From 1979 to 1996 I owned a 37’ O’Day sloop-rigged sailboat named Lothlorién. Five of those years, I lived on board in the Oceanside Harbor of Southern California. Each year in December, the sail fleet of the Oceanside Yacht Club had their Christmas Parade of Lights. Just before I moved to Hawaii, I sold that boat and I still miss her.
The first Christmas I spent in Hawaii, I went to the Annual Parade of Lights and stood at the Aloha Tower Marketplace to watch after dinner. It brought tears to my eyes, remembering the joyful times I’d had on the Lothlorién. The photo above is only one of the boats that night. It was dark, so I’m not sure you can see it clearly. But look at the crowd of spectators that gathered at the docks to watch!
There was a great ritual around that parade. Because we were sailboats, we didn’t have the electricity that the powerboaters had. So there was the process of trying to locate a generator to power up our lights. Then the night of the parade, there was a big scuttle to see in which order the boats would go.
Of course, all the boats were always moving, so lining up wasn’t an easy task. Once we were all in position, the local Coast Guard cutter led us out to sea and along the coastline. We all finished up at the Yacht Club for a little more celebration.
I love the simple beauty of sailboat Christmas lights. We would string up lights fore and aft making it look like a giant triangle, or Christmas tree. It was rather stately, I thought.
Please pardon the bias, but the powerboats were usually too loud and gaudy. You might already know that there is a friendly rivalry between sailors and powerboaters. But in the spirit of Christmas and human kindness (Mitzvah), it was all in fun!
A hui hou!