The
58th Annual Greater Pompano Beach
Holiday Boat Parade
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Salutes our “EVERYDAY AMERICAN HEROES”
those on the front lines getting us through the Covid-19 pandemic.
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Our slightly abbreviated Pompano Beach Holiday parade route for 2020 totalled about 11 miles.
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For many in South Florida, one of the highlights of the Holidays has always been the Seminole Hard Rock Winterfest Boat Parade. Due to the pandemic closures, this event was cancelled for 2020, perhaps for the first time in it’s history. I have been paddling the Parade for well over 20 years with various groups and active paddlers. One local paddler who stands out in particular is ‘Kayak Ted‘ who has been instrumental in organizing many of the Parade runs over the past decade. Ted has been organizing and running not just the Winterfest, but also the Boca Raton Holiday Parades and has previously solo run the Pompano Beach Parade as well. So for 2020, I was excited that Ted had organized for us to run the Pompano parade not only as an alternate but also as a ‘trial run’ to hopefully also make Pompano an annual event for local paddlers!
The Holiday parades are something I really look forward to as a chance to connect with the public at large. I see the event as a form of Christmas caroling, in that unlike powered vessels, we are able to get up close and personal with the crowds to spread good Holiday cheer! 🙂
Kayaking the Holiday boat parades is a full sensory paddling experience!
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Decorating CLOUD9 for the Pompano Beach parade.
This is my short and very versatile sea kayak, the Orca 16 from Venture Kayaks (i.e. P&H).
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Kayak Ted and Rudolph getting ready to paddle the 2020 Pompano Beach Holiday Parade.
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Safety Alien and Elf home for the Holidays! 😉
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My finished setup ready to hit the water and ride.
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Launching at Alsdorf Park boat ramps about three miles north of the parade start line.
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Christmas spirit is ON !!
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Don’t let the crazy smile fool ye – Ted’s a serious guy!
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For 2020, we were at the tail end of the Pompano Beach Holiday Parade, number 65.
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We launched at the Alsdorf Park boat ramps, which is one of the few places to park after dark. As one can imagine, it was busy with boaters. However as we were to be at the tail end of the parade we were not in a hurry. We did have to paddle south about three miles to the start of the parade. Paddle craft at the Pompano Boat Parade is kind of a new thing to the powers that be. Ted’s previous experience paddling the event solo had him mixed up in the heavy boat traffic and was not so enjoyable. Probably boaters were not even expecting a kayaker to be there and not aware of their wake impact on a paddler! For this year, Ted got the organizers to agree to have us paddlers at the tail end. This is in contrast to the Winterfest parades where we typically start a half hour early ahead of the start of the parade. This has worked out well, and perhaps with more paddlers in the future we can work out something similar for this Pompano parade.
The Pompano officials also wanted us to have a number “plate” on board, the size of which poses a safety risk to the paddler. It’s just too big and catches too much wind! Maybe something like a flat sticker to place over the deck would work much better next time!
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CLOUD9 decorated for the Holidays with LED lighting, reindeer and ALIENS!!
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Ted set up his ‘traditional’ palm tree on the stern of his kayak.
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Watching the parade pass by, enjoying the sights!
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This boat almost got run over by a reindeer ..
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Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Safety All the Way ..
with Ultimate Urban Safety Hat and Safety Alien!
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My selection of very loud whistles. I will be deaf by the end of this event! 😮
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Kayak Ted styling with Rudolph leading the way!
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Last boat passing by, our cue to pick up the tail end of the boat parade!
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As it were, we had a strong outgoing tide and once we picked up the parade we were zooming along quite nicely. Almost too fast!
The best part of the parade is in fact the part leading up to Hillsboro Inlet. There were lots of crowds, in public and private spaces. I worked my selection of loud whistles while Ted cranked up his on board sound system!
As far as Covid-19 social distancing went, it was a toss-up. The public spaces had more people wearing masks, and the private waterfront residences had very few masks in evidence. Less than 20%, and I’m pretty sure they all didn’t live in the same household~!
The crowds enjoyed us and we enjoyed them cheering us on! 🙂
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Paddling CLOUD9 on the 2020 Pompano Beach Holiday Boat Parade!
Great photo provided by RG Iossi of fksa.org, used by permission.
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The color changing LED lights looking good on the water!
Great photo provided by RG Iossi of fksa.org, used by permission.
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Riding out the swift tide past the viewing stands of the 2020 Pompano Parade.
Great photo provided by RG Iossi of fksa.org, used by permission.
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The same current that had us flying out up towards Hillsboro Inlet turned against us as we continued to paddle north. It was easily 4 knots and required some semi strenuous paddling even with wing paddles. There were also some strong periodic E/NE wind gusts to deal with! We continued about another three miles northward and chose to pull out a lil early at DeGroff Park on the west side of the intracostal waterway. This was a good place to get out for a break and snack after paddling against the tide for an hour or so.
In retrospect, we both agreed that in the future, the Pompano parade would best be done for most paddlers by limiting it to about 6 or 7 miles in total. Basically just the stretch from the start up to Hillsboro Inlet and back. This was the best part of the parade! North of the inlet, the people are more dispersed and too far away in condos to see us anyway.
The lighthouse was beautifully lit up by the way!
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Beaching at DeGroff Park, next to a curiously buried mannequin arm in the sand.
An art installation?
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Kayak Ted, Holiday Parade organizer and paddler.
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A rogue boat wake upset Ted’s empty kayak on the shoreline.
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Kayakfari Alien bonanza for the Holidays!!
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BSO checks up on us as we get ready for the return ride back to Alsdorf.
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Safety Alien lent me a small Warp core for a quick ride.
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Back at the Alsdorf boat ramp, all quiet in the night!
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All quiet except for a couple of crazy kayakers who had just completed the 2020 Pompano Beach Holiday Boat Parade.
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Final look at our festive 2020 edition flotilla!
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All in all this was a fun, if not strenuous trip.
The Pompano Beach Holiday Boat Parade
holds promise for future Holiday paddling! 🙂
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Light rain and a ghost town at Alsdorf. See you next year!
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H A P P Y H O L I D A Y S !!
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2020 Pompano Beach Holiday Boat Parade
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! Bless UP
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© 2020 Flex Maslan / kayakfari.com / awakenthegrass.com. All original photographs, artworks and music in this portfolio are copyrighted and owned by the artist, Flex Maslan, unless otherwise noted. Any reproduction, modification, publication, transmission, transfer, or exploitation of any of the content, for personal or commercial use, whether in whole or in part, without written permission from the artist is strictly prohibited.
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With that said..
Blessings friends!
🙂
kayakfari ( kayak .. far .. i ) 