May 2, 2010 - Opening Day Boat Parade (La Conner)

We finally joined the Swinomish Yacht club a few weeks ago.  It's a really fun bunch of people, with quite a few families and children for our kids to play with.

The VERY fun Swinomish Yacht Club

The club puts on the annual opening day boat parade every year in the Swinomish Channel.  This years theme was "get your flamingo on".  Wow, that's a challenge to decorate.  Kathy tried to get pink flamingos and found that most stores were already sold out - hmmmm, I wonder why?  Kathy had the kids (our two children, as well as the Southard children Braden, Will, and Emily) paint some bed sheets with flamingos and palm trees.  I converted our big umbrella from the Christmas boat parade into a huge palm tree.  It all came together pretty well, but we didn't take the prize for best decorated boat like we did in the Christmas parade.  The Southards came along for the parade and some of the kids were dressed up as flamingos, and some held green umbrellas to look like palm trees.

Synergy decorated for the parade.

Flamingo posters painted by the kids.

Flamingos and palm trees.

Little Emily with her new pals.

The weather turned out great for the parade.  Some wind, but the sun came out, which was great.  The next day was rainy and dreary, but parade day was great.  There were about 30 boats in the parade, all sporting pink, and lots of it.  We got fuel today at the fuel dock and Phil (works at the dock) said someone was fueling up while the parade was going on and asked if it was a "gay parade".   Ha ha ha.

lots of pink out there!

Some friends of ours from Shelter Bay (where we live) were invited over to represent the Shelter Bay Yact Club.  They came over in their Ranger 20' sailboat and Greg even wore pink and pranced around like a Flamingo.  Greg is pretty brave!  When I was in high school a friends parents owned a Ranger 20 sailboat and we spent a lot of time on Lake Washington learning to sail on a boat just like this one.  It was a LOT of fun.

Ranger 20' with Greg dressed as a Flamingo

Not to be outdone, some other friends of ours went all out on thier boat.  Ellie made Flamingo costumes for her husband Gary and his brother.  They were amazing, and funny.  Of course, with an effort like this, you would expect them to win the prize for the best (and most entertaining) boat.  And, they did win it!

Home made flamingo costumes.  AWESOME!

The winning boat - good job Gary and Ellie

The La Conner fireboat was there, and we saw them spray water a few times.  The Skagit County Sheriff boat was there.  Also there was Skagit Bay Search and Rescue, which I (Steve) am an active member of. 

La Conner fireboat

Skagit County Sheriff boat

Skagit Bay Search and Rescue

Skagit Bay Search and Rescue - a great organization

After the parade there was a lot of celebrating to commemorate the beginning of boating season.  Follow by a great dinner and party.  Gary (the flamingo, and owner of the winning boat) is the guitarist and singer for the yacht club band.  They put on a great show after dinner.  At the parade awards ceremony, Kathy, the kids, and I were brought on stage to we could be welcomed into the yacht club.  We already know a lot of people in the club, plus we made many new friends at the party.  It is going to be a really fun group of people to boat with.   

After the party we went back to the boat to spend the night at the dock.  It was quite windy overnight, and we were happy that we were securely tied to a dock.  In the morning, after breakfast, we motored over to the fuel dock to refuel and then headed back home.  It started to sprinkle a bit on the way home.  By afternoon it had turned into steady rain.  We spent a few hours on the boat in our slip because the kids just didn't want to leave the boat. 

Quite a few of the parade boats at the turn around point.

That was probably the shortest overnight boat trip we've ever taken.  It was a blast!