Vancouver, WA – Clark County Historical Museum’s 2021 Speaker Series continues on Thursday, August 5, 2021, with “Vancouver Marine Park Boat Racing 1980 and Tales from Boating History on the Columbia” with Jim Mockford. The event premiers free on YouTube beginning at 7 p.m.
From early Indigenous Nations to today, the Columbia River has long been an economic and recreational lifeline for the region. In this month’s Speaker Series, author and historian Jim Mockford explores the history of marine racing in Clark County, including a look at the Vancouver Marine Park Hobie Cat race in 1980 and Ridgefield’s upcoming Dragon Boat races.
“The summer of 1980 was a crazy time to race Hobie Cats in the Columbia River.” explained Mockford, “We had experienced the eruption of Mt. St. Helens on May 18 and the subsequent eruptions which continued that summer that kept a racer’s eye on both rounding the mark and an eye in the direction of the volcano.”
Jim Mockford is a historian and writer, specializing in Asian and Pacific studies. He attended Waseda University in Japan, graduated from the University of Oregon Honors College with a degree in Asian studies, and studied Chinese at the University of Washington. Jim has published essays in Sea History magazine of the National Maritime Historical Society, Mains’l Haul A Journal of Pacific Maritime History by the San Diego Maritime Museum, The Northern Mariner Le marin du nord quarterly by the Canadian Nautical Research Society and the North American Society for Oceanic History, Oregon Historical Quarterly, and Clark County History by the Clark County Historical Society.
The Clark County Historical Museum’s Speaker Series is a monthly exploration of Clark County history with industry experts, community members, and local artists. For our 2021 Season, the Speaker Series central theme is “The Stories that Shape Our Community: Past, Present, Future.” We’ll explore the stories, struggles, and triumphs of the various people that call Clark County home.
The series is sponsored by the Clark County Historic Preservation Commission and Wager Audio. This is a free, virtual event. Attendees can join the show on CCHM’s YouTube channel. The stream will open at 6:45pm, with the show starting at 7pm.
For more information, contact the museum at 360-993-5679 or outreach@cchmuseum.org.
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