I just finished assembling the calendar and events section for the Nov
1 issue.

Here in the Pacific NW we have several "lighted boat parades" (nobody
officially calls them "Christmas lights" anymore- they're now "holiday
lights"), in communities large and small. The biggest one is probably
the Chet Gibson Memorial cruise, sponsored by Queen City Yacht Club but
open to all participants whether they belong to Queen City, some other
club, or no club at all. That parade takes place over two days (!), the
evenings of December 8 and 9 this year.

One of the most satisfying things to do with your boat in early
December in the Pacific NW is participate in the Seafair Holiday
Cruise. (Used to be called the "Special Peoples' Cruise", and is still
informally referred to by that title among a lot of participants). This
event is scheduled for December 3. Hundreds of boaters will decorate
their boats with lights and host developmentally disadvantaged children
and adults on a 90 minute parade out to Lake Washington, around a
"Santa ship" on the far side of the lake, and back to the dock. Several
organizations have "radio Santas" on different VHF frequencies, so the
"kids" (some are in their 30's and older) can radio their wish lists to
the Jolly Old Elf.

For many years my wife and I participated in the Seafair cruise as part
of a yacht club we belonged to at the time. We had a couple in that
club who would dress up as Mr. and Mrs. Claus, and when the kids came
back from the boat ride they got a chance to talk to Santa. This
particular couple was absolutely convincing, in fact if you met them on
any of the other 364 days of the year and somebody suggested they
seemed a bit like Santa and Mrs. Claus, (white hair, happy demeanor,
beaming smiles, not particularly thin) few would disagree.

One year we had a boatload of "special people" and we were rounding the
Santa Ship at the midpoint of the parade. As always, the special guests
thought this a particular highlight, and our little 36-foot boat took
on something of a list as everybody rushed to the port side to look out
the cabin windows and wave to Santa. This particular year, we had a
skeptic aboard. While everybody else was hopping up and down with
excitement, waving, and blowing kisses to Santa one fellow shouted
"That's not the real Santa! That's not! They're trying to trick us!
That's not the real Santa Claus!" He got pretty animated about his
point, and to try to calm him down a bit I asked him why he thought the
Santa on the bow of the old Chris Craft at the turn point wasn't the
"real" Santa.

He said, "I was on this same cruise last year. The *real* Santa is back
at your clubhouse!"
I shared that incident with the couple who played Mr. and Mrs. Claus
every year, and doing so earned me a great big smile from "Santa."

The Seafair Cruise is only about 6 weeks away, scheduled for December
3.

Who else has holiday boating traditions?