I like long overhangs, sweeping sheer lines and tucked-in transoms on my sailboats. I prefer wooden boats (and fiberglass boats designed in the wooden-boat era). Like a language transplanted from its country of origin that ceases to evolve, my aesthetic for boats was frozen somewhere around 1965. I know I am culturally and historically biased when it comes to boats.

Today she lies restored and ready for a sea voyage вЂ“ a platform for education and recreation in an increasingly harried world, and a striking example of what can happen when form and function are successfully merged on a grand scale.

Built in the 1920s as a private yacht for the Johnson & Johnson heirs, she later moved to San Francisco where her speed and grace made her a successful base for the bar pilots at the Golden Gate. The 127-foot schooner Zodiac is now a national landmark gracing the harbor at Bellingham, Washington, from a tight berth next to the ferry to Alaska. Please forgive the following unrepentant provincialism, but during our recent (and admittedly very short) visit to Puget Sound, I encountered only one boat that I would call truly beautiful, and it turns out that she was designed on the East Coast and built at Hodgdon Brothers in East Boothbay, Maine. LetвЂ™s keep it that way.Д«ut with all the similarities, one great difference stood out to me between this western coast and our own. They give us inspiration and hands-on opportunities for innovation, hard work, good citizenship and environmental responsibility. They require that we give up some measure of comfort and convenience in exchange for a deeper experience of life and community. Just like back home, these coastal islands successfully blend traditional occupations with recreational pursuits. It also boasts the Willows Inn, with a two-week reservation requirement and a reputation as one of the hottest gourmet restaurants in the country. Lummi has benefited from the conservation of much of its land, and is home to a fish co-op dedicated to the sustainable and humane harvest of wild salmon that has been recognized nationally for its leadership in fisheries management and the quality of its product. There are the same hardscrabble efforts at agriculture the nearly tame deer browsing in neglected orchards, the artists and the general feeling of unplugged detachment and freedom that we love on the islands back home. Lummi features the same old cars, the lack of emergency and other services, the rusting tractors, and old lumber and fishing gear strewn across unmowed fields adjacent to the vacation homes of well-to-do rusticators. If you squint your eyes just a little bit on Lummi Island, you can imagine yourself at the edge of a bay in Maine. But the neighbors look after each other even when they disagree, and people still wave to passing strangers waiting for the ferry. The water is a little deeper, the conifers are older and taller, and the hills are more like real mountains. Locals tolerate the tourists, and fulltime newcomers struggle to become as quirky as the natives as soon as possible. The water runs just as cold, and the economy is similarly dominated by fishing, lumber and tourism.

Lummi Island is at the eastern edge of the San Juan chain, described to me recently as вЂњMaine on steroids.вЂќ The rocky shores are likewise covered in evergreens with a few struggling windblown hardwoods. Puget Sound links the State of Washington with the Province of British Columbia in much the same way as the Gulf of Maine bridges the same international border between Maine and the Maritimes. The sign hanging over the front counter of the Islander Grocery at Lummi Island in Puget Sound reads вЂњKeep Lummi Weird.вЂќ Nearly three thousand miles from my familiar islands back home in Maine and New Hampshire, this sign captures the essence of a common island spirit that makes these places so compelling, no matter which broad ocean meets their ragged shores. Now this is a nice-looking boat: The Corwith Cramer, a brigantine sailed out of Woods Hole, Mass.

East vs west