Tropical Island Cheer - Lanterns to Lights

An Award Winning Design! Best Humor and Originality - First Place

Peter Barbour debuted D25's 2008 design on Thursday, December 18, 2008 at 6:30pm PST immediately off Bay Island in Newport Harbor, California. Severe weather canceled the parade the previous evening. A five-minute fireworks display originally scheduled for Wednesday evening was rescheduled for the closing night of the Boat Parade. Happy Holidays from D25.

Parade route changed this year. Check the route map to see the 2008 route.

D25 2008 is actually two designs in one. With simply a push of a button I change from a Japanese lantern lit skiff to the expected D Twenty-Five light show. It often takes an enthusiastic spectator cheer to convince me to convert the boat to the spectacular synchronized light show. I choose to honor the origins of the Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade which took place on July 4, 1908. John Scarpa, an obscure Italian gondolier, along with fellow small boat operators, put together a loosely organized affair consisting of nine vessels. The parade, illuminated by Japanese lanterns, was led by Scarpa's gondola and followed by eight canoes. Thus, Scarpa has been credited with creating the first lighted boat parade in Newport Harbor. My D25 1908 design features only paper lanterns illuminated by simulated flickering candles. Remember it is always safety first onboard D25. I don't want lit candles aboard D25 but over 33 Amps of 120 Volt AC power seems to get by the safety review each year. D25's 2008 design utilized the full power of computerized lighting controllers which debuted on D25 this year. This quad-core microprocessor based network synchronized 64 lighting circuits to the holiday jam of Trans-Siberian Orchestra's Wizards in Winter. D25's parade proven twin gensets were running at 100% capacity to providing 4 KW of peak power. Of course I had real-time position tracking via ham radio to D25's web site with GPS position updates every 2 minutes so you can all race down to the harbor and cheer D25 along the parade. Major design elements this year included a 10 foot animated palm tree, an Adirondack beach chair, an eclectic/electric market umbrella, and your animated skipper du jour. Upgrades to D25ís sound system improved amplification of D25's soundtrack to the estimated 1 million parade viewers this year. No smoke and mirrors were on D25 this year but I generating 100% holiday cheer in observance of the 100th Annual Newport Beach Christmas Boat Parade theme: 100 Years of Christmas Cheer.