On Tuesday December 22, a total of 13 uniquely decorated boats and two IGY Rodney Bay Marina boats participated in what was, hopefully, the first of many Carols Afloat Christmas events. Certainly from this writers view point the event was a tremendous success! The boats that participated brought the joy that is Christmas spirit from their hearts and souls to many boats around the Rodney Bay area.

On Tuesday afternoon, if you happened to be passing the IGY Rodney Bay Marina around 4.30pm, a great many preparations could be seen, be it large inflatable Santa’s—palm tree included thanks to Hullabaloo—or as many large decorative flags as could possibly be acquired from various sources!

At precisely 5.30 (Caribbean time) all of the 15 boats participating met outside the entrance to the Rodney Bay Marina, craft participating ranged in size and shape from the lead boat “Hullabaloo” through various sizes of yachts (some of which had only just arrived on island through the ARC event last month) down to the St Lucia Yacht Clubs crew on board “Lucia” an Impulse 21 keelboat.

Come 6pm the whole graceful procession set off with our in house DJ selecting an eclectic mix of traditional carols with a few Caribbean vibes mixed in for good measure.

No sooner had we set off than disaster struck! One of the many Christmas torches on “Lucia” died so we had to improvise; with our extensive instructor background prepared for every event, a spare mag-light was brought forth and held up the show for us. Oh, and a few of the more unfortunate among us hit bottom near pigeon island.

After these few teething problems the rest of the tour went extremely well with most getting into the Christmas spirit by singing joyous melodies, at least this was the case on “Lucia” as we couldn’t hear much over the noise of our outboard motor!

With a cool beer in sight the flotilla headed back from the terrors of the open seas into the “Well Lit” inlet for a fly by on the Edge restaurant and the end of the parade.

After tying up all crews converged on H2O restaurant and bar for the prize giving and free beer courtesy of Heineken. Prizes were given to the best decorated, most improvised, best crew uniform as well as a whole host of others! All prizes were donated by local companies, amongst which featured “Fire Grill,” “Delirious,” “The Edge,” “Columbian Emeralds,” “Café Ole,” “Rain Forest Sky Rides,” “Steel Pan Band Harmonites,” and “Spinnakers.

In all an extremely enjoyable evening was had by all and if you are to talk to anybody who participated I’m sure you’d receive many a tall tale of the high seas, possibly even a few about the joy brought to all through the wonder of Christmas and all who participated.

Special thanks goes to the IGY Rodney Bay Marina (free birth for the night for the participating boats & DJ Mickey), St Lucia Yacht Club, all sponsors and the boats: “Hullabaloo,” “Lucia,” “Catar,” “Kaiso,” “Gizmo,” “Nomad,” “One Time,” “Boldly Go,” “Reel Extreme,” “Twice Eleven,” “Guiding Light,” “Fair Encounter,” “Endless Summer” and both IGY boats that participated. I’m sure that next year the fun will continue and for many years to come!

- - - Callum (Sailing Instructor SLYC)