Nordic Tug Rendezvous 2012

This year's Rendezvous was in Port Townsend which is one of our favorite places. There were about 55 tugs present so we made quite a show in the little Hudson Bay marina.

This was a pretty relaxed weekend and we had a lot of time to visit with other Nordic Tug owners. We did tour the Northwest Maritime Center.  It is a beautiful building, campus and gathering place on the waterfront in Port Townsend. The Center provides its own unique educational programs for school-aged youth as well as continuing education for adults. They also host a variety of events and classes produced by other organizations. These include The Wooden Boat Foundation and Wooden Boat Festival, The Wooden Boat Chandlery and Cafe, The Boat Shop and the H. W. McCurdy Library. While we were there, one of the Center's boats was being tested for seaworthiness by the Coast Guard.

 

One of my favorite things about this gathering was meeting an 87 year old woman named Lucy Harrell. She is the proud owner of Whisker III and brought her boat down from Haines, Alaska where she lives at the Haines Assisted Living Center. She didn't know the Rendezvous was going on but when she was in Bellingham and heard about it, she decided to join us. I went on her boat to visit for awhile and learned that she has owned it for 22 years, has put 9000 hours on it, and has traveled from Alaska to Puget Sound six or seven times.  She was amazing! Her boat was obviously intended to be used and was loaded down with crab pots, shrimp pots, and fishing poles. What an inspiration she was!  I did a little research on her from the internet and learned she is a well-known philanthropist in Haines and is on various committees and boards of organizations to improve her community. Lucy also leads "Ancient Mariners Inside Passage" tours for her lady friends who are in their 80s and 90s. As Lucy says, "People always ask when we get off the boat, 'Where are the guys?'" Johnson said. "We got tired of that question so we just say, 'They're chained and handcuffed to the oars in case the engine goes out.'" What a lady!