2012 Seattle Maritime Festival Tug Races

posted Thursday, May 17, 2012 by RTA | no responses |

It was a beautiful day to be on the water, sunny skies and fair winds. Several RTA tugs were in attendance including Parthia, Galene and Thea Belle. The vintage tug Norene was also there to race. It looked like Thea Belle bought out the flag store for the event.

In the Class C race, Parthia was in the lead for the first half of the race but the US Army tug passed her at the halfway mark. Last year that same tug raced in the class B race, so I’m not sure what it was doing racing the class c boats. The official winner of the Class C race is RTA’s own, Parthia.

In the Class B race, the Galene was the tug to beat, at the start two of the tugs managed to squeeze her in and make her run in dirty water for the first quarter of the race, but the Galene soon surged ahead and closed the gap between her and the other tugs. Easily passing the Canadian navy tug and the other tugs that tried to box her in at the start. At the end it was a close race to the finish between the Galene and the Ocean Eagle. Even though the Ocean Eagle had a bigger engine (2000 HP compared to Galene’s 1200 hp) the Ocean Eagle’s engineer had to work hard to get enough speed to beat the Galene, in the end they beat her by only half a tug length.

The official race results:
Small Tug Race:
1st Parthia
2nd Norene
3rd Maggie B
4th Thea Belle
5th Prudhoe Bay
6th Skillful

Big Tug Race:
1st Ocean Eagle
2nd Galene
3rd Westrac II
4th Glendyne
5th Triumph
6th Glen Cove
7th Scholarie (Ran in small boat race)
8th Island Champion

Spring Rendezvous at the Net Shed

posted Monday, April 02, 2012 by RTA | no responses |

We had an amazing turn out with over 50 folks representing 18 tugs. Our thanks to De Whittier for hosting the rendezvous, what an amazing space to have a party! RTA members new and old brought an incredible amount of food to make it one of our best potlucks ever.

We’re looking for ideas for a summer rendezvous sometime in July maybe? Someplace economical for our larger tugs.

2012 CRUISING SCHEDULE FOR USN/USCG TUG COMANCHE

posted Monday, March 19, 2012 by RTA | no responses |

2012 CRUISING SCHEDULE FOR COMANCHE

Please R.S.V.P. for any of the cruises below.

APRIL 14, SATURDAY “Volunteer and Supporters Appreciation Cruise” 1100-1700   If you have volunteered on Comanche or have supported her in other ways, or you would like to become a volunteer or supporter, you and a friend or family member(s) are welcome to ride along as we explore the Hylesbos Waterway where the “World’s Most Famous” derelict ferry the Kalakala is tied up… and see other sites along the way.  No set charge but the donation buckets will be out as it is also a fund raising event.  Comanche needs a thousand plus gallons of fuel for the summer cruising schedule thus this cruise is also the Spring Fundraiser (all donations are tax deductible.)   Be aboard Comanche at the Foss Waterway Seaport, 705 Dock St. S., Tacoma by 1100 am.  Comanche will return to the dock about 1830 (6:30pm).  Bring something to eat (and perhaps share like a ‘pot luck’) and drink (alcohol ok), lawn chair if you’d like and camera.   If you have a USCG approved life-jacket, bring that, too… but it is not a requirement.  Dress accordingly for the weather.  Galley (kitchen) and refrigerators work as to do the heads (bathrooms.)  No pets and please keep watch on your children; no handicap accessibility on board.  All riders must sign a release. This is a ‘rare mileage’ cruise… you’ll see Kalakala up close, other interesting and unusual ships, sea lions and so forth and we plan on doing a ‘drop anchor’ training.         See Comanche Album http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1997796312082.2100198.1458731255&type=3

 

TACOMA to BREMERTON via SEATTLE

May 12, SATURDAY  “A DAY AT THE RACES!”  0800 off to Seattle Maritime Fest and World’s Bigest Tugboat Races…. An all day cruise leaving Tacoma Foss Waterway Seaport at 0800 (8:00am) to watch the races from Elliot Bay (Seattle) on Comanche and linger in the Seattle area before heading over to Bremerton in the mid-afternoon.  ETA Bremerton 1800 (6pm).  An all day adventure.  (Note: Those wishing to disembark from Comanche in Seattle will be given a ride on the ASB shore boat to the public dock down town Seattle but will have to arrange for their own transportation home from there (public or private.)  Recommended donation is fifty-dollars for ride along.  Rides back to Tacoma from Bremerton will be arranged for those who reserve a space before May 10th.   Comanche will remain in Bremerton returning to Tacoma on June 2^nd. 

