Tacoma Maritime Festival

Captain Michael Vlahovich began his seafaring career at age 15 by following his Croatian family heritage of commercial net fishing along the west coast from Alaska to Mexico. His passion for the sea and love of adventure has taken him across the Pacific Ocean to New Zealand, as well as through the Panama Canal and across the Atlantic to Europe. His love of sailing increased his respect and appreciation for wood vessels and so he also pursued the trade of boat building. Known nationally as a master of wooden boat construction, restoration, and repair, Mike has shared his skills with hundreds of people through apprenticeship programs, on-the-job training, technical college instruction, community boat building projects, and public maritime demonstrations.

He was the cofounder of the Working Waterfront Museum, a grassroots effort to preserve the vessels, skills and stories along the waterfront of his hometown of Tacoma, Washington. He was also the originator and sponsor of Tacoma's first Maritime Fest, an annual regional waterfront celebration.

His efforts earned him the 1999 Washington State Governor's Art and Heritage award for preserving commercial fishing heritage/folklore, and for maintaining the traditional craft of wooden boat building. His long range goal is to assemble and maintain a small fleet of classic working watercraft which will preserve a significant piece of maritime history while providing the public with opportunities to experience the seafaring lifestyle, to acquire traditional maritime skills, and to visit the wilderness areas of the North American coastline. (Washington State 1999)