Christmas

The other Shore Club event—the Christmas Boat – evolved within a couple of years and has been a firm fixture since. The basic format has remained constant since its inception (lights, music and Santa) but the quality of equipment and staging has changed dramatically, culminating in 1988 with the Santa barge slipping quietly among the docks—lights ablaze and St. Nick sounding his traditional greetings while nearly invisible in the background glides another barge from which watts the fine voices of the Boeing Choir.

In contrast—and to illustrate the progress being made—the first Christmas Boat was a 15 ft. Snipe sailboat with multiple strings of lights tapering from mast-top, an electric generator made with American know-how and audible for miles, a sound system with twin speakers the size of bushel baskets and sound quality to match—all being towed by an outboard operated in the dark by Terry Feroe or Greg Anderson or Ben Ellison or their counterpart for that era. No mercy was accorded residents who were regaled for about 5 nights of Rudolph the Reindeer and the like, all at high volume.

A later development—the first of the self-propelled barges and the 1950’s forerunner of today’s Party Boat—was a square-ended scow sort of craft, decked with a sheet of plywood that obscured the hull from view by passengers -not unlike a miniature aircraft carrier. The flat deck provided an excellent platform for carrying all the above required equipment and crew, plus having a suitable motor mount. About the third night out, while cruising off Gwinn’s place and blasting the community with good cheer, the 3 crew members (consisting of young Terry Feroe, and two otherwise adult males) concentrated their presence toward the stern corner precipitating a sedate yet eerie sinking in that area followed by a silence and darkness as all systems shut down from the resultant capsizing. (Later examination found a 1" gap between deck and hull, presumable for dumping bilge water ~.) The crew - now in the water - numbered only 2 adults and there was near-panic for some moments until Terry Feroe got himself disentangled from the wiring and deck paraphernalia and popped out from under the inverted hull. To the great good fortune and relief of the crew, neighbor Donald Simpson, alerted perhaps by the sudden peace and quiet descending over the winter night, quickly recognized the situation and launched a rowboat to the rescue. The crew members - whose heavy clothing initially retained some warmth and buoyancy - were. by now quite sodden and dispirited. only after warmth and dry clothing provided in the cozy kitchen at Gwinn’s did the jolly mood of the season begin to reappear. (Said jollity not carrying over to the following morning as salvage operations retrieved electronic gear hand-over-hand from the depths at Simpson’s dock.)

Thus the era of makeshift Santa Boats passed, to be replaced by a long period of safe and efficient use of Dillons’ W.W.II Liberty Ship life raft (usually navigated by one or more of the current class of teenagers; usually Greg Anderson who owned the most reliable motor) and most recently the advent of the elegant electric-powered barges.

Through the years Lake Burien has had some great Santa’s but the most memorable must be Lee Kennett, Ken didn’t even have to learn the role he lived it. Hearty and outgoing - vivacious and smiling, Ken was a friendly participant in all activities. We all miss him.