Santa has Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer to lead his sleigh but the Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade relies on “Big Red.”
“Big Red” is the nickname the Department Harbor Patrol gave its largest fireboat, a 35-foot long, Seaway that is painted fire engine red and officially designated No. 1976.
To prepare for the parade, the Harbor Patrol decorates the vessel with colorful holiday lights, including a pair of leaping illuminated dolphins on the starboard.
Deputy William Nelson will be at the helm of Big Red as he has been during the parade for five years.
“I had 12-years in Harbor Patrol when I was picked, I know all the trouble spots in the harbor,” said Nelson.
“I’m not the only deputy who could lead the parade, any of our Harbor Patrol deputies could do it but I think it’s an honor that I’m selected,” he said.
The parade starts at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, December 12 and continues through Sunday night. For more information go to www.christmasboatparade.com/
The first parade started modestly about 99-years ago, according to the parade committee’s history of the event.
It is believed that the first parade was led by an Italian gondolier named John Scarpa. Scarpa, along with real estate developer Joseph Beek, cast off in a gondola outfitted with Japanese lanterns to lead a procession of a few decorated canoes and kayaks.
With time outs for the World Wars, the parade has grown in size and reputation.
The New York Times recently called the parade “one of the top ten holiday events in the nation.”
Leading the parade is no easy feat. There are about 100 boats in the parade, ranging from 8-foot Sabots under sail to powerful 100-foot yachts adorned with tens of thousands of dollars worth of holiday decorations.
Hundreds of other boats, ranging from kayaks to charter boats carrying crowds of fare paying spectators, fill the harbor sometimes obstructing the parade route..
It’s Deputy Nelson’s job to follow a prearranged course through the boats, setting a parade speed pace for the boats following him. The details are worked out by the parade committee and Sheriff’s Capt. Deana Bergquist.
“Some of these smaller boats are carrying only the navigation lights they have to have aboard and with a low profile to the water, they are hard to see,” Nelson explained. “There have been times when I’ve had to back down real fast to avoid a collision, and right behind me is a 80 to 90 foot yacht.”
When a boat is dead ahead and apparently oblivious to the approaching line of boats, Deputy Nelson will try to alert them lights, siren and bullhorn to get them out of the way. There are times when the boats in the way are coaxed to get underway by “Big Red’s” water monitor. Never fired too close to the offending boats, the water monitor looks like a cannon mounted on the bow and it can shoot water 50 yards ahead.
Mostly the water is sprayed as a form of salute, to honor those in the parade and entertain the spectators.
It is only sprayed when the wind is right.
“If we are headed into the wind and we spray the water off the bow, we all get wet. It’s cold out there and we don’t need to get wet,” Deputy Nelson said.
Deputy Nelson said that he stays in constants communication with the second boat, which is always from the same boat brokerage and has an announcer aboard to introduce the parade to the spectators ahead.
“We don’t like to have gaps in the parade, when I’m informed one is developing, I slow down so the boats can close the gap.”
Big Red is far more than a showboat. For many years it provided water to fight land based fires on the Newport Beach peninsular. In those days it had three pumps capable of delivering 1,200 gallons a minute to the hottest flames around. “There was a mini-mall fire that lasted for several days and for eight or nine hours, the only water they had to fight it came from Big Red,” said Deputy Brad Lofland. Today there is enough water pressure on the peninsular to leave most fires on land to land based firefighters.
Sheriff’s Department Marine Carpenter Steve Snyder said the vessel has seen a lot.
“It was out on a plane crash we had in 1995 and is used by the dive team for operations and is frequently used for training.”
It was about five years ago that the idea came up to decorate Big Red for the parade.
“It just had its navigational lights and a police strobe,” that wasn’t much to mark the beginning of the parade.
Now the boat is a show of lights, a prelude to the line of showboats that trail in its wake.
Deputy Nelson said that at the head of the parade he has the honor of hearing all the cheers from the crowds as he approaches.
“We hear, Merry Christmas Harbor Patrol,” he said. “There are lots of cheers, a whole lot of support to the Harbor Patrol and the Sheriff’s Department. It might come from a guy we gave a ticket to last summer but on the night of the parade everybody cheers for us. I’m the one who gets to hear it.”