As the ‘poster child’ for the Dunedin Holiday Boat Parade this year, Kuma Too had an excited audience waiting as we lead the pack into the Dunedin Marina.
We were set on showcasing our 71-foot mast, so we started with the mast lights – 900-feet of rope lighting! Each rope light is 150-feet, so we unrolled 75-feet and marked the center then flaked the rest on deck. With a total of six 150-foot ropes, we hooked the marked centers with a large shackle to the main halyard that was hoisted slowly to keep the lights from tangling. Once all the way up, each of the 12 ends were secured to different points along the lifelines.
I tried to weave blue spiral rope lights through our trampolines, but after painful finger cramps, and a few choice words, that part of a design was scrapped. Multi-colored lights were twisted all along the lifelines and seagull striker (yes, that is the name of the triangle piece on the front of our bow!). Icicle lights were strung around the coach-roof and hulls, but not before we attacked the snowman, Theodor! Snowmen are always Frosty, but we wanted our snowman to have a unique name. He reminded me of a Teddy, so we went with Theodor.
Theodor was fun and challenging to put together! No instructions came with him, but it is important to put him together in a proper order; we found that out the hard way. Once out of the box, we slid the fittings together for his body then went to attach his hat…It was impossible to connect his hat with his body together, so we had to take Theodor’s body apart then reconnect everything in a different order.
As I continued stringing any extra lights wherever was fitting, Joe figured out how to power everything. With 9.5 KW Onan generator, we had no problem powering all the lights, but we were careful of the amount of watts being used since we had a mix of LED and incandescent bulbs. Joe set up a control center on the stern for most of the lights. Two single LED strands were ran into each of the aft cabins and the interior lights were plugged into the galley outlet. Safety is always our number 1 priority, so the top lifelines and all handholds were kept clear of lights and wires and only 1 master power cord was ran across a walkway that was tapped over to minimize a trip hazard.
At 11pm with a total of 26 light strands, a red bow and snowman, Kuma Too was ready for the show. We took a tour in the dinghy to get these great pictures! Saturday, the day of the parade, brought wind and rain that unfortunately knocked out a few rope lights, but the parade was still a success!
As we positioned Kuma Too at Marker 1 Marina, other captains began to pour in for registration. After worrying if any boats would participate in the high winds, Kuma Too entered the Dunedin Municipal Marina with City Dignitaries on board singing Jingle Bells followed by 36 additional boats!
We’re proud of how Kuma turned out and to be a part of this amazing community! To learn about charters on board Kuma Too, visit www.SailingKumaToo.com
Until next week, Happy Sailing!
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