Skip to main content

Westport Week 2 and Port Angeles



Our second week of working at Westport, LLC, with the exception of one minor disaster, went smoothly. Ioana and Maggie continued to work with the electrical crew, installing lights, switches, and other appliances throughout the near-completed yacht. Lina also stuck with the plumbing crew, fitting pipes and water lines for HVAC systems and windshield wipers.

On Friday morning, work was going as planned, until we heard an announcement over the intercom. A temporary lamp caught fire on one of the yachts, and the yard had to evacuate. Everyone remained calm, and we were back to work within half an hour. The yacht was flooded and drained, and there was no work done on it for the rest of the day.

After work on Friday, we packed up for a weekend trip to see Alex Koziol and Sean Healy, two classmates who are currently working at Westport's Port Angeles location. We arrived after a three-and-a-half-hour drive to a precarious sleeping situation.


Maggie made the best of it.

The next morning, the three of us went out for a hearty breakfast at a cafe across the street from the shipyard.




After stuffing ourselves with pancakes and biscuits, we returned to the house to pick up Sean, Alex, and Alex's girlfriend Jenny, to go skiing and tubing on Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park. We stopped to take in the breathtaking views on the drive up.









 That's Sean Healy in the corner, by the way.





Sean, Alex, and Jenny hit the slopes, while Maggie, Ioana, and Lina went tubing. Please enjoy some GoPro footage of the three of us giddily sliding down a hill over and over and over again. 











Maggie and Lina decided to tube together. As expected, putting the bigger person on top made the experience less enjoyable.

We spent an hour tubing, then went to the lodge to buy souvenirs at the gift shop, eat lunch, and take more pictures of the incredible view, while Alex and Sean continued teaching Jenny how to ski.






From left: Sean, Ioana, Lina, Jenny, Alex, and Maggie

As the sun began to set, we all piled into the car and headed home, where Alex treated us with a shake-n-bake chicken dinner. Olympic National Park was a great experience, and we hope to go back to explore it some more!

Read our next post to see our Sunday trip to Victoria, Canada!





























Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Road Trip to Westport

Against all advice given to us, Maggie and I made the decision to drive cross-country to our winter work location in Westport, Washington.  Our trip started on a *promising* note. On December 28th I flew down to New Orleans, Louisiana, where I met Maggie (who had been traveling from Florida) at the Louis Armstrong International Airport. We promptly found each other, only to have the battery of her silver Honda CRV die. Thankfully, with a bit of help from a friendly police officer, we were able to revive it.  Our first stop was in Houston, Texas at a one-room Airbnb. That night, we somehow managed to transform the six minute drive from our house to Panera Bread into a twenty minute ordeal. This was followed by some mouth-watering Texan barbeque and a twelve hour drive to El Paso where we were graciously hosted by a friend's family. Being so close to the border was unbelievable. From a scenic overlook at which we stopped the next morning, one could see the Texan bor...

Westport Week 8-Goodbye!

During our last week at Westport, Lina joined Ioana in the finish carpentry crew, while Maggie stayed in the plumbing crew. Ioana and Lina worked together on assembling grids for overhead panels. Maggie continued to install piping systems in the 40-meter model. The three of us handed out our homemade cookies on Monday, and were glad to hear that everyone enjoyed them! On Tuesday, the day that Maggie and Ioana were to leave for their long drive back to Webb, Westport experienced an extremely unusual event: snow! Ioana and Maggie trying not to slip on their way into the yard During lunch, Maggie and Ioana said goodbye and began their trip. Lina was left to work the rest of the week alone before her flight back to New York. She continued to work on the carpentry project, and was really proud of how much she was able to accomplish on her own. Here's Lina chilling alone in the break room A couple of days into the week, Lina developed an allergic reaction at work...

Westport Week 5- Dauntless Launches!

During our fifth week working at Westport, LLC, we finally witnessed the fruits of our labor- the 77 model yacht which we had been working on launched February 1st. Dauntless, as the boat was named, was not fully complete, with some touch-ups still needed, but it was ready to be transferred from the yard to the water. Lina, working now on the mechanical crew, spent the first half of the week cleaning and prepping the engine room before launch. Between the plumbing, electrical, and mechanical crews, Lina spent the most time of the three of us working on Dauntless. Maggie and Ioana, in fairing and plumbing, respectively, moved on to the other yachts currently in construction. When we arrived Thursday morning, the boat had already been lifted onto a trailer and sat half outside of the yard, waiting to be towed. Workers rushed through the yacht, doing some last-minute cleaning, lifting furniture to be installed, and checking that all systems were working properly. At 9 o'clock, ...