As we ventured into the harbor several of us spotted a positive omen - a meteor streaked across the sky pointing the way to the parade. The excitement of the parade was so vibrant we could feel it in our bones. Large yachts and small boats were decked out in lavish displays of lights and animated decorations. Music blared from sound systems as Santa's boogied and waived to the thousands of people who lined the shores or watched from the boats docked in the harbor. The bridge spanning the harbor was closed to traffic and was crowed with hundreds of people looking down and cheering the spectacle below. A helicopter flew overhead with an illuminated sleigh and reindeer. A fire boat came by with its water cannons cascading. Everywhere you looked there was something spectacular to see.
Larry McGrath, Mike Plummer and Cody Wilson had each decorated their boats strings of battery powered Christmas lights and Larry and Mike had also rigged smiling snow men onto their boats. Steve Wilson was paddling a red plastic boat with red strobe lights inside that made it look like there were little explosions going off in there with him.
Mike Brown, Dave O'Connor, Jake Stachovak and I had attached light sticks to the bottom of our kayaks and rolled to flash HO HO HO HO to the crowds who went wild cheering. The sight of 4 kayaks going over together was impressive. Jake had brought a generous supply of light sticks which he tossed to the children. By the end of the night Jake had thrown out so many light sticks that his arm was getting sore.
Rolling a boat under these circumstances is a rather bizarre experience. One moment you are surrounded by chaos: multicolored lights, booming parade music, and a crowd chanting "roll, roll, roll". The next instant there is a splash and you find yourself upside down in a dark, cold world that is surrealistically peaceful. It is peaceful down there except for the voice in your head that is screaming something like "Let me out of here!" You reach your paddle up to the surface where there is a faint, far-away glimmer of light and hope. You tell yourself, "I can do this. I'm not going to die. I wish I had remembered to zip up the back of my wetsuit." Then with a sweep of your paddle and a hip snap you roll up to the ecstatic cheers of the crowd, the music, the lights, and all that wonderful air to breath! A minute later, with freshly bolstered confidence, you want to start the whole process all over again. By the end of the evening, having paddled from one end of the harbor to the other, we had each rolled our boats about 45 times.
The enthusiasm of the crowds was inspiring. Many of the spectators were generous. Every now and then Jake would come paddling by with a plate of goodies given to him by the boat people. At the end of the evening Mike Brown proclaimed that his kayak rolling had advanced from amateur to professional status when he accepted an offer of a beer in exchange for doing a roll. Jake made me laugh when he commented, "This could get silly." then in an imitation drunken slur "Yeah, I'll roll again for another beer. Bring 'em on!"
After the parade, as we headed back to the dock, we were treated to a second omen in the sky. A spectacular fireworks display was visible from the east end of the harbor!
Next we met at Larry's house for a party. In spite of our hearty appetites, there was about twice as much food as we could eat. Steve and Cody Wilson entertained us with their guitars; hey, these guys are really good! It seemed that the whole house was alive with laughter and conversations about amazing adventures. I think we all made new friendships and enjoyed the time spent with old friends.
Larry, thank you for hosting our party and generously inviting us into you home. And thanks to my friends who joined us, you guys are the greatest! What a wonderful way to fire-up the holiday spirit!
Patrick Martin