BREAK OUT THE white pants and the horizontally striped navy blue and white sweaters and buff up that pair of Sperry Top Siders, for Saturday marks the opening day of boating season.
The traditional beginning of the sailing season has been celebrated in Seattle with crew races followed by a boat parade through the Montlake Cut since 1920.
While such a continuous commemoration is not part of area lore, boat owners on the North Olympic Peninsula also will commemorate the occasion with parades and activities Saturday and Sunday.
Port Townsend
The Port Townsend Yacht Club will host a parade along the city’s waterfront Saturday.
The parade start immediately follows the scheduled 12:30 p.m. departure of the state ferry to Keystone.
Yacht club member Charlene Quandt will use a public address system to describe the various types of craft as they pass by the Northwest Maritime Center Pier, located at 431 Water St.
The public can watch the parade from the pier or from Pope Marine Park.
Another lway to view the goings-on: by having lunch on the deck of Sirens Pub (and maybe a mint julep to celebrate that other first Saturday in May tradition — the Kentucky Derby).
All interested boaters can participate in the Port Townsend Yacht Club’s boat parade by phoning Bruce Painter at 360-379-4923 or emailing bpainter907@gmail.com.
All boaters participating in the parade also are invited to an open house at the Port Townsend Yacht Club’s Clubhouse after the parade.
Port Angeles
A water activities open house will be hosted by the Port Angeles Yacht Club, located at 1305 Marine Drive, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Information and demonstrations of equipment related to on-water activities will be available.
Representatives from numerous groups like the Port of Port Angeles, the Port Angeles High School Sailing Club, Olympic Peninsula Paddlers, Olympic Peninsula Rowing Association will be on hand to discuss different ways to access the water for recreation.
Other groups include the Feiro Marine Life Center, the North Olympic Salmon Coalition, North Olympic Sail and Power Squadron, the Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection, and the Port Angeles Yacht Club.
Information on the Boat Haven Marina and Boat Yard services also will be available.
The Power Squadron will conduct free vessel safety checks for any boat at the marina or brought to the event and 2014 decals will be provided for those that successfully pass inspection.
The Yacht Club will have numerous power and sail boats open for tours.
Refreshments also will be provided by the Yacht Club.
For more information, email yacht club commodore Randy Volker at
info@payc.org or phone 619-884-4599.
Sequim Bay parade
The Sequim Bay Yacht Club will open the season with a parade leaving from the flag pole at John Wayne Marina, located at 2577 West Sequim Bay Road, at 1 p.m. Saturday.
“We’ll do some maneuvers, we’ll cruise, we’ll sail and race, and it’s a lot of fun and camaraderie to be had,” Sequim Bay Yacht Club commodore Johan Van Nimweigen said.
Razor clam digs
Razor clamming opportunities exist through Sunday at these Pacific Ocean beaches.
No digging will be allowed after noon on any beach.
More razor clam digs could be announced for mid-May according to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Here are the digs, low tides and participating beaches:
■ Today: 8:43 a.m., -1.0 feet, Twin Harbors, Long Beach.
■ Friday: 9:23 a.m., -0.7 feet, Twin Harbors, Long Beach, Mocrocks.
■ Saturday: 10:04 a.m., -0.3 feet, Twin Harbors, Long Beach and Mocrocks.
■ Sunday: 10:47 a.m., 0.1 feet, Twin Harbors, Long Beach and Mocrocks.
Under state law, diggers can take 15 razor clams per day and are required to keep the first 15 they dig.
Each digger’s clams must be kept in a separate container.
Diggers may not harvest any part of another person’s daily limit, unless they possess a designated harvester card.
State wildlife biologist Brock Hoenes advises clam diggers and other beachgoers should avoid disturbing western snowy plovers.
The small white birds, which nest on the state’s coastal beaches from April through August, are listed under the federal Endangered Species Act as threatened and by the state as endangered.
Hoenes noted snowy plovers and their eggs are extremely vulnerable at this time of year because the birds nest in dry sand.
Bass master
Joyce resident Roger Mosley recently ventured to the dry side of the state to fish in the 35th annual Potholes Open Bass Tournament near Moses Lake.
Mosely and his friend Bob Steiner of Poulsbo teamed to take on 109 other twosomes competing in this year’s event.
Each team is allowed to bring up to six bass to the scales each day, 12 bass total with the most total weight taking home top honors for the two-day event.
During the tournament, small fish can be “culled” and replaced with larger fish.
All fish are kept alive during the tournament (all boats must have functional livewells) and released back into the lake after weigh-in.
Mosley and Steiner placed second, collecting an impressive haul of 47.43 pounds of bass, behind the winning total of slightly more than 53 pounds.
Even more impressive is the duo’s catch was made up of smallmouth bass, a typically smaller species than largemouth bass.
Mosley and Steiner’s sack of bass from day one weighed 28.01 pounds.
This was the largest sack of smallmouth in the history of the Potholes Open Bass Tournament, according to Mike Meseberg, owner of Mardon Resort, the launch site for the tournament.
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Outdoors columnist Michael Carman appears here Thursdays and Fridays. He can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5152 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.