The People's Boat Project: The Restoration of Sea Sharp!

In 1965 Sharon Sites Adams (that’s Sharon in the middle of the photo below!) became the first woman to sail solo from California to Hawaii. The boat she used for her voyage was a 25' 1957 Folkboat called Sea Sharp. Sea Sharp has spent many years living on Vashon Island, first in the water and then in a boat shed, and now at 67 years old, is in desperate need of restoration. This project aims to use her restoration to carry on her legacy as a platform for empowerment of women, trans, femme, and nonbinary folks. Through workshops, volunteer opportunities, community building and events, Emma and I (Ginny) hope to create a space that fosters growth, learning, skill-building, kindness, and connection. A place for folks who have never used a power tool, to learn how to do so in a supportive and safe environment. A place where folks, who already work in the marine trades, can come and share their skills, develop relationships, and feel heard. Long term, the dream is to establish a sustainable program that focuses on sailing and maintenance. That is of course, after we take Sea Sharp on a nice long shake down cruise!

Why GoFund Me? It's time to get to work! And to do this we need to raise some money to build a boat shed, buy some shop tools, and source lumber to begin centerline work. This is the first phase of this project. We want to be able to have donations be tax deductible so have been exploring the different ways to make this happen. After research and deliberation, we have decided to form a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization. But this takes time! So while we work to get all of our ducks in a row, and forms filled out, we want to move forward, before winter comes, on getting a roof over our heads!

The Story: Through some twist of fate, Sea Sharp landed in Emma's messages. Emma and I had talked about wanting to do a project together, so when Emma received the flyer, she sent it over to Ginny, and they decided to take a look. So we went to Vashon Island in the Summer of 2023 to check out Sea Sharp, and they fell in love. But it wasn't so much the physical boat we fell in love with (the boat is very cool, don't get me wrong), but rather the story, the potential, what the boat symbolized. So it was a no-brainer, there was no question, we had to have it. So we started scheming and were able to nail down a date, truck, trailer, and a helper to get Sea Sharp out from under the shed she called home for years, and brought her up to Port Townsend, to begin again. In October of 2023 we successful transported the boat onto the ferry and up the Kitsap and Olympic Peninsulas. A family friend of Emma's generously offered up her property for Sea Sharp to be stored on. We hired a mobile crane to come and pick the boat off the trailer (which was a lender and needed to be returned) and put onto jack stands. Since Sea Sharp was brought to Port Townsend, Emma and I, between our respective "day jobs", have been working on logistical planning, focusing on finding a location for the project, navigating potential organizational structures, making connections, and honing in on what we really want for this project and how we can get there.

The Team!

Emma She/her. Born in Port Townsend, Emma was raised in the outdoors no matter the weather. She learned to sail as a kid and fell in love with exploring on the water and harnessing the power of the wind. She began teaching sailing in small summer camps and then on larger boats. These jobs took her beyond Washington and she made connections across the globe, sailing to the Caribbean, Alaska, Quebec, curaçao, azores, Baja, Norway, the list goes on! She also has enjoyed working as a part time sail maker with NW Sails& Canvas over the past decade, repairing and building new sails, rigging and canvas in Port Hadlock, WA. She studied and received her 100 ton master mariner’s license in 2021. The past two summers she has been captaining the 84’ Schooner Martha based out of Point Hudson in Port Townsend. The sail training programs aboard that boat are challenging and rewarding, providing place for young and old alike to experience the PNW and learn smart seamanship. Emma is driven by a passion to carry on the legacy of sharing knowledge in the marine trades.

Ginny She/They: Having grown up on both the east and west coasts, Ginny has always been a lover of the ocean, and the creatures in it. She got her first taste of boat life while spending the summers sailing with her college boyfriend in the San Juan Islands. She was drawn back to the sea when she spent 3 seasons working on commercial salmon tenders in Bristol Bay & Southeast Alaska, while also doing boat work in the off season. In 2017, Ginny found herself at the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding, a place and time that changed her life. After graduating from NWSWB in the fall of 2018, Ginny was lucky to join a team of boat school alumni that were chosen to go to Tasmania as part of a collaboration between NWSWB and the Australian Wooden Boat Festival. The team spent 2 months building a Haven 12 1/2 that was then auctioned off at the AWBF. After returning from Tasmania, Ginny worked in the boat yard, and helped finish a Poulsbo Boat at the boat school. In the fall of 2019 Ginny started at the Port Townsend Shipwrights Coop, where she launched straight into the ceiling project on the Western Flyer Restoration. After almost 2 years at the Shipwrights, she decided it wasn't a good fit, and left to try to make it on her own. After a few months of working out of her van, she was lucky enough to score a bench space at a shop that her friends were renting. The shop grew to 10 independent marine tradespeople and incorporated into a formal Cooperative - The Boat Shop Cooperative. Ginny started Thorn Boatworks and is a card carrying member of the cooperative. She loves planking, corking, interiors, and making things pretty. In 2022/23 Ginny was lead boatbuilder for the Girls Boat Project at the Northwest Maritime Center, and then served as boat building support for the 2023/24 session. She spent this past summer back in Alaska working with her partner, tendering, on his 85 foot wooden boat. She is dedicated to being a presence in the this trade, working to shift and shape the culture, if even a little bit, to be a more inclusive place.

https://www.instagram.com/thepeoplesboatproject