PORT TOWNSEND — The delay of the inaugural sailing of the MV Chetzemoka has put celebration plans on hold and caused some disappointment, but not surprise.
“We expected that a delay might happen,” said Port Townsend’s marketing director, Christina Pivarnik.
“We are disappointed, but not massively, and it’s important that we are able to go with the flow.”
The first sailing of the 64-car ferry on the Port Townsend-Whidbey Island route was scheduled for Sunday, Aug. 29.
Washington State Ferries announced last week that the date had been postponed after sea trial revealed excessive propeller drive-train vibrations at high speeds.
More information about the cause of the vibration is expected to be announced this week, said Marta Coursey, state ferries system spokeswoman.
Celebrations planned for Port Townsend and on Whidbey Island, planned for the first day the ferry would ply the Admiralty Inlet waters, also were postponed.
“We haven’t done so much work that we can’t just take the schedule and move it to another day,” said Port Townsend City Manager David Timmons.
In preparation for the celebration, about 45 banners welcoming the Chetzemoka have been hung throughout Port Townsend and Whidbey Island.
They don’t mention the day of the first sailing.
The celebration of the new ferry is to include a blessing delivered by representatives of the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe.
The ferry is named for a Klallam chief whose great-great-grandson is a member of the Jamestown tribe.
Gov. Chris Gregoire also is expected to appear, and so her schedule will play a part as to when the celebration occurs, Pivarnik said.
“It is important that we stay flexible,” she said.
A special inaugural invitation-only voyage will take place before the vessel begins regular service.
Timmons said he hopes that the ferry ceremony wouldn’t overlap with two high-visibility events scheduled for September, the Wooden Boat Festival, scheduled Sept. 10-12, and the Port Townsend Film Festival, set for Sept. 24-26.
But if the ferry makes its first run on any of those dates the city will “deal with it,” he said.
“We need to get the boat running as soon as possible,” he said.
Also in play is the annual Port Townsend “Family Portait,” which the city hoped would include the new ferry.
In past years, all the citizens of Port Townsend gather in a single place for a crowd shot.
This year’s picture has not been scheduled yet because of the uncertain date of the ferry’s arrival, Pivarnik said.
The new ferry is greatly anticipated.
The Chetzemoka, budgeted at $76.5 million, and a second ferry, the Salish, will replace the 80-year-old Steel Electric ferries that Transportation Secretary Paula Hammond pulled out of service in late November 2007, saying the vessels were unsafe.
Two ferries had served the route before the Steel Electrics were pulled off. Since then, the 50-car ferry Steilacoom II, which the state leases from Pierce County, has sailed the route alone.
The Salish, which is under construction now, is expected to join the Chetzemoka on the route in spring 2011.
Tom Thiersch, a member of the Port Townsend Ferry Commission, said he had suspected that the Chetzemoka’s first sailing might be postponed because the state was using a new design rather than existing plans.
While frustrated by the delay, he hopes the ferry system does not rush the new boat into service.
“It’s important that we fix whatever is wrong,” he said.
State Deputy Transportation Secretary David Moseley had said that, since vibrations were found only at the highest rate of speed, that there was a possibility the Chetzemoka could still operate soundly at a lower but normal cruising speed.
Thiersch hopes that option isn’t chosen.
“The vibration only occurs at high speeds, but to put it into service and only run it at slower speeds would be a mistake,” he said.
“There are two other boats in production, and we don’t want the same flaw in all of them.”
Capt. George Capacci, deputy chief of operations and construction with the ferries system, has said that the second and third boats have different propulsion systems from that of the Chetzemoka.
The third ferry will be used on a different route.
The Steilacoom II lease expires at the end of September, but the state ferries system has made arrangements to keep the boat through October, Coursey said.
“But we expect the Chetzemoka to be in place before then,” she said.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
