“Hi, are you stayin’ on the plane or going all the way?”, I casually asked.

”I’m in all the way, how about you?”, the woman next to me replied.

 I hoped to start up a conversation with the young lady next to me for the next couple of hours. I was on a business trip from coast to coast and while I brought work with me and a book, I thought I’d see if I could have a friendly chat for a while. We discussed the usual stuff, weather, the latest tech gizmo and purpose of the trip. The subject changed to Santa Cruz, California where she had a house on the bluff overlooking the famous surf spot Steamer Lane.

Of course, I didn’t really intend on going and she probably didn’t expect me to do so. That’s the way it goes with airplane friends. I say cordial things to pass the time but have no intention of following up. It’s all very friendly and passes some of the time on a big air bus that otherwise would relegate me to watching a movie I don’t want to see on a small screen or listening to music or podcast that most likely can wait.

I met some airplane friends in Port Townsend at the Wooden Boat Festival. I had hauled my kayak 1400 miles to put it in the area around the festival hoping to meet other paddlers. As I was paddling from the Port of Port Townsend to the Port Townsend Marina, I saw two couples launching from the beach. It was a great opportunity to meet some new people and paddle together a bit. Ken, Roger and their wives agreed to let me join them for day. We talked about their wood boats (two Pygmys), wood paddles, Greenland paddles and other kayaky things.

They were local to the area and knew the way around our short paddle. Our first stop was the local fish yacht. They were on the way to a wholesaler but had time to pitch us for some of their fare. We didn’t buy but I got this great photo. I’m sure this beauty is stunning with sails out pitched to one side as it runs against the wind on a beautiful October day on Puget Sound.

Sailboat rides were one of the options at the Festival. Here’s a sloop catching any wind that could be drummed up on a clear, calm day.

My new friends were waiting to see the sailboat race at 2pm. While we burned some time we paddled into the marina to view all the Festival boats. Funny the things you see from a different vantage point. Here’s the entrance to the harbor. The municipality had recently finished this side of the entrance. They put up some pitched poles and backfilled with large boulders to hold back the sentiment from the Salish Sea and maintain a clean harbor entrance. Once inside we feasted out eyes on wooden boat candy.

Paddle boats, sail boats, even a few old steamboats were parked bow to stern on both sides of the harbor stacked two deep. Things looked different waist high on the water side than walking along the docks. It wasn’t nearly as crowded on the water. The boats were stacked two deep along the dock and being on the water allowed us to see the second tier a little better.

There were sessions to make and repair wood boats. Inside the Boat School a group was building a cedar strip canoe, I sat in on a session about sharpening chisels and passed on motor maintenance and a host of other things that I have no need of with a paddle craft.

Is there anything better than a clear day on the water in a wooden boat?