Working Waterfront

It’s time again for our monthly update on news, issues, and stories surrounding our vibrant Maritime Community. In this edition of Our Working Waterfront, KPTZ’S Chris Bricker and co-hosts Port Commissioner Pam Petranek and Port of Port Townsend’s Director Eron Berg give us a report from the boatyard. Then, sitting in the sunshine at “C” Dock, we engage in conversation with Eric Toews, the Port’s Deputy Director, about current developments in the Quilcene community’s Port Property planning process. Later, we speak with Pete Langley, Port Townsend Marine Trades Association President and owner of the Port Townsend Foundry. We Discuss the PTMTA board, its activities, and the role Marine Trades have in the County’s economic development. Topping things off, Pam honors the past District 3 Commissioners, especially Herb Beck, who recently passed and will always be remembered for his long service.

This month on Our Working Waterfront, KPTZ’s Chris Bricker and co-host Port Commissioner Pam Petranek visit with 3rd generation Quilcene resident Joel Kawahara. We meet by the stern of his 42-foot troller Karolee, now hauled out for maintenance near Dave Thompson’s shop at the north end of the Boatyard. He’s a career commercial fisherman who is widely known as an advocate for sustainable fisheries and habitat restoration. He’s involved with the Wild Salmon Coalition and the North Olympic Salmon Coalition and their efforts at preserving this important resource.
Joel is a guy who has never quite fit in the corporate world, but has combined his credentials, talents, and caring nature as a catalyst for bringing disparate interests to the table in order to affect significant change.

This month on Our Working Waterfront, KPTZ’s Chris Bricker and co-hosts, Port Commissioner Pam Petranek and Port of Port Townsend’s Director Eron Berg wander the boatyard and meet up with brothers Tim and Mike Quant. Tim  & Mike have been commercial fishermen all their lives, and throughout their years they’ve acquired valuable skills in the maritime trades.
In their “retirement” from commercial fishing, they tend to the haul-out needs of the fv Sundancer and enjoy life ashore as craftsmen.  Now they can fish leisurely, without the long hours and physical demands of the commercial season. In his monthly recap, Eron tells us about the reorganization of the Port’s staff structure, and he applauds the arrival of the Port’s new Travel Lift,  Pam give us the historical timeline of the boatyard since before the arrival of the very first Lift to the present day. Of course, brothers Mike and Tim give us a few stories to spice up our visit.

Our boatyard and Port are one of the most unique places in the maritime world, considering that so many of its navigable tenants, great and small, have sailed, cruised, and fished our planet’s vast waters for decades and decades. This month, KPTZ’s Chris Bricker and co-hosts, Port Commissioner Pam Petranek and Port Director Eron Berg, explore the history, ambience, and governance of our beloved Port of Port Townsend.

In this episode of Our Working Waterfront, we follow sixteen young students from the Port Townsend Maritime Academy as they tour the Boat Haven with Instructor Kelley Watson, Port Commissioner Pam Petranek, and Port Director Eron Berg. They learn from young shipwrights about the different ways each has come to their craft. They also learn about the abundant and varied opportunities our bustling Shipyard offers to those who already possess hands-on skills or to those willing to learn them as apprentices to master craftspeople. Jobs in the boatyard pay well and they are rewarded well by hard work and the desire to learn.

Each month on Our Working Waterfront, KPTZ’s Chris Bricker joins co-hosts, Port of Port Townsend’s Director Eron Berg and Port Commissioner PamPetranek for our monthly update on news and issues surrounding our vibrant marine community. Eron gives us his monthly recap of all things Port, and introduces our new Director of Capital Projects and Chief Engineer, Matt Klontz. Since November 1, Matt has been getting up to speed on the multiple Port projects, along with their proposed schedules and priorities. Matt grew up in Port Townsend, graduated from Port Townsend High School, and earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Washington State University and the University of Washington. Since then, Matt has gained considerable experience with major projects in California and Washington State, worked with Jefferson County, and was City Engineer and Public Works Director for the City of Sequim for the last six years. Pam talks about the impact that the Boatyard has had on our local economy, about the Economic Development Council, and about the upcoming discussions to develop and enhance the Jefferson County Economic Framework.

On Our Working Waterfront today we bring you a reprise of a visit with Dave Thompson, our Boatyard’s iconic shipwright.  We learn a little about his life, his career, and his mentoring of past and current young shipwrights and apprentices that have graced his open-air shop. His “Career of a Lifetime” has spanned the decades here, from the mid-1970s to present day, as apprentice, as advisor to artisans, as the Yard’s advocate, as two-term Port Commissioner,  and overall generous soul.  Oh, and he also reveals the origin of “Charlie Noble Enterprises” (a.k.a. Thompson Boat)!

The Port of Port Townsend’s south county facility is located on Quilcene Bay at the southern terminus of Linger Longer Road. The property encompasses 58 acres of waterfront and uplands. Five months ago, the Quilcene Outreach Project was launched in order to involve area residents in helping to paint a picture of the future for this Community treasure. In this edition of Our Working Waterfront, Jeannie McMacken, Communications Consultant for the Port, along with the Port’s Deputy Director Eric Toews, share their personal takeaways from this listening experience and give us a preview of the formal public presentation and workshop to take place on October 13 at 6pm.

In this edition of Our Working Waterfront, co-hosts Port Director Eron Berg and Port Commissioner Pam Petranek join KPTZ’s Chris Bricker to celebrate this year’s Maritime Lifetime Achievement honorees: Jake Jacobsen, Diana Talley, David King, and Jim Franken.  David and Jim join us to share their stories, their histories and their passion for the Working Waterfront and its boats, and for the community they’ve embraced and loved since they both arrived here in the late 1970’s.