A MAN OF
Ilwaco tuna fi sherman Richard
‘Pat’ Patana sails a motorized
sailboat in early retirement
R
THE SEA
Coastal Life
Story and photos by DWIGHT CASWELL
Photo by Dwight Caswell
Pat Patana’s boat, the Summer Breeze, is a pretty 54-foot motor sailboat.
4 | December 17, 2015 | coastweekend.com
Richard “Pat” Patana is a man who seems
comfortable with himself. A rangy man with a
quick laugh, he’s been on the water, one way
or another, most of his life. “My family were
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“I didn’t have much choice.”
Not that he’s always gone about things
the way others might. Take, for example, his
boat, Summer Breeze, which stands out from
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the Ilwaco, Washington, harbor. Summer’s a
pretty 54-foot motor sailboat and could pass
for somebody’s yacht except for it business-
like looks.
As a young man with a growing family,
Patana moved from trawling to a job with a
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for National Ocean and Atmospheric Admin-
istration projects. Before long he was a chief
boatswain on the night shift and going to
school during the day to qualify for his Mas-
ters 3,000 Freight and Towing license.
“My impetus for getting my license was that
the jobs I took kept me away for a long time,”
Patana says. “I wanted to have more time with
my family. I had this beautiful young wife and
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month out of the year.”
He earned his license and got into towboat-
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Eventually he was driving towboats, including
a stint on the Exxon Valdez cleanup, which re-
sulted in extended time off with pay. Not one
to remain idle, he became a part-time maritime
science instructor at Clatsop Community Col-
lege, teaching skills like net mending and ce-
lestial navigation and eventually teaching ma-
rine safety, “to cut down on tragedies at sea.”
He spent over seven years as an instructor
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a towboat on marine construction jobs during
summers. In 1997, Patana says, “I wanted to
go back to sea and NOAA wanted me back,”
so he returned to the federal agency until his
retirement in 2013.
Patana purchased the Summer Breeze in
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my early retirement,” he says. “I thought this
boat would be easier than it was.”
The motorsailer, with its deep hull, handles
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tana usually motors with one sail reefed to the
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tiful ride.” If he sails into the wind, though,
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and with a sail up the boat is less maneuver-
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out the sail she is stiff handling with a quick,
hard righting reaction to wind and waves.
All this took some getting used to, he says,
Photo by Dwight Caswell
Richard “Pat” Patana fi shes for tuna out of Ilwaco, Washington,
on his motorized sailboat.
but “I wanted a motorsailer for comfort and
ease of maintenance,” and the boat’s virtues
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which reduces maintenance, and she’s com-
fortable because the cabin and quarters are
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there is less motion than in the bow.
Patana has also invested in an expensive
state-of-the-art blast freezer for the vessel.
“It’s more work,” he says, “but the quality of
the product can’t be beat.” He explains that
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have that perfect shape,” then quickly frozen
by a large fan that blows super-cooled air past
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any cell damage or degradation. There are
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doesn’t have to return to port every few days,
bur can stay out until his boat is fully loaded,
which saves on fuel costs.
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hours ago, for people who have to have the
highest quality.
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what we grew up in. It’s what we want to do,
but it can be feast or famine.” He is able to
reduce the economic risk, though, by selling
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processing, but his customers can purchase
his blast frozen whole tuna for about the
wholesale price. And by buying directly from
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dustry with deep roots in family and history.
To purchase tuna from Pat Patana, call him at 360-957-0841.