As a fitting finale to Seattle’s Maritime Week, the Seattle Maritime Festival Quick and Dirty Boatbuilding Competition will take place at Bell Harbor Pier on Saturday, May 8th from 9 am to 3 pm. Up to 12 teams, comprised of the most confident naval architects, ship and boatbuilders and tug and barge crews in the Seattle area will build vessels from $100 worth of materials, and at 4:00 the teams will race their boats in the Bell Harbor Marina hoping to win the coveted Marty Johnson Memorial Fastest Boat Trophy.
While a team comprised of two top tier naval architecture firms won last year’s competition, past winners have included Lake Union Drydock and Todd Shipyard, as well as Crowley and Foss Maritime, although neither towboat company has been able to field a winning team for years.
Companies wishing to enter a team can contact Eric Blumhagen at Jensen Maritime Consultants, Inc., at (206) 332-8091 or eblumhagen@jensenmaritime.com for full competition rules. Space is limited.
Maritime week will also include the awarding of the 2010 Puget Sound Maritime Achievement Award. The Selection Committee is accepting nominations for this year’s award, to be announced at the Seattle Propeller Club’s May Maritime Festival luncheon to be held on May 11th aboard the Carnival Spirit at Terminal 91 at Smith’s Cove, Seattle.
Nominations must be received by March 29, 2010 and may be e-mailed to tinstitute@qwestoffice.net . Nominations should include specific achievements of the candidate, particularly those impacting the Puget Sound maritime community, and a brief biography of the nominee. Industry segments represented by past recipients include steamship lines and agents, tug and barge operators, passenger vessel operators, port authorities, stevedores, labor and government. Several paragraphs about the nominee are sufficient.
Feel free to contact Rich Berkowitz at (206) 443- 1738 with any questions about the award nomination.