In Bremerton, Comanche will be open for public tours on Armed Forces Day, Saturday May 19^th down town marina. 

Sunday May 20^th Comanche will move from Bremerton to Port Orchard with riders welcome for a five dollar donation.  Time to be announced. 

May 25-27th Port Orchard, Kitsap Harbor Fest Memorial Day weekend, Comanche will be open to the public at the marina down town Port Orchard. For questions please email ata202@live.com or call (253) 227-9678.  Comanche will be available at the dock for private tours/parties during its time in Bremerton-Port Orchard.

 

 

PORT ORCHARD/BREMERTON to TACOMA

June 2, Saturday, Comanche will cruise from Port Orchard to Tacoma leaving Port O at 1000 and arriving in Tacoma at the Foss Waterway Seaport about 1500 or 3:00pm.  Ride along for a suggested donation of forty dollars, bring a lunch and drink.

 

TACOMA:  JUNE 2 to July 19^th at Dock A, Foss Waterway Seaport.

Comanche will be open to dock side tours.

On the FOURTH OF JULY we’ll be anchored out for the Fourth of July Air Show featuring for the first time in the Northwest the F-22 Raptor (See  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-22_Raptor )   Those interested in joining us on Fourth of July please contact us details.  (253) 227-9678

TACOMA to PORT TOWNSEND vis SEATTLE

JULY 19^th, THURSDAY, Comanche will depart Tacoma for Seattle to take on fuel (tentative). 

Departing Tacoma at 1100, eta Seattle 1600 (4pm).  Suggest ride along to Seattle is forty dollar donation.  Comanche will spend the night in Seattle.  Those departing in Seattle must arrange own transportation home.  Those wishing to spend the night on Comanche and continue to Port Townsend contact us… space is limited. Camping on deck is also permitted.  Suggested donation for the over-night ride from Tacoma to Port Townsend is one hundred dollars or from Seattle to Port Townsend is sixty dollars.  Bring own food and drink.

JULY 20^th, FRIDAY, Comanche leaves Seattle and cruises to Port Townsend for the

PORT TOWNSEND JAZZ FESTIVAL July 21 to 29^th.  Comanche will depart Seattle at 0700 with eta Port Townsend at 1800 (6:00pm).  Ride along from Seattle for a suggested sixty-dollars donation to the fuel fund.  Or arrange own transpiration home.  Bring something to eat and own drinks.  Land transportation back to Tacoma is an additional ten dollars for those who have reserved a spot by July 20th.

….Comanche will remain at the Northwest Maritime Museum down town Port Townsend until the end of July.  Comanche will also be providing some live Jazz on board.

 

PORT TOWNSEND to SEATTLE

JULY 30^th Monday, Comanche will depart Port Townsend for Seattle with a possible stop at the Port Townsend Keyport ferry dock on Whitby Island for those wishing to depart and ride the ferry back to Port Townsend.  Suggested donation for riding Comanche from Port Townsend to Whitby Island is ten dollars.

Estimated time of arrival in Seattle tba. 

Comanche will remain in Seattle until August 5^th.

AUGUST 5^th, Sunday COMANCHE will depart Seattle for Tacoma.  Tba.

 

TACOMA, AUGUST 5th to 30^th, Foss Waterway Seaport.

Comanche will be open to the public at the dock.

August 24-26 is Tacoma’s Maritime Fest when Comanche will be open to the public at the Foss Waterway Seaport.  To visit Comanche at other times call (253) 227-9678 for visiting hours.  Volunteers welcome!

OLYMPIA HARBOR DAYS

AUGUST 30, Thursday, Comanche will depart Tacoma for Olympia Harbor Days and annual tug rendezvous.  Suggested donation for the cruise to Olympia is fifty-dollars, bring a lunch and drink.  Leaving Tacoma at 0900, eta Olympia is 1600 (4pm) or before.

Comanche will remain in Olympia moored down town for Harbor Days events returning to Tacoma on

LABOR DAY, September 3^rd.  This is Comanche last open to the public cruise for the year.  For details contact us.  Recommended donation is fourty dollars.

