The Center for Wooden Boats is all about vintage vessels, but when it comes to its facilities, older isn’t necessarily better.
On Wednesday night, the center hosted a fundraiser to kick off a $495,000 project to improve its facilities on the south end of Seattle’s Lake Union. Wooden boat aficionados, center staff and board members mingled in [...]

With the summer cruising season winding down, it’s a good time to brush up on boating skills—and you don’t have to break the bank to do it.
Classes for both new and experienced boaters are starting up at locations around Puget Sound, and at least two organizations offer options to build and hone boating skills for very little money.
United [...]

As far as Nancy Erley is concerned, the best way to deal with pirates is to avoid them in the first place.
Speaking at the Wooden Boat Festival in Port Townsend Saturday, the Seattle-based sailing teacher and circumnavigator said cruisers embarking on long-distance voyages should get informed about the world’s hot spots for piracy and avoid [...]

Northwest Maritime Center in Port Townsend opens to the public for the first time tomorrow, marking the realization of a decade-long dream—and a substantial investment in the region’s maritime future.
The 26,000-square foot facility, located on the waterfront next to Point Hudson Marina, will open its Chandler Maritime Education and outdoor public commons at 5 p.m. [...]

To the uninitiated, sailing can seem complicated, difficult to learn and prohibitively expensive, but a new group in Seattle hopes to change that perception.
Puget Sound Sailing Renaissance formed in the spring to get more people involved in sailing and in the process, help boost the struggling boating industry.
“It’s a venue where people involved in the sailing [...]

U.S. Coast Guard members boarded an 18-foot boat near Neah Bay on Thursday and found a duffle bag containing 60,000 tablets of Ecstasy, worth more than $720,000 in street value.
Coast Guard Petty Officer Eric Chandler said the North River boat had crossed into U.S. waters from British Columbia. Its sole occupant, Reed McCarty, 21, was arrested and charged with [...]

Last week’s seizure of 132 pounds of marijuana from a boat traveling near San Juan Island illustrates the ongoing challenge authorities face in addressing the volume of drugs smuggled by boat into U.S. waters. Agents say smugglers have become increasingly sophisticated, using all types of boats and people to move drugs across the international marine boundary.