Hats off to the the Marine Trades Committee of the Anacortes Chamber of Commerce who recently donated $28,000 to two Skagit County nonprofits to bolster youth boating initiatives and support marine workforce development within the county. These funds were earnings from a successful 2023 Anacortes Yacht & Boat Show, jointly organized by the Anacortes Chamber and NMTA.
The Anacortes Waterfront Alliance (AWA) received $18,000 to acquire three new Tera sailboats. This will expand their capacity to engage more youth in their learn-to-sail classes (which currently sell out in 24 hours), increase the size of the fleet for their middle school racing team and expand the size of their rental fleet for community access days.
The Skagit Valley College Marine Technology program was allocated $10,000 to facilitate the procurement of outboard motors dedicated to training purposes. This
initiative aims to enhance marine workforce development by providing essential resources for skill-building within the industry. Additionally, NMTA member Shawn Ottenbreit of Salish Boat, generously allowed Skagit Valley College to purchase the outboard motors at cost and also do
nated $1,000, allowing the College to parlay the Chamber’s donation into seven engines, two more than they would have been able to purchase at retail.
