PORT HADLOCK — Three novice boat-builders launched their first craft in Port Townsend Bay over the weekend and set a course for an active summer.

“We’re floating!” Donny Jones yelled as they started to row away from shore.

Jones, 14, and his Irondale neighbor, 12-year-old Jeramy Vines, and Jeramy’s cousin, David Raymond, 13, built the skiff in a week at a workshop at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding on the Port Hadlock waterfront.

The workshop tuition, which included materials, was paid by three local organizations in a collaborative effort to get youth off the streets and onto the water.

Helping local teens

Jim Maupin, vice commodore of the Port Hadlock Yacht Club, suggested sponsoring a boat-building scholarship for youth after he befriended a local teen who was trespassing on boats at the dock.

To help raise money, Maupin approached the East Jefferson Rotary club, which donated $250.

Hearing of the project, Community United Methodist Church donated $418 from an ice cream social fund-raiser.

The yacht club came up with the rest, according to Patti Walden, capital campaign manager of the wooden boat school.

“In just a few short weeks, the community has come together to form bonds that will strengthen the character of our youth and the future of the community,” Walden said.