Northwest Maritime was born from the wooden boat renaissance of the 1970s, we connect people to craft, place, and sea. What began as a campfire gathering of boatbuilders is now the largest wooden boat festival in North America. Through programs, classes, and events, we immerse people in hands-on experiences that reconnect them with the natural world.
The inland sea from Washington to Alaska is a place like no other – mountains plunging into island chains, tidal currents stirring life, rainforests giving way to dry lands where even cacti grow. For over 13,000 years, human life here has revolved around the water. We help people rediscover that relationship.
"Humans have lived here for over 13,000 years, and for 99.9% of that timeline human existence has been defined by our relationship with the sea."
Step into our boat shop, and you’ll smell fresh-cut wood. Watch, learn, or build your own boat. Wood teaches patience—cedar bends, oak resists, and nothing is forced. A wooden boat is never built by accident. It takes time, skill, and respect for the material. That’s what makes it worthwhile. And it smells good.
Beyond building, we use the boats. We teach sailing, paddling, and seamanship. Our toughest challenge, Race to Alaska (R2AK), strips away engines and leaves only wind, muscle, and grit—750 miles to Ketchikan. First place wins $10,000. Second place? A set of steak knives.
These things take time, intention, and a real relationship with the materials. Wooden boatbuilding is about as far from instant as you get, and that makes it worth doing. Plus, it smells good.
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R2AK is next level relationship with the elements. A person can row 5 miles an hour, the currents can go 15, and there are places so remote there is no one to help if you get into trouble. It’s simply you, your boat, and your ability to exist with the elements. Despite macho rhetoric to the contrary, there’s no battling the sea. Human vs ocean is the wrong mindset, but if you can figure out how to exist within it, as a part of it, that’s valuable.
We think of our work being about creating transformational experiences, in the shop and on the water. A lot of our work is to create these experiences for young people through our work with various schools and school systems across the region. Beyond having a connection with that long arc of human existence here in the PNW, it’s also a connection to the careers of the future. Very few people are going to make a living sailing or building wooden boats, but both are great precursor activities for the solid careers on and around the water: harvesting seafood for our tables, researching and restoring our ocean’s health, operating, building, and maintaining all of the vessels that make it possible for you to be three clicks away from your next impulse buy.
We create experiences that change people—on the dock, in the shop, and out on the water. Few will make a living building or sailing wooden boats, but the skills translate: harvesting seafood, restoring the ocean, maintaining the vessels that make the modern world move.
From novice to expert, young to old, Northwest Maritime helps people build a deeper connection—to craft, to the water, and to themselves. Get started Here
