Working Waterfront

Each month, on the second Friday at Noon, KPTZ’s Chris Bricker and his Co-Hosts, Port Commissioner Pam Petranek and our Port of Port Townsend’s Director Eron Berg bring you an update on news, issues, and personalities surrounding our vibrant Working Waterfront community. This month we visit Dave Thompson, our Boatyard’s iconic shipwright, and 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 Commissione,r and overall generous soul. Oh, and he also reveals the origin of “Charlie Noble Enterprises” (a.k.a. Thompson Boat)!

KPTZ Host Chris Bricker checks in with Port Director & Co-Host Eron Berg for his monthly update on all things Port. And then Port Commissioner & Co-Host Pam Petranek introduces young shipwrights Peter Stein, Erik Fahlstrom, and Leo Goolden, along with volunteer apprentice and sculptor, Patrick Kingshill.
Chris has a conversation with them about how the marine trades’ 40 year history of synergy here in the Boatyard has cultivated a giving atmosphere where craftsmanship is shared through true apprenticeship.
Peter and Erik have rented the buildings formerly occupied by the Shipwrights Co-Op, and are providing another haven for independent workers to garner and share more skills. Leo just moved his business, Sampson Boat Company, and his boat, Tally Ho, to Pete and Erik’s expanding adventure as their new business tenant. They’re all examples of how a rising tide of cooperation is one that lifts all boats.

This month Chris Bricker, with co-hosts Port Commissioner Pam Petranek and Port Director Eron Berg, speaks with Deputy Port Director Eric Toews and Jeannie McMacken, organizer for the Quilcene Citizens Listening Tour set to launch on June 26. We talk about all things Port for the Quilcene community and the Herb Beck Marina Project.  Jeannie tells us that the listening has already begun, and it all made for an interesting and informative conversation for this month’s show.
Note: Our Working Waterfront will be moving to a new Friday time slot in July. Look for us at noon on July 16!

(Airdate: May 17, 2021) For our special Birthday episode of Our Working Waterfront, we check in with Co-Host Eron Berg, Port of Port Townsend’s Port Director, for his regular recap for the month, with a special emphasis on developments in the formulation of a Citizens’ planning process for the Port properties there. Then Chris Bricker and Co-Host, Port Commissioner Pam Petranek take a walk through the boatyard to encounter some of our Women of the Waterfront. They speak with shipwrights Esther Whitmore of Haven Boatworks and Angi Lungu of the Shipwrights’ Co-Op. Then they visit Port Townsend sailing legend, Carol Hasse and her wooden boat Lorraine in the marina, and finally a delightful conversation with Erika and Alyson of Port Townsend Sails, locally known as the Sail Loft, in Point Hudson.

On Our Working Waterfront this month, Chris, Port Commissioner Pam, and Port Director Eron visit with Betsy Davis, Director of the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding (NWSWB), and Kevin Ritz, Lead Instructor for the school’s newest program, a six-month intensive course in Marine Systems. The Port and the NWSWB are sharing the exciting news that the School will now have an on-site campus extension right there in the Boatyard. We discuss the importance of apprenticeship and hands-on learning, and Kevin shares some stories about jobs that young student graduates have found with businesses in the Yard. Eron and Pam emphasize the economic value of having this synergy between the NWSWB and the Marine Trades at the Port. Betsy gives us an overview of the application process, scholarships, and financial opportunities for loans and grants that National Accreditation brings.

This month on Our Working Waterfront, Port Commissioner Pam Petranek took us on a stroll through Port Townsend’s busy Boatyard. We encountered Robin & Amanda, a young Swiss couple who stopped here for repairs on their world-wide cruising sailboat. Like many sailors who encounter our community, they’re falling in love with it. Then we visited two 100-year-old wooden boats and talk with the craftsmen who are tending to them: shipwright Brad, working on a 108-year-old commercial fishing boat from Seattle; and shipwrights Erik & Dylan, working on a local commercial fishing boat.

On this edition of Our Working Waterfront, Eron Berg, the Port’s Executive Director, gives us a recap of the past month’s activities around the busy Port. Port Commissioner Pam Petranek and Eron discuss the “Strong Towns” community conversation that took place February 4, along with some insightful responses from the public. We discuss our Port’s economic centers, the ongoing planning process in Quilcene, and then finish with highlights from the ship and boat yard. Businesses are seeking new
talent, sails are being recycled – and the Shipwright’s Co-op is celebrating 40 years of a successful journey!

This month on Our Working Waterfront, Port Commissioner Pam Petranek, and Port Director Eron Berg join us from the deck of the schooner Cape Cleare.  We talk about the ongoing attention to our Port’s infrastucture, long-term plans in Quilcene, storm damage and repairs, and citizen participation in Port planning and activities.  Pam tops it all off with good news about Carol Hasse’s Sail Loft and its employees, as Carole plans her 2021 retirement!

(Airdate: December 8, 2020) In this edition of Our Working Waterfront, Port Director Eron Berg gives us a recap of the month’s activity at the Port. The budget is finished, and the Intergovernment Collaborative Group is underway. The airport runway is finished after resurfacing hit a snag with the contractor.

Both Eron and Port Commissioner Pam Petranek emphasize the importance of the new Facility Engineer and maintenance team in keeping the Port’s infrastructure healthy and functioning. Pam talks about the vibrant synergy that exists among educators, designers and makers, that contributes in such a healthy and sustainable way to our maritime economy’s circle of giving and receiving.