The Wooden Boat Society of the San Juan Islands and Orcas Island Rowing are hosting an evening with Steve Chapin, a Port Townsend boatbuilder who has inherited the legacy of building the legendary Pocock rowing shells.

Chapin, at right, will speak on Saturday, March 14 at 7 p.m. at  Odd Fellows Hall. Admission is free; donations are welcome.

The tradition of Pocock rowing shells began with George Pocock, a British rower who settled in the United States early in the 20th century and became famous for his red cedar rowing shells. The boats were rowed to victory in countless races, including by many Olympic gold medalists. A Pocock 8-man shell took the University of Washington crew team to victory in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, a story recounted in the bestselling book “Boys in the Boat.”

Eventually Pocock shells began to be constructed in fiberglass and carbon fiber, and Pocock Racing Shells built their last wooden boat in 2003. Fortunately the forms and templates used to build Pocock single shells were donated to the Northwest Maritime Center in Port Townsend. Port Townsend boatbuilder Steve Chapin subsequently built a number of new single shells in the Pocock tradition as part of the Pocock Cedar Singles Project.