Today is likely to be a busy day for some of the personnel at Lee Shore Boats in Port Angeles.
They are slated to launch the 30-foot aluminum fire and search-and-rescue boat Lee Shore built for East Jefferson Fire-Rescue, based in Port Townsend.
The versatile craft has self-bailing decks and is designed to pump water onto a fire at the rate of 1,000 gallons per minute from its own onboard power system.
Additionally, her voids are filled with flotation foam, and the hull is designed to keep the vessel buoyant if the boat is swamped or overturns.
The $455,379 vessel was funded by a 2011 Department of Homeland Security port-security grant.
More about her can be found on the East Jefferson Fire-Rescue website at www.ejfr.org/capital-projects.
North to Alaska
Northern Legacy, the turquoise and white MetalÂcraft boat owned by Pete and Joan Hanson of Port Angeles that is typically moored in the Boat Haven, left Port Angeles at dawn Thursday for the vessel’s summer home at Kaigani Point on Dall Island, Alaska.
There, she will be used as a floating lodge and base camp for Alaska Far West Fish Camp that Pete and Joan operated in Alaska for more than two decades.
Trailing behind Northern Legacy was the fish camp’s small flotilla of support vessels and fishing boats that are manned by eager and enthusiastic volunteers who happily make the seven-day journey up the Inside Passage to Southeast Alaska.
Why? Simply because it’s an opportunity that few folks will ever be presented with, and there is always the chance to be taken fishing by guides who know where the fish are and how to catch them.
For more information about the Hansons’ fish camp in Alaska, visit their website at www.alaskafarwestfishing.com.
American visitor
The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, which is based in Everett, is spending the weekend anchored off Esquimalt Harbour on Vancouver Island.
She arrived Friday and will leave Monday for Nanoose Bay, where she will undergo testing at the Canadian Forces Maritime Experimental and Test Ranges that focuses on the vessel’s sonar systems.
The facility known by the acronym CFMETR is staffed by personnel from the Canadian Navy and U.S. Navy civilian employees from Naval Base Kitsap.
Meanwhile this weekend, the Nimitz, anchored off Esquimalt Lagoon, is a huge attraction for Esquimalt’s annual Buccaneer Days.
Out of the water
Platypus Marine, the full-service shipyard, yacht-repair facility and steel-boat manufacturer on Marine Drive in Port Angeles, hauled out Yukon Queen II last week.
She’s a 95-foot aluminum catamaran with a 31-foot beam that was built in Western Australia in 1995.
The vessel is owned by Holland America Line, and until recently, the cruise ship company used the high-speed catamaran to take summer tourists on 102-mile tours on the Yukon River between Dawson City, Yukon, and Eagle, Alaska.
According to Brad Hale, who works in Platypus’ marketing and sales department, Yukon Queen II was hauled out for her annual inspections.
Platypus also hauled out Marlins II, an 84-foot commercial fishing vessel that hails from Westport in Grays Harbor County.
According to Brad, the steel boat will be at Platypus’ facility for up to three weeks to have a couple of mechanical issues resolved.
She also will be repainted.
On Thursday, Platypus hauled out Coruba, a 68-foot racing sailboat built by Dencho Marine in Long Beach, Calif.
Brad said Platypus personnel will be helping the owner prepare the yacht for the upcoming racing season.
Her tall mast makes her easily visible in Platypus’ yard.
PA Harbor watch
Tesoro Petroleum on Wednesday provided bunkers to British Commerce, a 755-foot LPG carrier that was anchored in Port Angeles Harbor but now is underway for Japan.
On Friday, Tesoro bunkered AAL Dalian a 525-foot general cargo ship.
Tesoro also refueled the crude-oil tanker Colorado, which is flagged in the Marshall Islands.
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David G. Sellars is a Port Angeles resident and former Navy boatswain’s mate who enjoys boats and strolling the area’s waterfronts.
Items and questions involving boating, port activities and the North Olympic Peninsula waterfronts are always welcome. Email dgsellars@hotmail.com or phone him at 360-808-3202.
His column, On the Waterfront, appears Sundays.
