Kaci nominated for PT Business Leader of the Year

First, I want to say a huge thanks to Port Townsend Chamber of Commerce for the honor! Second, huge congratulations to all the other nominees, as some of them clearly kick my butt with their business accomplishments.  Kris Nelson, especially stands out as a Thirty-Something generation home town gal who not only does "big" business in town, but serves on City Council.  A heroine for our times and despite all the things all the rest of us have done, and my sincere congratulations to the winner, Linda Lakush, Kris would have gotten my vote for the top honor this year. That's probably ageist, but so be it. At 50, I want to balance my cheers for my elders with the cheers to those coming along behind us.

Regarding my nomination, I am giddy with gratitude for the attention it brings to DECADES of work by Port Townsend marine trades and gigantically generous people who volunteer and businesses, Port leaders and Chamber volunteers who have always been vital to it's success.  Here's what I wrote to Fred Obee at the Port Townsend Leader when he emailed me with the news of my nomination.  I regret I couldn't be there in person to say it at the banquet, but I'd already booked a flight out before knowing anything at all about the banquet. 

 "The WBF Founders, the early Directors, Festival Coordinators and Volunteers are who should get this honor.  Their incredible vision, the generosity of Port Townsend people of all political persuasions, the skill contributed and committed to for decades in our marine trades, the cooperation and support of the Port of Port Townsend and the partnership with the City, the Leader, accommodations owners, neighbor businesses, PTPD, transportation, heck...even Goodman Sanitation! are why I fell in love with the Festival personally and why it was such an honor, such a dream job for ten years.  Certainly my international experience and passion for making the event richer in every way possible for people attending, my deep respect for the traditions of those who'd created before me and for the visitors was where my previous experience contributed most, but without the wooden boat owners year round contributions and without the local marine trades and Port keeping our town "authentic" we could never have accomplished the reputation in the world we have.  Through the festival a wooden boat found me and now, without the full-time job as director, I'm writing my first book called Finding PAX.  Pax is the 1936 Danish spidsgatter that came into my life on a windy day at Cupola House and I will be aboard her the entire Festival this year with owners from near 8 decades of her life.   Forever a fan of wooden boats, my passion and support continue for the Festival, Port Townsend's Port and marine trades and the impact this makes on people worldwide. Thank you so much for the honor.   Kaci Cronkhite"

Living History: Tips from hand to mouth

Grandparents were everywhere when I was born. Two lived with us. A "great" one lived out by the barn. Another pair lived down the road. They held me, told me stories, helped my young parents learn to parent and me to talk, walk and launch into life surrounded by people whose physical presence and style embodied community. Took a few decades to appreciate, let alone understand.

Decades later, when they were dead and thousands of miles separated me from the places we shared, their voices, their stories, their humor, work ethic and values still feel close, ooze from my resume, sing through my careers, writing and conversations. 

Writing a book about a boat built in 1936 is one way to be sure to dig deep into history of our elders, to spend time with people whose decades of knowledge dwarf my own.  Half a world away, in Denmark, their stories lay down in emails day after day.  Today on break, going through boxes retrieved from the old ranch house attic, the synchronicity of life confronts me again in a dusty stack of newspapers.  Why did Grandpa save these in his box marked "JBC Personal"?  Dusty and brittle, the pages lay there unmarked and dated May 22, 1936. Oklahoma Cattleman, stockyard reports in another stack. No idea, yet. Placing them back in tupperware, still not able to throw them away, possibilities stored for a later, a second review, a muse.

Working on the Wooden Boat Festival was like living with grandparents, too. Decades of work and heart poured into a place and a dream that created an energy everyone could feel, still feels through generations.  Reflecting back, one of those times stands out today.  A panel of 1970s shipwrights, pioneers in their day and still passing skills to whomever will take the time to listen.

Listen.  Take the time to listen.

March 10, 2010

"Reeling Them In" a panel, featuring notable shipwrights Ernie Baird, Mike Aubin, Jim Peacock, Charlie Moore, Leif Knutsen and Dave Thompson, talking about the evolution of wooden boats and commercial fishing in 1970s Port Townsend will air on PTTV Channel 98 daily at 11:30 AM and 9:00 PM all week, March 22-27, 2010.

