Blog

Friday Harbor Waterfront Views  By Capt Crabby

I’ll tell you what’s up.  October.  From the Latin “Octo”, meaning the eighth month, and the Latin “ber”, which means cooler.  In Friday Harbor, it finally quiets down enough that we can actually count up all of the money that we made during the 6 weeks of our summer season.  Not as daunting a task this year as maybe in some previous years, but time consuming, nonetheless.  In the harbor, the Bakery Boat has ceased Bakery Boating. Whitey, our pet crow, has come back to begging for Doritos at our back door.  G and H docks are once again safe for women and children.  It appears that Fall has fallen.  Now what’s up?

Well, the biggest news of late is that NKYC, the No Knot Yacht Company, is negotiating to open a new manufacturing facility on the waterfront in Friday Harbor, where they plan on building their popular 50 ft yachts.  Company owner Al Swenson has been commuting to Friday Harbor from Norway, where he has been building and selling his 50’ luxury yacht for approximately $250,000, which is less than half the price of a similar sized yacht from a competitor. How, you might ask, does he do dat?  His sleek looking yachts appear similar to such high end makes as Ocean Alexander, Symbol, Mainship and others, and the interiors are furnished in comparable luxury and quality. But there are some important differences.  Down where the engine room is usually located, NKY yachts have traditional basements with full rec rooms complete with optional billiard tables and underwater picture windows. A clue is the company name, NKY, No Knot Yachts, in which the word “knots” refers to a unit of speed.  In fact, these sleek looking yachts have no engines or drive trains, or other expensive marine oriented equipment, but are built to the highest manufactured home standards, with and with high quality interior furnishings supplied by IKEA.  In Norway, where floating houses are common, these so called “dockyachts” have been catching on, with 6 already delivered, and 11 more being built. According to Al, it’s becoming common to see a tug boat towing a NKY yacht to its new destination, where it will be permanently connected to shore power and utilities.  Officials at the Port of Friday Harbor say they fully support the new company’s plans, and that if NKY starts building the dockyachts in Friday Harbor, the Port will build new docks to accommodate them.  “Since the dockyachts won’t move, we can put them in areas which go dry at low tide, and we have lots of space in that category.”  Friday Harbor Yachts is the exclusive West Coast broker for NKY yachts, and is seeking additional California and East Coast agents.  Legendary Broker Bish Wheeler says, “These things are great, you can put them anywhere, even put them on dry land. Use them as a mountain cabin.  We have financing available.”  No Knot Yachts –  If you want to go nowhere, fast.