Saturday night we had 14 boats rafted up for the KaBoom fireworks
spectacular. If you were there you
experienced a great roving party, super food, met lots of old friends and some
new ones. The fireworks and music
were great. The boat and people
watching provided lots of entertainment.
Even the swimming was reported to be “OK”.
Perception arrived about 3:00, got the anchor down and tied its (her?) stern
off to what turned out to be, a good strong piling. Jitterbug arrived next, dropped an anchor and rafted to
Perception. At this point everyone
kind of appeared at once. Bebe L’Amour,
then Double Play rafted to the north, off Jitterbug. Final Approach, a 60’ monohull and friend of Don Parker,
rafted next to Perception to the south.
C-Monster, Shun Feng, and Flying Circus completed the southern raft up
until Mood Indigo arrived and was “tucked in”. The southern extension actually reached another cat, Two
Hulls For Sail, and another monohull that had their own mini raft up going. They were promptly annexed. To the North, a friend of mine on Jane
Doe, an Olsen 911, joined us off Double Play, a power boat rafted off Jane Doe
and another power boat tied up in front of Bebe (the same folks that joined the
last July 4th raft-up in the Delta and famous for their killer
margaritas). You have been
counting, right? That should be 14
Boats and an all time record certified by the Bama “officials” that took the
count, recount and census. All boats
were “deemed” multihulls for the evening.
How many people? Easily
more than 50. Did I miss any boats
or people? Maybe. We even had a visit from a Seawind cat (by
dink) tied up at South Beach with his “Club”. Many joined the raft-up by land yacht and the South Beach
Shuttle. We were obviously the
largest raft-up in sight.
One of the highlights was Jitterbug Gary Miskell’s man-overboard drill. Having planned it meticulously,
Gary caught everyone’s attention when he suddenly dove into the Bay after
acting like a deck hand trying to secure C-Monster. Everyone was concerned, but Gary was seen peacefully
swimming to the main hull of C-Moster with a big grin on his face ready to
rescue himself. He easily won the “Coolest
Guy” contest and passed his cardiac shock test with flying colors, mostly
shades of blue. A hot shower, a
few libations and Gary was back in form.
Perception, Jitterbug, Bebe L’Amour, Double Play and Flying Circus
stayed the night, had breakfast ashore at Towns End, lunch on board Bebe and enjoyed
a great day – sunny, warm, light easterly wind – until everyone left about
2:00.
Everyone I talked with had a great time. The Bama crooozin spirit was present; everyone was welcomed
and we found a way of rafting everyone up. Everybody had a chance to visit with everyone else, check
out the other boats and had a good time watching the fireworks while listening
to the coordinated music from KFOG.
The Big BAMA Burgee flew proudly above the raft-up securely fastened,
upside down according to some reports, to the spinnaker halyard of Jitterbug. Burgee etiquette is scheduled for the
next event.
Glenn Fagerlin - PERCEPTION -
Wauquiez/Kronos 45 Catamaran