Kaci Cronkhite, Wooden Boat Festival director and Ernie Baird (founder of Baird Boatworks aka Haven Boatworks) organized this gathering for PT Library Community Read in the NWMC conference room March 16.

Luck and a promise for starboard bunk

This morning two busy women in the trades, one a shipwright with another boat on deadline and the other an expert on interior cushions with 4 other boats in line for Festival projects, are meeting me at Pax to decide if it's remotely feasible to finish the starboard bunk in time for festival. Boat projects, like house projects, are always a maze of details and design, deadlines and delays. Tear that out or leave that in to make the measurement so an order can be made? Experience makes a might difference and each project on the boat, like the Oklahoma house last year, got closer to reality, budget and otherwise. Thankfully, I've got no one depending on this outcome but me. There's enough complete already so to have a comfortable place for folks to sit for festival and a significant progress made on the interior that the answers this morning aren't under pressure. Sure, I'd love to get the mahogany on and varnished, the new ply seat with hatches complete and installed AND get the new 5" foam and cushions finished. But this timeline for all 3 of us is extremely tight. For it to all happen well, all 3 of us will have to be smart in detailing the steps, meet our part of the deadline, be lucky with other projects in our lives, basically be totally in-sync. Sometimes that happens. Touch wood!

Spidsgatter Pax: Best Haul Out Ever

When a travel lift opening at Boat Haven came up suddenly and my fav woman shipwright, Diana Talley said "come on, the space right next to our shop is open!" I had no idea how incredibly my life as a wooden boat owner would change. Yes, change! In the past when I've hauled boats, Pax included, I wanted the boat most convenient for me and in Port Townsend, that always meant Point Hudson. Boat Haven was the "big boat" work yard, the place where fishermen and 6 figure haulouts were managed by the "big shops," all way out of my league. The chance to set my 28 foot double ender in a corner, by a fence with grass on one side and asphalt beneath us. Luxurious enough, but then add a brew pub, coffee roaster and the best brunch in the boatyard and it's hard to imagine anything better. The first day, we set up the scaffolding and the next day, 2 young gals (one a boat school grad and the other the daughter of a shipwright) joined me and Diana and Moose, a corker best known for his work on fish boats, got to work at 8. In a week, I got more done than I'd ever experienced during a haulout so I quickly pulled a few items off the wish list, put them on the To Do list and in a second week, they were done! Hauling out immediately next to a shipwright, with tools, power, water, work benches, secure storage for the paints, supplies and an easy way to leave today's progress ready for tomorrow's was absolute heaven. Beyond the blessing to my soul, it likely saved me 40% on the budget for the same list done somewhere else AND we got to laugh more, use our muscles for productive tasks instead of hauling and daily setup/tear down and I got to work side-by-side with professionals, learning every step of the way.

Custom Interior Cushions: Gwendolyn Tracey

PAX has new main cabin cushions thanks to Port Townsend interior designer, Gwendolyn Tracy with Fine Yacht Interiors. Gwendolyn has been sewing since she was in her teens, and it shows. Her custom canvas shop above the Blue Moose Cafe in Port Townsend's "big boat" shipyard is organized with that mix of artistic verve and production room stations neatly sequenced from her decades of experience. Fabric rolls, cushion materials, sample and swatch books are snuggly tucked into functional spaces around the center piece, the giant cutting table. Sewing machines are at one end, where she can see the road the 300 ton haulout takes as it brings her often very large clients to and from their work sites with one of a variety of boatbuilder or repair businessses. Townsend Bay Marine is next door, as is Haven Boatworks. Gwendolyn designs cushions, interiors, covers, you name it. She has done huge projects like the latest mega yacht from TBM to major historic boat restorations done by a variety of shipwright shops in Puget Sound. In between the big boat and big budget projects, she manages to squeeze in smaller projects like PAX. We needed custom settee cushions, forpeak bedding, and some creative seat pillows for the bulkhead transition. The transition pieces will expand comfortable seating options in the main cabin when we're doing tours aboard the boat, seminars and charters. For a look at the first phase of the project, the Port settee seats, take a look at the photo galley. Gwendolyn can be reached at 360-379-0661.