The second annual OCBA Christmas boat parade took place on Saturday evening, November 25 from 7 to 7:30pm in Silver Lake Harbor on Ocracoke. As the spouse of the event’s principal organizer, I was asked not only to dress out and enter my boat but also to recruit as many other boats as possible on less than 24 hours’ notice.
Somewhat to my surprise, the results were impressive! By 3pm there were only three boats committed to the plan, but after a bit of telephone/texting coercion and scrounging of Christmas lights and power inverters, the festive fleet numbered eight vessels. Chip Evans and Megan Aldridge had been the first to volunteer their boat days ahead. Then on Friday I mentioned the event to my dock neighbor, Stevie Hedgecock, who not only enthusiastically committed his sport fisher, but also brought in his friend Will Harrington who happened to be passing through in his 32’ sailboat on his way from Massachusetts to the Keys.
With only hours to go before show time, Sundae was able to enlist the participation of a sailboat recently moored at the NPS docks, setting them up with an inverter and lights. The vessel, Imari, was in Silver Lake for one night only, so it was their good luck to join in the boat parade. The other participants were my nephew, Charles Temple, on a borrowed Native Boat Rentals skiff, Bill and Leslie Gilbert on their boat, and a small boat with red and green laser lights that we haven't identified yet. (Please tell us who that was if you know!)
When I arrived at the dock at 6:30pm the reception (with coffee and fig cake) at the Waterman’s Exhibit was already coming to life and a few lighted vessels were already milling about the harbor. My press-ganged crew consisted of daughters Caroline and Mariah who showed up with their little buddy Chloe O’Neal, age 5, who said it was "a dream come true!" to be in the boat parade.
As we were preparing to board, a tourist couple standing on the dock asked me what was happening. My aging brain flashed back to my UNC days back in the Mesozoic when I had a part-time job at the Hickory Farms franchise in East Gate shopping center. The boss was an affable chap named Jim who seemed to be best friends with everyone who entered his store.
Whenever someone would pop in and say, “Hey, Jim, whatcha up to?” his standard reply was, “Just ridin’ around, get in!”
So when this couple asked me what was up I replied without thinking.
“Just ridin’ around,” I said, “Get in!” They did and just as we were casting off Tom Pahl wandered down the dock and I invited him as well. I was glad to have him on the bow as a lookout since so few of the anchored boats in the harbor displayed (legally required) lights.
In fact from my perspective it was a challenge to see anything except the other seven decorated boats as we circled around and around Silver Lake. Although we couldn’t really see them we heard a surprising number of cheering spectators positioned all around the shore. I was later told they were estimated to number 150 people at the Community Store docks. Not bad for this time of year!
Back at the dock a cheerful crowd disembarked from several of the participating boats. There was already talk of how they planned to rig out for next year’s parade. Everyone seemed to have enjoyed it thoroughly. I know I did.
