Guemes Island, Washington

What’s special about Guemes Island workshops?
Guemes Island is a small, residential island in the San Juan Islands chain, a 10-minute ferry ride from Anacortes, Washington. Roughly triangular in shape, the rural island is 8.2 square miles in size and has approximately 800 year-round residents.

The focal point for Solar Energy International NW is Ian Woofenden, who has lived on Guemes Island for more than 30 years and has raised his large family off-grid using photovoltaics, solar water heating, and wind power. As the coordinator for SEI NW for the past 15 years, Ian has been influential in shaping students and the island community. Ian is also the SEI coordinator for Costa Rica workshops. He is a senior editor for Home Power magazine, a published author, speaker, and consultant in the area of renewable energy.

Each year SEI NW presents a spring and fall series of workshops. While each series has both introductory and advanced workshops, all programs benefit from the beautiful location and special characteristics that are associated with Guemes Island workshops.

• Hands-on Installations:
  The signature aspect of workshops held on Guemes Island is the opportunity for participants to work on actual renewable energy installation projects. Each major workshop does a real-world installation for an island or regional homeowner or business. These systems increase the amount of renewable energy produced, and provide an educational opportunity for our workshop participants. Participants are divided into small groups and work with SEI instructors on the various aspects of hands-on installations, including testing and commissioning at the end of the workshop.
• Diversity of RE systems:
  Part of the legacy of 15 years of SEI workshops on Guemes Island is the surprising number of solar-electric, solar hot water, and wind-electric projects on this small island. There are more than 30 renewable energy system tour sites on the island. This rich diversity is leveraged during each workshop, through daily opportunities to move from the classroom to hands-on learning to touring working systems. These tours bring students together with system owners, see how their vision became reality, and become inspired by these RE pioneers.
  
• SEI as part of the Guemes community:
  You can choose to either walk, bike, or drive onto the 22-car capacity ferry and make the ten-minute trip from Anacortes to Guemes Island. Once on the island, most workshop participants join island living by staying at the Guemes Island Resort. Classroom sessions are held at the Guemes Island Community Center. You can make your own meals at the resort or community center kitchen, or purchase meals at the island’s grocery store and restaurant.
  
  Living with the workshop group on Guemes allows participants to join evening presentations and discussions with guest speakers and promotes valuable networking relationships to grow and develop. This aspect of workshops held here has been highly rated in workshop evaluations.
  
  Past SEI students and island supporters often drop by to assist in the set-up and tear down of displays and to join the evening presentations. This is evidence of the culture of involvement and commitment to energy independence and environmental stewardship on Guemes Island.

Classroom Location:
Guemes Island Community Center
7549 Guemes Island Rd.
Guemes Island, WA, 98221

Travel
All workshops will be based on Guemes Island, a ten minute car ferry from Anacortes, Washington. Roundtrip ferry fares to Guemes are $7.00 for car and driver and $2.00 per passenger. Click here for info.

For those flying into Sea-Tac airport, Anacortes is about a two-hour drive. (Bellingham airport is about a one-hour drive, but most flights stop in Seattle first, so you usually don't save any time.) Renting a car at the airport will be most convenient, though having a car on the island is not crucial -- there is always plenty of space in carpools. There is an airport shuttle with regular stops in Anacortes (call 800-423-4219 or see http://www.airporter.com). Cost is $33 one way and $61 round-trip.

Students registered for Guemes Island programs will receive detailed travel and lodging information from Ian Woofenden. For additional logistical or program information, he can be most easily reached at ian@solarenergy.org. Alternatively, he can be contacted at 360- 293-5863 or 360-770-1520.

Lodging
We have reserved lodging on the island at the Guemes Island Resort
(www.guemesislandresort.com), a comfortably rustic, older resort with cabins on a beautiful beachfront site, with mountain, water, and island views. All lodging inquiries and reservations must go to Ian Woofenden (ian@solarenergy.org * 360-293-5863) -- do NOT call the resort for information, since we have a private booking with them for the whole resort. These lodgings are first-come, first-served at $15 for floor space for your sleeping bag, $30 for co-ed dorm bed, $40 for semi-private bed, $50 for private room in shared cabin, and $100 and up for full private cabins. Free rustic camping is available elsewhere on the island -- ask Ian.

Prices are per night, and available in blocks covering each complete
multi-day workshop (the night before each workshop through the morning of the day after each workshop. (Please note: there will be no lodging for the Intro to RE workshop.) Full payment is required in advance, and our cancellation policy mirrors SEI's tuition cancellation policy. Call or e-mail Ian to reserve lodging. Prepayment (by check payable to Ian Woofenden or via PayPal with 4% charge) is required to hold lodging. The resort management will not be dealing with reservations or questions. Reserve lodging early for best selection! The early birds get the best beds!

You will get the most out of the educational and social experience by staying at the resort. We will be having informal sessions in the evenings there with our guest speakers, as well as social gatherings. It's an excellent opportunity to connect with other students, staff, and guest speakers. The resort is in a beautiful location, and all accommodations have full kitchen facilities and linens.

The last ferry run to and from Guemes Island during the week is at 8:30 p.m. If you stay in one of the many motels in Anacortes, you will miss our evening sessions, and spend a lot of time in the ferry line. For Anacortes motel information, call the Anacortes Visitor Information Center at 360-293-3832 or call me for specific recommendations.

Food
There is a small store (Anderson's General Store; www.guemesislandstore.com)
at the ferry dock on the island that has a fair selection of groceries. They make excellent lunches to order, and have breakfast rolls and coffee, as well as full breakfasts and a limited dinner menu. If you are going to cook for yourself (all resort lodging has full kitchens), you will need to bring or purchase and prepare whatever food you want. If you want the best price and selection, stop at one of the two supermarkets in Anacortes on your way through town.

Location
All workshop classroom sessions will start at the Guemes Island Community Center, which is about a half mile up Guemes Island Road from the ferry dock on the right. The Intro to RE workshop will begin at 9:15 a.m. All other workshops begin at 9 a.m. Please come about a half hour early on the first day for registration. Our sessions will end at around 5 p.m. each day. Directions to shop, field tour, and hands-on sites will be given during the workshops, and carpools will be arranged.

Weather & Gear
Please come prepared for weather (it can be wet here for both our spring and fall sessions, but the weather might also be quite nice), and prepared for work. Our projects and tours go forward rain or shine. Many participants like to bring their own basic hand tools, and boots and raingear are a good idea.

Questions?
I look forward to meeting you and working with you during the workshops. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to call or e-mail me.

Ian Woofenden, SEI NW Coordinator
PO Box 1001, Anacortes, WA 98221
360-293-5863 (office) * Cell: 360-770-1520
ian@solarenergy.org