One, two, three, four…” A chorus of voices echoes across the water, as the good ship Epic bucks an ebb in the notorious cut between the Old Alcohol Plant and Indian Island. The collective energy of eight young sailors pulling with power and purpose bends the shafts of the cedar-wood oars as they head for the far shore in search of relief from the current. At this moment, years of classroom instruction and on-the-water training come to fruition as the group embarks on a five-day journey that will cover less than two dozen nautical miles, but will go a long way toward teaching self-sufficiency, and refine the nautical and leadership skills of this young team.

The students, who range in age from 13 to 20, are enrolled in the Community Boat Project (CBP) in Port Hadlock, Washington, a nonprofit that offers free accredited shop classes for hands-on learning and a voyaging program called Puget Sound Voyaging Society (PSVS). While it takes cues from the playbook of Outward Bound, it is unique in its own right. It has strong ties to the local community and doesn’t take money from participants.

“It’s not about going fast or far; it’s about the experience,” says Nahja Chimenti, 35, a sailmaker and rigger by trade and the captain on this voyage. “I find that making people push themselves hard to get to faraway destinations leaves less time to enjoy these places when you get there. That’s why we only do three to five miles a day on average and give participants personal time on shore.”

Chimenti spent her early childhood on the 156-foot tallship Tole Mour, which was skippered by her father, Capt. Wayne Chimenti, a Connecticut native, who took her up to the yardarms to fulfill her wish to celebrate her third birthday at high altitude. Her father also was one of the cofounders of the Puget Sound Explorers, the first incarnation of the PSVS program, where she now serves as lead instructor and program director.

Supported by second-in-command Dylan Smith, 28, also a professional rigger, Nahja purposefully takes a counseling role on this trip, leaving students in charge of route planning, provisioning, outfitting and running the boat. Under way they take turns as bosun, navigator, steward, camp master, naturalist, log keeper and sanitation, health and safety officer—the person who looks after the crew’s welfare, including nutrition, hydration, sunscreen and proper attire. Each student also gets a stint as lieutenant, managing the crew, delegating tasks and working the helm during docking maneuvers.

“Learn one, do one, teach one,” Nahja laughs, when explaining the idea. “My job as an instructor is getting out of the way.” For her, giving students agency is as important as teaching the how and the why. She wants to encourage them to think, make suggestions and argue their ideas. Since electronic gadgets are “strongly discouraged,” except for obtaining real-time information on weather and tidal conditions, participants practice dead reckoning and plotting the course on paper charts.

Beyond seamanship and boat handling, the daily routine also includes a closing circle for all hands to share thoughts and experiences, and to learn about the trials and tribulations of their shipmates. “Voyaging is unique and gets people out of their comfort zone,” says Smith. “Struggling and making mistakes is okay, and older students teaching younger ones is an important aspect of the program.” These closing circles also are a time to listen and process, free from the flood of stimuli and diversions of everyday life.

Epic is a contemporary rendition of traditional longboats used by European explorers centuries ago, and requires a crew of eight to 10. The 31-foot, 9-inch vessel has a stays’l schooner rig that carries up to 400 square feet of tanbark canvas. The flat-bottomed hull was built from plywood-epoxy and sheathed in fiberglass on the outside. A centerboard helps with upwind performance while also reducing draft for shallow-water operation and beaching.

“Starboard hold water, port give way,” orders Emilia Ramsey, 19, the lieutenant skippering Epic on the short, downwind leg from Fort Flagler to Mystery Bay. During this leg, the crew brings out the “secret weapon,” a small spinnaker set on the foremast. Using oar commands, Ramsey guides Epic away from the dock to rendezvous with Icey, a teal-and-orange pram that’s towed behind on this voyage as a floating larder with insulated storage compartments under the thwarts.

Like her mates on this trip, Ramsey attended local school, where she chose a practice-oriented curriculum like Ocean (Opportunity, Community, Experience, Academics, Navigation), a K through 12 alternative learning experience program. After graduation, she took a gap year to restore Dorju, a 1905 clinker-planked 26-foot surf rescue boat built by the Beebe Boatyard in Greenport, New York. It was donated to her in 2023 by the Northwest Maritime Center.

