Thunderbird Festival is a worldly venture

Sailing enthusiasts converge on Gig Harbor this weekend

Susan Schell

of the Gateway

Published: 04:06PM July 30th, 2008

For crowds visiting the harbor this weekend, the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the Thunderbird Sailboat will be a chance to witness a gathering of spectacular boats, listen to music, taste the local fare and see some new faces. But for the sailors, it’s a chance to see familiar faces of friends coming to town from all corners of the globe.

John Edwards is sailing down from Victoria, B.C., this weekend for the festival.

“Paul Holton is going to be there?” he asked, when he discovered the Australian was attending the festival. Edwards also knows Peter Gilson from Boston.

Edwards is the chair of fleet No. 4 in Victoria and has rubbed elbows with several of the anticipated participants on other occasions.

“We met at the Thunderbird Internationals last year,” Edwards said. “There were crews from San Diego, Toronto and Australia. It’s going to be a really good bunch of people coming down. I’ve been racing with a lot of these people since the 1980s. I’m quite looking forward to it.”

Edwards and his crew will sail out of Canada Wednesday morning on the Cool Breeze and, after stopping in Port Townsend, will rendezvous at Shilshole Bay, with at least three other Thunderbirds from Canada. His wife and other friends are traveling to the harbor by car.

“It’s a bunch of old friends getting together,” Edwards said. “We plan to meet up with other T-birds coming out of Lake Washington. I sent an e-mail out to the international Web site.”

The convoy plans to head for Gig Harbor around noon on Friday.

“It will start out as a cruise but will probably end up being a race,” he said. “You can’t get that many guys side-by-side without that happening.”

The Cool Breeze is Edwards’ third T-bird.

“In terms of having a boat that is fun to sail and very forgiving — and for the price, you just can’t beat it,” he said. “If you get into trouble, this boat can get you out. It’s so good in heavy weather. It’s extremely well designed.”

Colorado Springs Orca

Shar and Terry Raat hauled their T-bird, Orca, out to Gig Harbor from Colorado Springs. They pulled the boat through Wyoming, Utah and Idaho before heading through Portland, Ore., to avoid the mountain passes.

The Raats then put the boat in the water in Lake Union, rigged the mast, and then sailed out through the Ballard Lochs to Gig Harbor to await the festival.

Terry Raat grew up on the Oregon coast and Shar Raat is a native of Seattle, and the pair has been members of Thunderbird Fleet No. 1 for four years.

The fleet is open to anyone who owns or shares ownership in a completed Thunderbird sailboat, or one that is under construction.

Before joining the fleet, Terry Raat had been toiling away at his classic T-bird for nearly 20 years in Colorado, where he had built a shop to house the hull. His project finally kicked into high gear when he learned about the anniversary in Gig Harbor.

“When we found out this was coming up, Terry just killed himself to get it done,” Shar Raat said. “He just finished it — we had to get to the festival. They’re such nice people. It’s going to be fun.”

After the festival, the Raats plan to continue their vacation by sailing Orca up to Canada.

A T-bird love story

Peter and Carol Gilson’s lives have been intertwined with the classic sailboat since 1967. The young Bostonians were engaged and wanted to spend their monthlong honeymoon aboard their own hand-built boat between Boston, Mass., and Cape Cod.

“We came across an interesting boat designed for the home builder and billed as a ‘racer-cruiser’ for a person of modest means: The Thunderbird Sloop, designed by Ben Seaborn, with the prototype built by Ed Hoppen in Gig Harbor,” Peter Gilson said. “It was love at first sight,”

When the couple sent away for the plans, they discovered that Thunderbird Fleet no. 5 was active in the Boston area.

“It was an immensurable help during the construction,” Gilson said. “Beginning with acquiring a construction jig and shaping the bulkheads, chines, stringers and sheers. The hull slowly took shape.”

An early November snowstorm forced the Gilsons to work in the basement on the cabin sides, mast and boom until the spring of 1968.

“Some 10 months later, with the help of friends assisting with caulking screw holes and turning the hull on its side to fit out of the back yard, we moved the hull to Hingham,” Gilson said. “There we attached the keel and rudder and installed the mast, standing and running rigging.”

In August 1968, they launched the “Amr’a,” an Arabic name for a celestial object such as star or moon — “a honeymoon,” Gilson said. “We were married and spent a month aboard, learning to sail on the ocean.

“We retain fond memories of the full moon rising over Cuttyhunk Harbor, digging for clams and our oldest son standing for the first time steadied by the companionway as we surfed up Buzzards Bay under spinnaker with a 20-knot breeze.”

The sailing lovers gradually became involved in racing as well as cruising, competing in world and international sailing championships. The Gilsons became a sailing family and won the Family Trophy on two occasions.

“We can think of no more meaningful way to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary than to visit the Gig Harbor History Museum and help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the boat that has meant so much to us for so many years,” Gilson said. “The Thunderbird class is unique and we greatly value the friendships we have made over many years with fellow Thunderbirders from around the world.”

Thunderbirds sail into the harbor

The Thunderbirds will sail into Gig Harbor bay August 1-3. Event organizers — including Thunderbird Fleet No. 1 , the Harbor History Museum and the City of Gig Harbor — are anticipating more than 50 arrivals.

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