and Property Manager Pat Deja, Human Resources Manager Holly Hairell, Airport and Marina Manager Doug Sandau and Terminal Facilities Manager Mike Nimmo.
The harbormasters for John Wayne Marina and Boat Haven Marina, Ron Amundson and Chuck Faires, respectively, were extolling the virtues of their excellent facilities, as well as their very competitive moorage rates to boating enthusiasts, including many who have never been to Port Angeles.
Westport Shipyard, builders of a luxurious line of composite yachts, was also in attendance.
Katy Wakefield, an administrative assistant for Westport, said the yacht builder has one of its 112-foot yachts on display at Lake Union part of the show.
From East Jefferson County, exhibitors listed include the Port of Port Townsend as well as Port Townsend Rigging, Sea Marine, Gold Star Marine, New Found Metals Inc., all in Port Townsend, and Pleasant Harbor Marina in Brinnon.
West Indies, not Bahamas
In early December, Armstrong Marine put Nevisian Spirit, a newly constructed, 45-foot full-displacement catamaran onto the heavy lift transport ship Beluga Elegance for delivery to Port Everglades, Fla.
Once in Florida, her owners had a crew standing-by to drive the boat to the Four Seasons Resort in Nevis, West Indies.
In my Dec. 12 On The Waterfront column, I incorrectly wrote that Nevis was in the Bahamas.
Tara MacIntyre who is director of public relations for Four Seasons Resort in Nevis, kindly informed me that I had gotten a little mixed-up in my geography.
My apologies.
Bahamian visitor
At the beginning of last week, Harbour Clear, a Bahamian-flagged chemical tanker, moored to the Port of Port Angeles’ Terminal 3.
When the 452-foot vessel was launched in 2001, she was flagged in Italy and named Jo Chiara D.
After a few years her ownership changed, and she became the Liberian-flagged ship, Nora.
Harbour Clear came to Port Angeles by way of the Panama Canal and will be in port for about a week to have her turbochargers replaced.
The ship’s owners flew an international potpourri of craftsman to Port Angeles to perform the work — from such far-flung locales as Denmark, Lithuania, Russia, Romania and the Philippines.
On Thursday, when I spoke with Chandra “Hollywood” McGoff at Washington Marine Repair, the topside repair company on the waterfront, about the company’s participation in replacing the turbochargers, she said its involvement would be limited to erecting scaffolding and to the renting of various pieces of equipment.
To remove the turbochargers, personnel must cut a sizable hole in the hull between the waterline and main deck to extract the engine parts.
Scaffolding which has been wrapped in canvas tarps are set up to provide a sheltered workspace from which personnel can operate.
Chemical tankers are typically smaller than the tankers North Olympic Peninsula residents are accustomed to seeing because of the specialized nature of their cargoes and the size restrictions imposed upon them at various ports they call to load and discharge cargo.
Chemical tankers normally have a series of separate cargo tanks which are either coated with specialized coatings such as epoxy or zinc paint, or made from stainless steel.
The coating or cargo tank material determines what types of cargo a particular tank can carry: stainless steel tanks are required for aggressive acid cargoes such as sulfuric and phosphoric acid, while “easier” cargoes — e.g., vegetable oil — can be carried in epoxy coated tanks.
At the filler-up
On Jan. 23, Tesoro Petroleum provided bunkers to Amis Wisdom II, a 656-foot bulk-cargo ship that was put in service just last September.
The Panamanian-flagged vessel is now under way to Paranagua, Brazil.
Last Monday, Tesoro refueled Polar Resolution, an 894-foot, double-hull crude oil tanker.
Tesoro on Wednesday had its refueling barge alongside Harbour Clear and the ATB Galveston and her barge, Petrochem Producer.
Then on Thursday, Alaskan Legend, a 941-foot crude-oil tanker, received fuel, and the 575-foot petroleum products tanker, American Progress, was bunkered late Friday afternoon.
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David G. Sellars is a Port Angeles resident and former Navy boatswain’s mate who enjoys boats and strolling the waterfront.
Items involving boating, port activities and the North Olympic Peninsula waterfronts are always welcome.
E-mail dgsellars@hotmail.com or phone him at 360-808-3202.
His column, On the Waterfront, appears in the print edition every Sunday.