Andy Upchurch, TMCA boat parade entry chairman

The good news is, WE WON!  Not third, not second, not first - but Best Overall!  Top Honors!  I thought we were good, but I didn't know we were that good!

Our theme was a 'Kemah Christmas'.  The boat we used was Flying Dolphin, Randy Russell's Catalina 36-ft sailboat.  We featured a HUGE Ferris wheel on the front that worked.  This was to poke a little fun at the Kemah developers.  The wheel was 16 feet in diameter, and lit up to a fare-the-well!  It was made of PVC pipe.   To solve the problem of lighting a 16 Ft wheel that moves (you'll love this!) we put a spool on the hub which was wrapped with a 100-ft extension cord.

The wheel was turned by human power.  When the cord was completely unwound, we simply stopped the wheel and reversed it to wind the cord up again!  Simple and effective!  It's funny, but me (being the chairman) and the skipper (who had never been in a parade before) and Ed, the wheel designer, all spent some sleepless nights worrying!  What if the wheel wouldn't spin?  What if it was too flimsy and came apart in mid-parade?

We did practically nothing until the week of the parade.  But then, the Wheel people got moving.  The built the wheel in one afternoon.  I understand they spent about a "hunnert n thirty bucks" on the wheel, including the 2,100 lights.

The Tree committee functioned.  We refurbished the tree and had her all  spiffed up the weekend before.  On the Sunday before the parade, I was told by Ed, the Wheel Man, that there was to be a Rehersal Dinner at Boondoggles Sunday night.  I saw nothing good to come out of this, but we attended anyway.  The Kemah Sign people were supposed to meet that night and function, but I noted with distress they were All at Boondoggle's, and drinking.  I have to admit that in my capacity as head of this (by now) hopelessly out of control melee that I found it necessary to kick Gary and Julie Graham off the team, and place Randy Russell and Karen Sims on probation.
 

Gary had done his work anyway by completing the wheel hub and supporting assemblies so I didn't feel so bad about that, but it was Randy's boat, and so I had to reconsider! Gary and Julie were later reinstated! That was on a Sunday evening.  We had a big week.  The Grand Erection of the Ferris wheel was to be Wednesday evening. But Wednesday fetched up, heavy rain and cold.  There goes the schedule.  Thursday, we had the Erection.  The wheel threatened to destruct during the raising, but held up once in place.  This took a couple of hours.  The Food Committee functioned perfectly - Chicken Chili and more - YUM!

Friday the Kemah sign went to the top of the mast and the tree went up.  At the end of the day, all the big structures were in place and I was a Hoppy Mon.  Dinner at Pappadeux's to celebrate.

Saturday.  Day of the Downhill run.  All that was left was to light the lifelines and deck.  This is how a Boat Parade should be!  No last minute fire drills!  A sizeable crowd materialized to cheer us on, give advice, and generally get in the way.  It was perfect weather - 70 degrees and sunny.   The Skippers' meeting was at 9:00.
 

The crew is busy tangling and untangling swag lights

 

Philip Kropf, Gondola Man, showed up and soon had the cars on the wheel.  They were made out of this stuff that looks like cardboard but is made out of plastic.  As an afterthought, Karen Sims got some dolls and we put them in the cars.  Hillarious!  By now the boat was fairly beautiful and was drawing large numbers of the idly curious.  The generators showed up on schedule, courtesy of Luke Sterling.   We ran the final lines to them, taped everything down and fired the rig up.  No problems!  After some more admiring and generally doing nothing, we de-camped; to re-convene at 4:00 to motor over to South Shore Harbor; the parade head.

This was accomplished with finesse and grace.  We holed up in a vacant slip and at 6:00 the lighthouse fired, a beautiful fireworks display kicked things off and the parade began!  I'm a seasoned vet with the boat parade.  It is vitally important that you don't get into a cluster of boats prettier than you!    I got back by Randy and guided us into the perfect spot - after the bigger flashier boats had started.  Down the channel we went.

Clear Lake had hundreds of anchored boats out to watch the parade.  Many were our friends, but we couldn't always tell who they were.  The food committee again had functioned flawlessly and we were feasting on finger sandwiches, artichoke dip, pickled shrimp, champagne, and more!  Skipper was on best behavior.  Down the parade rout we gracefully went, passing heard but unseen applause in the dark.

When we passed the Judges' stand, I reared back and belted out a Christmas Carol on my horn to shake the nation.  When we got to Portofino, I heard 'ANDY, ANDY, ANDY!' going through the crowd!  I was ready with my baritone, and I played them a Christmas carol as well; not in a shy way.  Then, off to the restaurants.  There, the crowd was in the thousands, made bigger by the mild weather.  They were at least 10 deep around the Boardwalk.  We got out past Jimmy Walker's and turned around, and I laid my horn down.

The next morning was the Awards Banquet.  We were met at the brunch by the Skipper, his lovely and talented assistant Karen,  'Doc' Malloy, Karol Sieling, Susan King, Philip Kropf,  and Ed and Marion Herndon.  We enjoyed a tremendous brunch and then the Awards got underway.
 

We didn't get third, or second.  I knew that we were pretty, but I wasn't worried.  We didn't get a first, and then I got nervous.  Well, they awarded everything else all off - and we hadn't gotten so much as a mention.  The finest award is always saved till last.  This knowledge didn’t still my beating heart.  Then, they announced it - Best Overall, #88 - US!  You can't imaginine our unbridled joy as we all stood en masse and strode to the winner's circle.  You can't imagine MY joy, as I stood and watched Randy collect the trophy and know that this was a group effort, contributed to by so many!

Many thanks to the many participants:

Randy Russell, Karen Sims, The Herndons, The Grahams, the Olavaris,  Philip Kropf, The Wallaces, Tom Curran, The Jones, The Molloys, the Thomsons, the Hearons, Georgia McWiliams, Susan King, Carol Sieling, the Faulks and the Knippas.

Also many thanks who donated funds, advice and moral support.  It was a great effort.