 

USCGC WMEC 194 MODOC and USCGC WMEC 202 COMANCHE  REUNION

September 7, 8 and 9 at the Foss Waterway Seaport docks in Tacoma will be what might become the LAST MODOC REUNION with COMANCHE.   Former Coast Guard crews will gather for a joint reunion with the two former Coast Guard Cutters over the weekend.  Former crew who come early to Tacoma can ride aboard Comanche to Olympia on August 30 for free and/or the return cruise from Olympia to Tacoma on Sept 3^rd.

For details contact MODOC/COMANCHE reunion at ata202@live.com or call (253) 227-9678.  The two former Cutters will cruise together on Sunday, Sept 9^th.  Comanche will escort Modoc back to Gig Harbor and return to Tacoma by mid-afternoon.  FREE for former Coast Guard crew and family.

 

COMANCHE 202 FOUNDATION, 403 GARFIELD ST. S. TACOMA, WA 98444  (253) 227-9678

Schedule subject to changes and/or cancelations.

All riders must sign a release form when boarding Comanche for any reason.

Comanche 202 Foundation is a non-profit organization for the restoration, preservation and operation of the former c. 1944 USN ATA 202 / USCGC WMEC 202 COMANCHE

ALL DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTABLE

Comanche is entirerly operated by volunteers.  There are no paid staff.

VOLUNTEERS WELCOME! No experienced necessary.

SPRING RENDEZVOUS 2012

posted Friday, March 02, 2012 by RTA | 2 responses |

Retired Tugboat Association

SPRING RENDEZVOUS

March 30, 31 and April 1

Whittier’s dock & net shed in Gig Harbor

3309 Harborview Drive

Potluck at 5 pm on Saturday afternoon

Since De has the property for sale, this is likely the last chance to see the fantastic living and party space that Peter and De created. You have to see it to believe it.

There is room for 4 of the smaller tugs at Whittier’s float. Others can tie at the city dock, only one block away. We can make a list of motels and B&B’s available, or check out this list of places from Trip Advisor.com

Please RSVP to Robin or Kae Paterson, 253-858-3147 or jonrp@centurytel.net, and let us know if you are coming, for how many days and if by boat or car, so we can make plans.

Model tug Torrent restored

posted Tuesday, February 14, 2012 by RTA | one response |

A model of the tug Torrent has recently been restored and will be unveiled to the public as part of the new Push and Pull: Life on Chesapeake Tugboats exhibit, opening at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, MD on April 21. The exhibit continues through 2014.

Torrent was used as a fireboat in the Baltimore harbor before later working as a tugboat. The city of Baltimore, with its port facilities sprawling around the shores of the Patapsco River, has long relied on a fleet of fireboats to protect valuable waterfront property. The largest vessel to serve the city was the appropriately-named Torrent, which served along with fireboats named Cataract, Deluge, and Cascade.

Built on the hull of a steam tug, Torrent was launched in 1921 and served until 1956 when she was replaced by a modern diesel fireboat. Carl T. Allison, an engineer on the Torrent in the 1930s and 1940s, used his leisure time to build this model of the boat he served aboard. The model was gifted to CBMM by Mildred T. Allison, in memory of Calvin F. Allison.

The model came to the Museum with several parts missing or separated, and CBMM Model Guild member Ed Thieler volunteered to conserve it for the upcoming tugboat exhibit.

The model features not only the five monitors—or nozzles mounted on the main deck, pilot house, aft deck house, and tower, but a grate below the waterline for the water pump intake, discharge gates where hoses can be attached, and other such details.

Although not a scale model—the model is proportionately a little too wide and too deep for its length—many of the technical details are included. This attention to detail is typical of “sailor-made” models, those constructed by a member of a vessel’s crew who knew it intimately.

CBMM’s upcoming Push and Pull: Life on Chesapeake Tugboats exhibit explores the world of Chesapeake tugboats and the men and women who work on them. For more information, call 410-745-2916 or visit www.cbmm.org.

Foss Waterway Seaport is looking for a Pilothouse

posted Thursday, February 02, 2012 by RTA | no responses |

The Foss Waterway Seaport is looking for a tug pilothouse to use as an exhibit. If you hear of a tug that’s about to be scrapped somewhere in Western Washington, let them know.
Contact: Tom Cashmore Executive Director (253) 272.2750, ext. 101
tom.cashman@fosswaterwayseaport.org

Tug Delaware’s historic restoration now underway at CBMM

posted Thursday, February 02, 2012 by RTA | no responses |

In recognition of her upcoming centennial, the tug Delaware is now being restored to her 1912 appearance in full public view at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Maryland. Delaware is a rare example of a typical early 20th century wooden river tug.

