A Year Like No Other: Port Townsend Maritime Academy 2021

By Kelley Watson of West Sound Technical Skills Center and the Port Townsend School District

Needless to say, the two staff and fifteen students from this year’s Port Townsend Maritime Academy crew will never, ever forget this school year. As the pandemic raged around the globe, day after day, the Maritime Academy carried on as if being masked, socially distanced, and outside was the norm.

This year, the norm was two days of in-person instruction for two cohorts of students, coupled with two days of online independent work, and one day of Zoom for the entire crew. Sonia Frojen, staff member from the Northwest Maritime Center, and I instructed in-person four days a week and juggled an online classroom that was relevant, but not quite as engaging as the real-life instruction happening at the Northwest Maritime Center.

The learning units this year included rowing, small boat operations (inflatables with 10-horsepower outboard engines), knots, navigating, oar making, docking, sailing, and inboard motor vessel operation. One of the favorite units was the Fishing Vessel Drill Conductor course where we practiced emergency-at-sea skills. Students learned how to fight fires, inflate life rafts, don immersion suits, control damage on a sinking vessel, and make Mayday calls. This year, students popped a three-person life raft and boarded without any help from their peers (due to social distancing requirements), which was quite the contrast to last year when they piled into a six-person life raft like orange sardines.

It was a difficult year, but it’s one that we will never forget—the Maritime Academy was a large part of what helped us hold it all together. Despite the freezing temperatures and gales, we found comfort in being amongst friends, getting to learn and laugh together, stretching our resiliency muscles, and spending our mornings outside on and around Port Townsend Bay.

The Port Townsend Maritime Academy is a truly unique collaboration between the Northwest Maritime Center, West Sound Technical Skills Center, the Port Townsend School District, and private donors. It creates unprecedented access to future jobs on the working waterfront, and any junior or senior can join by registering through West Sound Tech. On behalf of all of the students and staff: Thank you to ALL who support and cheer on this program! It is changing lives for the better and we are so thankful for your support.

Four of our six graduating seniors are heading into the maritime industry!  Congratulations to Jack, Jake, and Skyler who are heading to Tongue Point Maritime Academy in Astoria, Oregon. Congratulations to Evan who is planning on joining the US Coast Guard. Congratulations to Jade who is still wisely determining her next steps, and to Joseph who is working at Discovery Bay Bird Rescue and planning on taking his safety skills out on the Pacific Crest Trail next year! We are so proud of all of the work accomplished by the PTMA 20/21 Crew!

Please contact kwatson@ptschools.org for more information.