Pocket Yacht Palooza

Pocket Yacht Palooza had an interesting mix of small boats on the beach, docks and plaza.

Those Port Townsend folks really know how to put on a fun boating event. Virginia and I took Ravn to the first Pocket Yacht Palooza of the Port Townsend Pocket Yachters. The group is laid back with no rules or other silliness. It's much like the Western Oregon Messabouts (Coots).
We put in at the Port Townsend Marina and rowed to the other end of town with a light wind on the nose. We thought about beaching Ravn, but ended up going into the Point Hudson Marina with a couple other Palooza boats.
The show attracted an interesting group of boats from little dinks to small cruising sailboats, including one, a 20-foot Flicka, that sailed Micronesia to Hawaii to Port Townsend.
One of the nice things about the event is that fiberglass boats were not discriminated against so it increased the diversity of the boats. There really were too many kinds of boats for me to name here, but if you go to the Pocket Yachter's web site and look at the pictures you will get a good idea. Marty, one of the main springs of the event, had new pictures posted right after the event.

Virginia knits in Ravn with the schooner Martha on the other side of the dock.

We enjoyed the spot inside the Point Hudson Marina across the dock from the beautiful schooner Martha, Jimmy Cagney's old yacht. Having Ravn in the marina took us out of the action, but that wasn't entirely a bad thing.
It was also the Rhododendron Festival in Port Townsend. Some at the Yacht Palooza lamented that it fell on the same weekend as the festival with with increased parking hassles and other problems. But my wife said it was a great opportunity for more people to see how beautiful, versatile and fun small boats can be.

Nap time! No centerboard trunk gives a lot more options for relaxing.

Lots of yarning and discussion in the shadow of beautiful boats.

My wife and I watched some of the parade before heading back to the boat for a little nap in the sun. As we reclined in the boat we could hear the bands play and the announcer, whose standard line with each entry was, "aren't they great! What would we do without you."
After the Palooza we sailed most of the way back to the marina, ghosting past much larger boats. The wind was still light, but faerings are pretty slippery and it doesn't take much to make them go.