New 2025 Event For Small-Boat Enthusiasts!
The Pacific Northwest Pocket Yachters, in partnership with The Center for Wooden Boats, announce a new small-boat event for 2025, the Small Boat Beach Rendezvous, to be held Saturday, August 2, on a rising tide at Blake Island State Park.
Small boats will be beached side-by-side along the northwest shore of Blake Island which features a soft-gravel strip of shoreline that’ll be ideal for the rendezvous. The event will be free to all participants. It was conceived to celebrate smaller trailerable/bleachable craft and is open to all who appreciate the type.
During the Small Boat Beach Rendezvous, small-boat owners and their families can hike the island’s forested trails, share a picnic with others on the beach, or optionally overnight at tent-camping sites. (Those wishing to overnight will need to make reservations via Washington State Parks, and they’ll probably also want to anchor just offshore or seek a moorage slip in Blake Island’s small marina, at the northeast tip of the island.) Boat owners with vessels that cannot easily be beached are warmly invited to take part, too, by anchoring just offshore or using one of Blake Island State Park’s mooring buoys, along the shore where the Small Boat Beach Rendezvous will take place. (A fee is required for use of the State Park buoys)
Many participants will want to make the Small Boat Beach Rendezvous part of a small-boat cruise, either alone or with others who take part in the event. (We know of a contingent that’ll be sailing and/or motoring south from the Port Townsend area, making the Small Boat Beach Rendezvous part of a longer cruise. Others are expected to participate from the Seattle area, as part of a Center for Wooden Boats cruise.). Coming up from the south sound has also proven to be a good route.
Small Boat Beach Rendezvous participants will have many launch-ramp options, including Shilshole and Alki in Seattle as well as ramps in Tacoma, Gig Harbor, Port Orchard, Brownsville, Port Townsend, Kingston, and Eagle Harbor on Bainbridge Island.
Organizers with the Pacific Northwest Pocket Yachters and The Center for Wooden Boats will distribute details to all who plan to attend. (While no registration fees will be involved, those who plan to attend are asked to email either Marty Loken of the Pocket Yachters (Norseboater22@gmail.com) or Lee Bjorklund of The Center for Wooden Boats (leebjorklund@gmail.com), indicating if they’ll be at the Small Boat Beach Rendezvous for Saturday August 2, or if they might be interested in joining a small-boat cruise to the event, or following the Beach Rendezvous. If you have a proposal for a cruise (before, during, or after) send it to us. We will post it and share details and developments.
We hope to see you all there!
