This Father’s Day weekend, boat enthusiasts will be able to take dad to the 16th annual San Diego Wooden Boat Festival at the Koehler Kraft Boatyard, 2302 Shelter Island Drive.
The two-day event takes place on Saturday, June 17, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, June 18, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The premier event for traditional boat enthusiasts and newcomers alike will feature wooden boats ranging in size from large 60-foot schooners to small, hand-made rowing dories and kayaks. Visitors will be able to go on board some of these ships to meet the owners and learn the history of the boats.
The festival includes seminars where Koehler Kraft Boatyard staff will demonstrate the techniques used to restore the boats, some of which were built in the 1930s and 40s.
“It’s sort of an interesting process that they’re using down there to preserve these boats using space age materials. So you have these beautiful old wooden boats that have one foot in the past and one foot in the present,” said Jon Schmid, a long time boat enthusiast who works closely with the annual event.
The ship restorers at the boatyard work to preserve the boats and bring them back to life, Schmid said.
Those who attend the event will not only be able to see classic and hand-crafted boat beauties, but can also take steamboat rides and participate in seminars that feature traditional skills like Marlinspike seamanship, which is the craft of using line and rope to create decorative and functional objects and knots.
“These are skills that are going to go away; they’re going to die if we don’t work to preserve them,” Schmid said.
Seminars at the festival will feature hands-on lessons on wooden boat building and the use of traditional boating tools. Visitors will also see a type of boat built especially for persons with disabilities that can be sailed by a person who is quadruplegic.
Admission for the event is $5 for adults and $3 for kids aged 6 to 12, while children under 6-years-old get in for free. All proceeds for the event benefit Challenged America and the Sea Scouts. Challenged America is a sailing rehabilitation program for kids and adults with disabilities. It was founded in the late 1970s by disabled veterans who wish to enhance the lives of those with disabilities through the sport of sailing.

The Koehler Kraft yard is the oldest family owned boatyard in San Diego and has been at its Shelter Island location since 1952.