Finally, the weather turned warm, and with no wind, the harbor was quite cozy. I hadn't seen Harold (a Southwind employee) for a while, so it was nice to get a chance to talk to him while he decorated his kayak. Then he was busy handing out rental gear.

The potluck, which was before the paddle, was good. My favorites were the spicy buffalo wings (which were addictive), cherry cheesecake, and Starbucks coffee in a jug.

People just kept steaming in, most of them renting gear, so Harold and another employee, George, were working their butts off. Finally, at 7:45 p.m. were launched with 28 people.

Just when we were ready to start paddling, two more people arrived on shore and said they needed to rent a kayak. I thought to myself, "What kind of idiot would arrive this late," and it turned out to be my good friend Jon Turner and his girlfriend, Kastle. They had been stuck in traffic driving down from LA. Harold, being the good customer service person he is, handed the group over to George to head on out, got a rental kayak for Kastle, and then they caught up.

By far Ben had the best decorated kayak. It had hundreds of light on it, plus two red siren lights, which he could've used to pull over boats. Later, when his kayak got a bit wet, I saw him get zapped by the DC electrical current a few times.

Not long after we took off, I heard Christmas music coming from a kayak. I thought to myself, "How festive, someone brought a CD player on their kayak to play for us." Then I saw a guy answer his cell phone, which had the ringer programed with the Christmas music.

It wasn't a boat parade night, but there were lots of holiday lights on the houses, as well as plenty of boats with holiday lights cruising around. People cheered us too, but nothing like the ho, ho, ho rollers get in Oxnard.

The most special part for me was having Nicole with me. She said it was pretty cool paddling at night with a light stick on her paddle, seeing the holiday lights, and paddling with so many people. Afterwards, she genuinely thanked me. By the way she was talking about things in general as we drove home, I could tell she really had a good time.

Duane Strosaker