COUPEVILLE — Three years ago, this day was nearly impossible to imagine.
Just before Thanksgiving in 2007, holiday travelers were left high and dry after aging ferries were pulled from service between Whidbey Island and Port Townsend because they were found to be unsafe.
A small, utilitarian car ferry from Pierce County was pressed into service a few months later, keeping the route operational until a new boat could be built and up and running.
On Sunday, that day arrived.
“This is your boat,” state Sen. Mary Margaret Haugen, D-Camano Island, told people from Whidbey and Port Townsend assembled aboard the MV Chetzemoka on its inaugural voyage Sunday.
The vessel is the first new ferry in the state system in more than a decade. The day was celebrated in grand fashion, with a christening by Gov. Chris Gregoire, speeches by the governor and other officials, and a blessing by the Klallam Indian tribe. Chetzemoka was a Klallam chief who died in 1888.
The Chetzemoka begins service today.
More than 500 people — politicians, officials, media and others from Whidbey Island and Port Townsend who won tickets through a lottery — rode the ferry on its inaugural trip from the Coupeville terminal across Admiralty Inlet to Port Townsend. There, the boat was opened for the public to board and have a look.
Prior to the voyage, Gregoire christened the boat at the dock in Coupeville (formerly Keystone) by smashing a bottle of champagne over a railing on the ferry’s passenger deck.
The force of her blow ripped open a protective Kevlar covering around the bottle, showering bits of glass onto the empty auto deck below.
“If you don’t break it, it’s really bad luck,” she said. “My theory is if you really break it, it’s really good luck.”
The $80.1 million, 64-car boat cost nearly as much to build as each of three jumbo, 202-car ferries in the state system. Todd Shipyards of Seattle was the only firm to bid on building the boat, at $65 million, and change orders and other adjustments increased the cost.
The state is building two more 64-car ferries. The Salish is slated to serve as a second summertime boat on the Coupeville-Port Townsend run beginning next spring, and the Kennewick is targeted for service in south Puget Sound in early 2012.
The two boats are budgeted to be built for $136.3 million between them, roughly $68 million each.
Gregoire said the Salish is 60 percent complete, the Kennewick 16 percent complete and the two boats will be finished on time and on or under budget.
“Guaranteed,” she told the crowd Sunday.
It’s possible that money shortages would prevent Port Townsend-Coupeville from getting its second ferry, that the boat would be forced into service elsewhere in the system.
The ferry system must cut its budget by 4 percent, or nearly $17 million, for 2011-2013, officials said. One option would be to use only the Chetzemoka between Coupeville and Port Townsend.
Gregoire will choose which options to include in her proposed budget in December, and the Legislature will make the final budget decisions in the 2011 session beginning in January.
Losing the second boat would not sit well with Whidbey Islanders. While several said Sunday they’re grateful for the Chetzemoka, they stressed the importance of restoring the level of service in place before the old boats were mothballed.
“We need our two boats,” Sandy Poust of Coupeville said Sunday.
Haugen, whose district includes Whidbey Island, is chairwoman of the Senate Transportation Committee.
“The second boat’s coming here,” she said. “These people were promised two boats. As long as I’m chair of that committee, two boats.”
If budget cuts are necessary, she said, “it’s not coming from here.”
Haugen believes the ferry system has come a long way from the days of questionable management that led to concerns about the old boats being downplayed.
The three ferries in the Steel Electric class, built in the 1920s, were pulled from service in 2007 following an investigation by The Herald that found the ferries were being used to carry passengers despite extensive corrosion and cracking in the hulls. The vessels did not meet federal standards in place since the 1950s.
“You can always do better and we’re going to work on that,” Haugen said. “We’re sailing in the right direction.”
Shortly after the Steel Electric boats were removed from service, the decision was made not to try to repair them.
“If we’d tried to patch those boats, we wouldn’t be here today,” Haugen said Sunday.
Ferry Capt. Mark Haupt, who commanded the Chetzemoka on Sunday, was on the last trip of the Klickitat, one of the Steel Electrics. He also piloted the Steilacoom II, the 54-car boat used in the interim.
“We’ve been through this painful evolution,” he said.
He said the Chetzemoka handles very well. It has an articulated rudder that allows for more precise turning than most boats, which is important in the tight, shallow harbor at the Coupeville terminal, he said.
On the inaugural run, the captain steered the boat in a tight, smooth, 360-degree circle.
“We wanted people to know what the boat’s capable of,” he said. “We wanted to show people the boat is very maneuverable.”
Also, the ferry should be able to handle more weather conditions than the Steilacoom II, he said. If an emergency should occur, the boat is equipped with a large, inflatable emergency slide that Haupt believes is the best in the world.
On the downside, he said, the new ferry has bumpers only on its corners, rather than all the way around like the other ferries in Washington’s fleet. That’s because it was based on a design for boats used out of state, Haupt said.
He said he’s been telling officials the boat needs the larger “rub rail,” as it’s called, and that he believes they’re listening.
To speed up the building of the Chetzemoka, it was built using a design for the Island Home ferries used in Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. Those boats were designed by the Elliott Bay Design Group of Seattle.
When the Chetzemoka is empty, it leans slightly to one side. This is because walls enclose the elevator shaft on one side, rather than on both sides like on the larger boats, said Doug Wolff, an engineer for the Elliott Bay Design Group.
“When you load it with cars, it floats level,” he said.
The boat’s mezzanine level includes a large bike-rack area. The passenger area holds 750 people in seats upholstered in green suede.
“Oh, this is elegant,” said Ruth Short, 95, of Port Townsend.
The boat has a galley, something travelers on the route have been living without. The Steilacoom II does not have a food service area.
Bill and Margaret Gottschalk of Sequim made the trip to Port Townsend for the open house.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Margaret Gottschalk said. “We wanted to see it. We helped pay for it.”
Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439; sheets@heraldnet.com.
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