Built in 1912 in Bethel, Delaware by William H. Smith, the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum’s tug Delaware measures 39’8” x 11’4” and is now a floating exhibit at the museum’s waterfront campus.

Delaware is a product of Bethel’s great age of wooden ship and boatbuilding and apart from the 1900 ram schooner Victory Chimes (formerly Edwin and Maud), may be the only survivor. In 1929, the tug was bought by James Ireland of Easton, Maryland, who was in partnership with John H. Bailey in a marine construction business. Later, Bailey acquired sole interest in the tug, when she became a common sight around the Upper Eastern Shore, engaged in building bulkheads and docks until she was laid up in the late 1980s.

Delaware hauled scows on Broad Creek, often laden with lumber, and towed ram schooners to and from Laurel. Occasionally, she carried parties of young people to Sandy Hill for day trips on the Nanticoke River.

Coming up on her centennial birthday, Delaware is getting some much needed attention at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. The museum’s shipwrights are replacing six bottom planks on the port side, all the way forward. That will also allow the shipwrights and apprentices to replace structural floors and frame ends, as well as repair the keel. The planking will all be yellow pine. They are also replacing the lower guards on the hull in the original configuration. The guards are 2- 1/2″ square and 25′ long, and have been steam-bent to the shape of the hull.

Work will also include pulling up some of the side deck and replacing a broken fore- and aft-deck carlin that runs the entire length of the cabin house. And finally, any broken or rotten tongue-and-groove beaded, vertical cabin-siding will be replaced. The custom siding has to be milled on-site. Restoration work will be done over the fall and winter months, in full public view in the museum’s harbor side boat yard.

The museum’s waterfront campus in St. Michaels includes new art and decoy exhibits, the historic restoration of the skipjack Rosie Parks, a floating fleet of historic vessels, a museum store, and many hands-on exhibits sharing the stories of how people live, work, and play along the entire Chesapeake Bay. The museum is open 9am to 5pm seven days a week, with picnickers and dogs welcome. For more information, visit the museum, online at www.cbmm.org, or call 410-745-2916.
 

Coming up on her centennial birthday, CBMM’s tug Delaware is getting some much needed restoration work, all in public view for museum visitors. The museum’s shipwrights are replacing six bottom planks on the port side all the way forward. Structural floors and frame ends will also be replaced, along with repair to the 1912 tug’s keel. The museum’s shipwrights are also replacing the lower guards on the hull in the original configuration. The museum’s waterfront campus and working boat yard are open seven days a week, with more information found at www.cbmm.org or on facebook.

New Tug Exhibit at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum

posted Thursday, February 02, 2012 by RTA | no responses |

New tug exhibit opens April 21 at CBMM – “Push and Pull: Life on Chesapeake Tugboats”

A new major exhibit entitled “Push and Pull: Life on Chesapeake Tugboats,” opens April 21 at
the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum (CBMM) in St. Michaels, MD. The exhibit explores the
world of Chesapeake tugboats and the men and women who work on them. Food, fuel, and all
the stuff of modern life––almost nothing moves on the Chesapeake Bay without tugboats.

The men and women who work on tugs docking ships and moving barges do difficult, sometimes
dangerous work—with unique rules and rhythms. Explore their world through stories, images,
and objects of the Bay’s tugboats, along with the words of the people whose lives are shaped
around them.

The exhibit runs through 2014 and is open during regular museum hours. This special exhibit is
free for CBMM members or with museum admission. For more information, call 410-745-2916
or visit www.cbmm.org.

Where is the Links page?

posted Tuesday, January 31, 2012 by RTA | no responses |

There are some features of the new site that may not be easy to find.  For example to get to the page to become a member you need to click on the About Us link at the top of the page.  This is also where you will find the Links page and the Member Roster page.

Port Townsend Rendezvous?

posted Monday, January 30, 2012 by RTA | 2 responses |

The Northwest Maritime Center in Port Townsend has expressed interest in having the RTA come up and spend the weekend in Port Townsend.  Any interest?  No date has been discussed.   Let us know.

Thanks!