PORT TOWNSEND — Ted Pike declined the community spirit award from the Wooden Boat Foundation several times before his death in August 2015.
Tonight, it will be awarded to him posthumously for his volunteer work with the Wooden Boat Festival.
Tad Roberts also will be awarded a lifetime achievement award at the ceremony that will begin at 5:30 p.m. in the Cascade and Olympic rooms at the Northwest Maritime Center, 431 Water St.
“Ted was kind of an obvious one,” said Jake Beattie, executive director of the Northwest Maritime Center.
“With his passing away last year, this seemed like a good way to honor him.”
Pike died Aug. 24, 2015, after an unexpected, short illness. He was 65.
He traveled extensively as a young man, according to the Wooden Boat Foundation, learning to sail and craft wooden boats in Australia before taking his passion back to the U.S.
He traveled along the California coast but eventually found his way to Washington and became a staple in Jefferson County. He worked at Edensaw Woods for 20 years and was also involved with the Wooden Boat Festival, Northwest Maritime Center, Jefferson County 4-H and WoodenBoat magazine.
According to his bio on the Wooden Boat Foundation website, Pike had been an integral part of the lifetime achievement awards for more than 20 years and had turned down being awarded the community spirit award on multiple occasions.
“Ted was a big part of this community,” Beattie said. “He touched a lot of lives.”
Roberts, a British Columbia-born designer, will receive the award for achievements in boatbuilding and design.
Roberts, a designer, began working on boats as a young man, working in logging and fishing industries in British Columbia, according to a news release from the Wooden Boat Foundation.
He then attended the Maine Maritime Academy (Yacht Design Institute) and in 1987, after a semester in school, he joined the Bruce King design office.
Roberts worked there for 14 years designing boats of all shapes and sizes but in 2001 moved back to his hometown on Gabriola Island, B.C., to open his own design practice, according to the Wooden Boat Foundation.
“He’s definitely been a fixture in the Pacific Northwest and southwest B.C.,” Beattie said.
“He’s a designer of contemporary boats, some that went on the Race to Alaska last year, and some of the more traditional styles.”
Roberts has also served for eight years on the board of directors at the Silva Bay Shipyard School near Nanaimo, B.C., and outside of his work is currently living on and restoring a 50-foot Blackfish ketch.
After the Lifetime Achievement Awards, at 7 p.m. in the same location, there will be a celebration of the Wooden Boat Festival’s 40th anniversary, which is open to the public.
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Jefferson County Editor/Reporter Cydney McFarland can be reached at 360-385-2335, ext. 5550, or at [email protected].