“I participated in the Girl’s Boat Project [where middle-school students learn boatbuilding and woodworking techniques] and Bravo Team, then did an internship at Force 10 Sailmakers,” she says, retracing the steps that brought her to PSVS. Here, she met fellow voyager Gabriel Hefley, 20, who took a similar path. “These programs are foundational for growth and life’s journey,” he notes. “Because of the connections I made, I found a job with the Port of Port Townsend.”

Toward the end of the trip the weather turns, which requires a change of itinerary to dodge an atmospheric river that has slammed into the West Coast. At times it’s a drip fest, but twin sisters Eugenia and Viola Frank, 20, don’t seem to mind. They are back in town for college recess and joined the voyage as alumnae of the program. They had participated in the Pi-Program while in school, a state-regulated alternative learning experience with multi-age classes on campus and at home.

“In school we made friends who had older siblings [in the CBP], so our mother enrolled us,” Eugenia says. “After a few years we became teaching assistants and stuck around through high school.” Viola, who was born a minute after her older sister, weighs in on the prgram too. “It gave me a head start and inspiration for college, studying the environment and being outdoors.”

The voyaging program was established with the help of renowned educator Marci van Cleve, and Wayne Chimenti and Al Nejmah. It eventually became part of the Community Boat Project in 2008, based on the idea of having students build seaworthy boats with adult supervision. Partnering with local public and private schools and the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding (NWSWB), CBP added hands-on shop classes in addition to the longboat program. Local craftsmen and adult volunteers pitched in, donating time and know-how. Today, financial support comes from the Satterberg Foundation, the Russell Family Foundation and the Medina Foundation, while local businesses like Edensaw or Admiral Ship Supply donate wood and boating gear.

CBP has a good thing going in Port Hadlock, but organizers need to stay on top of accelerating change to remain relevant and avoid the fate of other longboat voyaging programs in the Pacific Northwest. Some have faded due to the pandemic and shifts in student interest. CBP is seeking to grow and expand in a new location; to do so, it needs to find eight to 10 students to commit to the multi-year voyaging curriculum.

Recruitment is just one item on the job list of incoming Executive Director Brent Bellamy, who wants to forge fresh alliances while maintaining existing relationships with donors, schools, teachers, parents and alumni who can help sell the program to new students. And then there’s the challenge of prying youth away from their screens. “Holding a tool in your hand, working on something, whether it’s a boat or a shed, is the focus,” Bellamy says. “It’s about students being empowered to build and work together with other people, and to come out with interpersonal skills.”

Longboat voyaging remains part of this plan. As students and instructors note, trimming sails and manning oars can help prep a person for life’s journey, as there will be relaxed downwind passages but also adverse currents to buck, which require power and determination.

Wayno’s World

He ditched a potential career in marine science to become a schoonerman, a rigger and a sailmaker. He skippered tall ships and met his wife, Nicole, in Moorea, French Polynesia, while helping with the production of the 1984 movie Bounty. When Wayne “Wayno” Chimenti swallowed the anchor, he could have done it anywhere, but chose Port Townsend because, “Oh my God, that’s a sailor’s town,” he says. Wayne and Nicole bought a plot of woodsy land and turned it into a bucolic Shangri La that includes a sail loft (Force 10 Sailmakers) and a geodesic dome.

In 1993 he helped start a longboat voyaging program, which he managed for 15 years while keeping his day job of captaining educational sailing trips on the schooner Adventuress. The desire for better boats led to the Community Boat Project that added shop classes for boatbuilding and general carpentry, while keeping the voyaging component as Puget Sound Voyaging Society. The community at large helps mentor and empower the young to acquire relevant skills, confidence, and leadership aptitude, so they might return the favor down the road.

“That’s the beauty of Port Townsend,” Wayno said. “You have these genius designers like Kit Africa, Jimmy Franken and Ed Louchard, who do all that for free. Then you get these boat builders like Jeff Hammond and Ray Speck, willing to come in and donate their time.”

Now that Wayno’s retired, he can take stock. “We have a steady group of funders, almost all foundations. We don’t charge for any programming. We offer paid apprenticeships. We’re not trying to turn out marine trades people. It’s more like, how do you develop self-reliance and grit, which in previous generations were necessary to survive.”

This article was originally published in the September 2024 issue.