Crowds lined the docks at Point Hudson Marina on Friday and Saturday as the 26th annual Wooden Boat Festival set full sail.
Nearly 200 new and restored wooden yachts, schooners, pulling boats, kayaks, dinghies and powered craft were on display at the event.
This year’s theme, “West Coast Tradition,” served as a celebration of boats indigenous to the area.
Boat lovers learned about the intricacies of everything from sail repair to assembling ship cabinetry; and the crew of an 82-foot schooner that left Port Townsend two years ago on a voyage that took them to Africa and Tahiti returned with tales to tell.
Wooden Boat Foundation Education Program Director Dan Evans said it was too early to gauge overall attendance.
“We’ve had an incredible turnout in getting people on the water,” Evans said.
But he said ferry cancellations on the Port Townsend-Keystone ferry route might have diminished some of the crowd. Low tides have scuttled some morning runs between Port Townsend and Whidbey Island.
An estimated 20,000 people attended the event last year on its first two days.
Today’s Wooden Boat Festival schedule
9:30 a.m.: Caring for Your Sextant, Sail Loft
10 a.m.: Splicing, Bo’sunry
10:30 a.m.: Celestial Navigation, Sail Loft
11 a.m.: Caulking, Edensaw Woodworking Stage
* Marine Diesels: Purchasing a Used Marine Diesel Engine, or Knowing When to Re-power, Pavilion
* Small Boat Cruising to Alaska, Marina Room-
Noon: Gunkholing in South Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands, Marina Room-
* Thrilla with Manila
1 p.m.: Carving Ornamentation, Edensaw Woodworking Stage
* Design a Boat, Sail Loft
* Caulking, Bo’sunry
* Marco Polo in Puget Sound, Pavilion
* Cruising the British Columbia Coast to Glacier Bay, Alaska, Marina Room
3:30 p.m.: Festival Sail-By
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