By Lauren Elizabeth DiRe, Intern

Crowley’s tugboat Hunter, the “Fastest Tug in the Puget Sound,” won the Seattle Maritime Festival tugboat races again this Saturday, making it the fifteenth year in a row.

Each year, there are three fleets of boat races categorized by horsepower, said Scott Hoggarth, general manager for Crowley.

Three other tugs raced against the Hunter, two of them being Crowley boats as well. Each boat finished the 1.9 nautical miles in less than 8 minutes.

The Hunter’s winning streak is in part due to its sleek hull design, Hoggarth said, but mostly is because of its “brute horsepower.”

“Tugboats are a lot like icebergs," Hoggarth said, "there’s a lot under the water.”

This is how a tugboat the size of the 136-feet-long Hunter pulls barges that are mostly 100 by 400 feet.

In addition to the tugboat races, the Maritime Festival offered boat tours, survival suit races and a chowder cook-off. All the events are popular, but the races draw the largest crowds.

“I think because of the scale of the tugs," said Festival coordinator, Ken Saunderson.

"Even though they’re working vessels, people can relate to them, rather than the big container ships. They’ve become part of the fabric of the maritime community.”

When the Hunter is not winning tugboat races, it is used to provide ship assistance and tanker escort services within the Puget Sound.

“She’s been the protector of the Puget Sound for over 20 years,” Captain Bill Lowery said.

Slideshow note: Our intern was aboard the winning vessel to take photos from the Hunter's point of view.