“Helen Chatfield-Weeks held an audience of Whidbey Island community leaders captive in the middle of the Saratoga Passage for nearly four hours Wednesday.The Oak Harbor Municipal Pier Committee, of which Helen Chatfield-Weeks is chairperson, and the Mosquito Fleet offered the invitation-only, demonstration ferry ride to educate the public and drum up support for both a pier and a ferry run linking Oak Harbor and the mainland. Dozens of city leaders, business people and other so-called pillars of the community piled onto the 150-passenger, high-speed boat at the Oak Harbor marina. Others came aboard at stops in Coupeville, Langley and Clinton. Everett Mayor Edward Hansen and a city council member got on at the mainland side just as reports of the earthquake hit the TV news.The organizers were not shy about admitting that the boat ride was pretty much a publicity stunt – and a successful one at that. Chatfield-Weeks pointed out that the attendance on the boat was probably much better than if they had held a meeting in a room on dry land.If we called a meeting, do you think all of you would come? No! she said.As the St. Nicholas ferry cruised along at 25 knots, the members of the pier group, city officials and the men who run the Mosquito Fleet took the opportunity to address the crowd over the loudspeaker system.Oak Harbor City Planner Tom Burdett, who jokingly called the demonstration Helen Chatfield’s Carnival Cruise to Coupeville, announced that the pier-building project is moving right along. He said he just submitted seven permits to state and federal regulation agencies and that the city has secured a grant to fund all the engineering work.Since the city hopes to get a federal transportation grant to fund part of the pier construction, the committee is trying to sell it as a transportation hub, as well as a stop for recreational boaters, fishermen and women, float planes and anyone who wants to take a scenic walk.To be a transportation hub, the city would need a ferry line to run between the new pier and the elsewhere. That’s where the Mosquito Fleet comes in.Bob Isaacson, vice president of the Everett-based company, said he is excited about the prospects of being involved in ferry runs all over the Puget Sound, including a route out of Oak Harbor.According to Isaacson, he would want to keep the price of a round trip between Oak Harbor and, say, Everett to $10 or less. In order to cover the initial capital costs, he said the company would need a partnership – or subsidies, in other words – in the beginning.One of the advantage of the Mosquito Fleet over the state ferry system, he said, is that the private company has boats that are the right sizes for all sorts of routes. They have a 150, a 110 and a 49-seat boat which can be run extremely cheaply, compared to a state ferry.Isaacson is looking at a route that would go up the island, possibly making a stop on Camano Island, and ending in Everett. He said passengers could transfer in Clinton to another route he is planning between the tip of Whidbey, Edmonds and Seattle.While he says the proposed pier in Oak Harbor is a great idea, Isaacson admitted that his boats don’t need anything much more than a plank in the water to dock. We don’t need anything as fancy as the dock, but the people do, he said. Oak Harbor needs a center of focus, something to bring the tourists in. And this way, the tourists can come straight downtown without bringing their cars along. “