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!

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"

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.

We motored east as the tide began to ebb. Flipped up the fenders, one at a time. Not cool to keep them trailing, like fingers skimming patterns in the sand. Dawn was warming black into blue and the monolith islands ahead looked like construction paper silhouettes.

Nervous, excited energy made my stomach queasy. The tide carried us right on course, so I hopped below to start the propane stove for tea. One one-thousand, two one-thousand, click. The flame burst into the darkness and the red light came on. All good. Back in the cockpit, wood smoke signaled the start of the day. Cocks crowed, answered, crowed again.

Every time there’s a story about a lost dog, read it.  Every time there’s a poster with a lost pet,  try to remember the face and pay attention.  Watch for it wherever you go.  

A month ago, the owner of a big Rhodesian Ridgeback/Mastiff cross dog posted a photo on the Roman Nose State Park Facebook page.  A dozen people commented or reposted. Hearts paid attention and for the next few days and weeks, people looked everyday, taking care to walk dogs in different areas of the park hoping that maybe, just maybe they’d see a sign.  No luck.

Gone two weeks for a research trip (that’s another story), a neighbor left a note with a pack of mail saying there’d been a “big cat” near the faucet where she watered the plants.  There it was. One big paw print, maybe three inches wide. 

Officially checked out of the country and with 24 hours to leave, the sweat making my shorts stick to the taxi seat were, this time, not just due to the tropical heat.

July 13-19,2012 is the next Brest Maritime Festival in the region of Brittany, France. The festival features more than 2,000 historic ships from 30 nations and expects 700,000 spectators. I was warned by friends who attended the last one to plan ahead if you need to use the toilet. Lines were 2 hours long at times! A little challenging for you beer drinkers:) I'm going to do my best to be there and hoping others from USA and Canada will be there too.

Here's a Google Translate version of the story announced in Afterposten Norway today for fellow English speakers: I'm sure my Norwegian friends can improve this translation, but it's the best I could do this morning.

Norwegian Culture a Hit in France! 1100 years after Rollo made the landings in Normandy, Norwegian sailors again shut down the French coast. This once peaceful - in the coastal city of Brest]]>http://www.kacicronkhite.com/woman-of-wind-kaci-cronkhite/rss-comments-entry-13717494.xmlDenmark wooden boatsSpidsgatterKaci CronkhiteMon, 07 Nov 2011 12:29:00 +0000http://www.kacicronkhite.com/woman-of-wind-kaci-cronkhite/2011/11/7/denmark-spidsgatter-heaven.html40145:12440800:13716571Every harbor, every boatyard, every sail club has them! Spidsgatters, the pointy-ended, double-ender designs that captured my heart like they have so many others all over the world. They were developed as a racing class in the 1930s, evolved from North Atlantic fishing boats but with cabins and very tall masts. Today, the term covers many varieties of double ended designs and they were everywhere I visited in Denmark this month. Designs included gaff-rigged open boats still in use in club sailing programs (at least 3 hauled out and ready for winter maintenance at Frem and KAS this month); racing class boats (Bel Ami and Skarven in the yard near KAS); unclassed beauties (countless boats from Gilleleje to Dragor and including Svendborg, Walsted Boatyard and the Danish Yacht Museum in all range of condition) as well as fiberglass models used for both fishing (no mast) and cruising (with mast and with or without motor). Ancient in concept these beautiful double enders contine a tradition of sea-going people all over the world (think dug out canoes, Viking ships, Inuit kayaks). The Danish word for harbor is Havn and every time I followed those signs, I was thinking "heaven".]]>http://www.kacicronkhite.com/woman-of-wind-kaci-cronkhite/rss-comments-entry-13716571.xml