Christmas Parade
There are Lighted Boat Parades throughout the Hampton Roads region. Each happens the first Saturday of December (weather permitting). Normally I travel on Dave’s boat in the Hampton parade. But this year, Dave and Petra are enjoying sunny Key West for the season. So, when Bette broached the subject of my doing the parade with my boat, I thought, “Why not?”
I’m on hold right now, waiting on word of my new contract starting. So it’s been difficult to plan much of anything. It’s like being on call – you have time to do all sorts of projects in the area. But it’s difficult to plan anything that will require leaving town, or may require long term planning of any sorts.
I missed the deadline for getting my name/boat in the program. That was the first part of November. See: ‘on call’ above. :-/ So this turned into one very long day!
In the morning, I moved the boat from Wormley Creek up to the Yorktown Riverwalk piers. It’s a short ride. But that morning, there were 15+ knot winds (there were whitecaps) and 2 to 2-1/2 foot waves. It wasn’t dangerous. But I’ve done enough of these rides and I really don’t enjoy them. I really wish the weather in the morning had been better.
I’d tried hailing the dockmaster when I was about halfway there, about 9:30. There was no answer, so I left a message on his answering machine. I wish I’d rechecked the website. In the winter, the dockmaster is only there from 10 – 4, Thursday through Monday.
I arrived about 5 after 10. I didn’t hail the dockmaster again. Since I was by myself, and the water was rough, and the tide and current make it a pain in the ass to get into those piers, I figured I’d do my best to park myself, then look for him once I got in. But he saw me pulling in and came to give me a hand. Of course, I didn’t dock it where he originally wanted me to. The situation was such that I was happy to just get it tied up.
Lesson one for the day: check the times the dock is opening, especially if you’re alone.
Lesson two: try to get some help when pulling into Yorktown Piers, whenever it is!
I got a ride back to my car from Bette, who was there for the craft fair going on in town that day. She headed back to the craft fair; I headed out to get a generator, then home to prepare for that night.
I was lucky; there were generators available. And at a good price, too! It only cost me $35 for Saturday afternoon through Monday morning from ABZ Rentals. That’s cheap enough, I may keep it in mind when taking some longer cruises next year.
I headed home, made soup and hot buttered rum mix, put both into crockpots and headed back over to the boat. The crew were going to meet me about 2 p.m. to help decorate. I arrived, unloaded everything except the generator and hauled it over to the boat. Wendy helped with the last of it. We got a dock cart from the Dockmaster and brought the generator over. I wanted to wait until someone else arrived before trying to get it aboard. I thought we’d have to use a halyard to bring it aboard. But Paul was able to lift it on the deck without a problem.
The rest of the crew arrived and we finished the decorations. There were a few pictures taken during the daylight of the boat. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find a picture of the boat lit up or in the parade.
- Lighted Boat Parade 2011
Courtesy of Paul Gregory
The wind was expected to die down about 2 in the afternoon. And it did. In fact, although it was cold – about 40 degrees – it didn’t feel too bad since we had no wind to deal with. Not only that, the river was smooth, which made for a nice ride.
I fed the crew soup before we headed out, so I wouldn’t have to worry about it spilling on the trip. The crew shared in the hot buttered rum on the trip. I waited until we returned to have any myself.
We waited for the announcement that the boats were gathering for the parade, and kept an eye on the Wormley Creek channel, from which many of them would emerge. We saw a few boats gathering, but not that many, so I finally asked Jodi to hail them and find out what was going on. Well, the boats had started getting into place. Doug asked us to head over and let him know when we’d arrived. We did, and he said to just find ourselves a place in line, which we also did. I felt sorta bad ‘cutting in line’, but that seemed to be the way it was done.
So we all took off and the parade began. It went down Sarah’s Creek, which we skipped, because I didn’t want to get stuck in the shallows, in front of the crowd at Gloucester Point, under the bridge – again skipped it because all the other sailboats were – then in front of the Yorktown piers. Then we circled in front of Gloucester Point and Yorktown again before pulling up in front of Yorktown, making noise and showing off.
The decorations blocked my view of what was directly in front of me. That wasn’t too bad most of the time. But, at one point, I got quite a bit behind the boat in front of me – I swear he sped up, but I don’t know for sure. We were hailed on the radio – they asked if we were still in the parade. So I sped up to catch up.
Lesson three: keep the line of sight clear with the decorations, and keep a good distance behind the boat in front of you.
We pulled back into the Yorktown piers when it was over. One of the volunteers helped us to tie up. Good thing, too! In the morning, after I’d left, a huge yacht had pulled in behind me. Glad I wasn’t there when he did – I’m sure I’d have had a heart attack. One of the passengers said I probably would have, since their bow when over my cockpit!
So, with the help of the young man on shore, we were able to park again where we’d been. Everyone took a break and warmed up by the bonfire on shore. Then we all sat in the cabin, ate the snacks that Bette and Jodi brought along, and finished up the hot buttered rum.
The next day, Erik and I came just before noon and picked up the boat. He drove while I started taking things down. He helped me once we got parked in the slip and we finished in no time.
I’d like to do this again next year. But I think we’ll stay at Wormley Creek. There wasn’t enough activity going on in Yorktown to really warrant being there. Besides, Pam and Doug had food and drinks for those who returned!