OffCenterHarbor.com sets sail: Kaci one of 20 bloggers

When you get an invitation to be part of a brand new venture on the opposite side of the country, like Maine, you pause. When that invitation is from Benjamin Mendolwitz and includes Maynard Bray, plus three other guys with excellent and complimentary areas of expertise synergizing in Brooklin, Maine  (Steve Stone, Bill Maher and Eric Blake) you leap, not pausing for a second.  Because in that second, you might think, "Who, me?" and totally miss the chance to work with some of this nation's most prolific and beautiful creators of wooden boat books, calendars and now, video!  

This new venture is not just to focus attention to the latest greatest new genre (video) and does NOT sell ads. Instead, it's a call to sanity, a throw back or a throw forward, depending on where you stand, to authentic people presenting authentic "know-how" to boaters world-wide and online.  Sure, they use video, but they also love books, magazines and writing. And yes, there's a subscription fee ($29/year for unlimited access to tons of info!) but the mission is simple: inspiring the use of well-designed boats to connect with friends, family and the natural world. 

In addition to gorgeous, informative video about specific boats, boatbuilders and activities for families, there are topics on gear, maritime art, and blog topics written by 20 "expert" Guides.  I am honored to be included. As their token Okie (by birth) and one of the few who didn't grow up on the water and in boats, my perspective supports their mission by proving you don't have to be blueblood, or a New Englander, or fed sawdust since birth (no really, shipwrights are raised on it, LOL) to love, love, love wooden boats and get to write and talk about it. 

The focus of their website is about accessibility, about self-reliance, about beauty and the powerfully positive experience it is to be in a well-designed boat on the waters of the world.  Take a look!

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"

Lost @ Long Beach: article for Wood Hull Yacht Club

Seeking Owners & Info about Danish Spidsgatter FIRECREST 1960-1974  (aka Pax since 1976)
by Kaci Cronkhite for Wood Hull Yacht Club newsletter, Los Angeles, California January/February 2012

How the heck this all started
I sailed around the world on a plastic double-ender, finishing that six year westabout circumnavigation in Port Townsend, Washington, August 2001. A month later, I hopped a ferry from Friday Harbor to attend the Wooden Boat Festival and the morning of my return trip, planes hit the World Trade Center towers.  The culture shock of returning to America from a world voyage was compounded that morning exponentially.  Staring at the television coverage, hugging strangers, talking to family daily for the first time in nearly a decade, life changed. Love of the ocean married my former love of wilderness and together, that ultimately led me to wooden boats.

Click to read more ...

Book about Spidsgatter Pax underway

Another 2000 words hit the page before lunch today. December was packed with family and friend time, all precious and well worth the break, but now it's back to writing! Check Facebook for daily updates, Twitter weekly and the blog every week or two.  Finding Pax, literally, is the full time focus every day. Correspondence, calls, meetings and an upcoming trip to California for a "deep dive" into Los Angeles scene 1960-74 should round up the last of the real life details about Pax. Will the book be fiction or non-fiction?  The jury's still out. Depends on what I find in California and how comfortable, as publication gets closer, old owners and I'll be with disclosing stories that are sometimes stranger than fiction, certainly more sad when known to be true.  Ok, back to the book!

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.