We left the dock in Santa Cruz aboard the 46' Tom Wyle sloop HEARTBEAT in a pretty dense fog. There was no problem finding our way to the paddle out off of Pleasure Point, a stream of SUP, outriggers, longboarders, kayaks, and rowing boats of all kinds were pouring off the Santa Cruz beaches and heading east. For once, the State Park Service decided not to show up and enforce the "no launch from public beach" rules. As we made our way along with the flotilla, it was clear that at least half the boats in the harbor were underway laden with flowers, bubble blowing machines, plenty of libations to keep the fog away, flags, and old surfers who were too battered or stiff to paddle any longer. Eventually, the paddle up emerged from the morning fog.
As it does most days, the fog started burning off as thousands formed up in the circle, a formation over 1/2 a mile in diameter with Jack's beloved schooner MARIE CELINE anchored in the center and the Sea Odessey 65' cat heaped with dignitaries and surf buddies. I'm guessing there were about 300 water craft to seaward of the circle, a few anchored and most simply bobbing on the small swell.
We came across one of Bob Perry's boats. I sent this picture to Kim in a txt to see if he knew the designer, but eventually bobbed over and just asked the owner. FOXTROT was designed in the late '80s and launched in '91. She looked great.
Eventually, the fog disappeared completely, just as the ceremony began. From the deck of the MARIE CELINE Jack's kids thanked the crowd and our outrigger canoe fleet poured thousands of flowers onto the water. The circle cheered and splashed the sea as the fireboat shot water into the air. A lot of perfectly good drink was spilled on the water to say goodbye to a good friend. My guess is about 4,000 surfers and 300 boats of various types showed up. The vibe was just as Jack would have liked it, mellow, happy, and most importantly everyone was either surfing or wishing they still could.
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After the ceremony broke up, we set sail into a lovely warm westerly of 15-18 knots and beat up the coast for a few hours. There was a nice small 3' break at Point Santa Cruz, know as "Steamers". A few kids were surfing it, Jack would have loved that. He got a nice write up in the Times here.
