ABOARD THE SPIRIT OF KINGSTON — It was fair winds and smooth sailing as the Port of Kingston’s passenger ferry glided across Puget Sound with its first passengers to Seattle Monday morning as an auburn sunrise accented the Emerald City’s skyline.
The Port of Kingston’s inaugural water-commuter catamaran run, dubbed SoundRunner, drew mostly North Kitsap County commuters trying it out for the first time.
But Sequim home-school teacher and mom Elizabeth Yeater took advantage of the port’s introductory offer: Free is a very good price.
Yeater chaperoned her four children and four from the McKay family, also of Sequim, on a field trip to the Seattle Aquarium.
“It’s fantastic,” Yeater said.
“It’s a great option for me. To spend the day and not have to park is nice.”
Instead of driving the children in a van from Sequim to Seattle, fighting traffic and hunting for parking downtown, she parked at the port of Kingston lot near the ferry landing and hopped the boat.
The Seattle Aquarium, Pike Place Market and the Seahawks’ and Mariners’ stadiums are less than a mile away from the Pier 50 landing that the Spirit of Kingston now shares with King County’s Seattle-Vashon Island and West Seattle passenger ferries.
The landing is just south of the Bainbridge and Bremerton car-ferry terminal at Colman Dock.
While the vessel was not running at about half of its 150-passenger capacity to Seattle, and free wireless Internet service and TVs were not yet installed, port of Kingston officials voiced satisfaction that the vessel was running and docking on schedule before dawn.
“This is the ideal service for what we are looking for,” said the port’s ferry program manager, Eric Osnes, who was riding the Spirit with the rest of the three-person crew along with Kingston Chamber of Commerce volunteers serving newspapers, water, coffee, juice and pastries in the galley.
Longtime passenger and car-ferry advocate Tim Caldwell, a Port Ludlow resident who chairs that Jefferson County’s ferry advisory committee for Washington State Ferries, was all smiles while the vessel cruised at 24 knots, burning about 80 gallons of fuel an hour compared with the former private, unsuccessful Kingston-Seattle Aqua Express passenger ferry that burned 280 gallons.
“When are you going to run to Port Townsend?” Caldwell boldly but playfully asked Port of Kingston Commissioners Chairman Pete DeBoer, who was hosting passengers on the way to Seattle.
“That’s a weekend deal,” DeBoer shot back at Caldwell.
“Give us 140 passengers and we’ll be up there.”
Caldwell said he was confident that could easily be achieved on a weekend run between Port Townsend and Seattle.
The former Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce manager cited the chamber’s sell-out demonstration cruises to Seattle from the Key City in 2005 using the Aqua Express.
Caldwell said he is closely watching what the Port of Port Townsend commissioners could do to create a Port Townsend-to-Seattle weekend run.
The Port of Port Townsend is seeking federal and state funds to finance an upstart ferry service to Seattle, building a new small boat at the port’s boat yard and launching service for about $2 million.
The Port of Kingston’s service has cost considerably more, but bought the Spirit of Kingston for $2.5 million and the Victoria Express — which formerly was based in Port Angeles — as a backup boat for $650,000.
The Spirit of Kingston is a 65-foot catamaran built in 2005 at All American Marine in Bellingham, and cruises on a hydrofoil between its dual hulls, lifting it to improve fuel efficiency and ride on the water.
The Victoria Express is a 93-foot single-hull vessel built in 1981 by Neuville Boat Works in New Iberia, La.
It has a capacity of up to 150 passengers and crew, with a cruising speed of 18 knots and a maximum speed of nearly 25 knots.
“We’re hearing we’ll have about 100 people riding now and about 140 by the end of the year,” DeBoer said.
“To pay for itself we need a full boat.”
Of the 75 that boarded the Spirit for the first run, 58 got off in Seattle and the rest returned to Kingston.
Fares are $15 round trip for adults and $10 one way. Adults 65 and older and the disabled ride for $7.50 round trip and $5 one way.
Youths and students ages 6-18 ride for $10 round trip and $7.50 one way. Children 5 and younger ride free.
The trip to Seattle is about 45 minutes.
Once the service is full-tilt under way, food and drinks — including beer and wine — will be served to passengers.
The ferry service has a Facebook page at www.facebook.com/SoundRunner, where comments can be made.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
