A boat parade in which my boat did not sink.
During the 1970s, I lived in a little town near Morro Bay, CA, across the bay from the city of Morro Bay. My rented house was about 100 yards from the back bay estuary, so I acquired a converted little 8-foot long El Toro class dinghy sailboat, and bought an antique 3 hp outboard motor for $10 at a garage sale to fit on its stern. When the outboard would run, I could go under power. When I could not coax it into starting, I rowed.
Morro Bay had an annual Lighted Boat Parade every Christmas, so one year I put a 12' pole in the old mast hole in my tiny boat's front seat. I added a small, borrowed Honda 1000 watt generator to the boat's gear, and installed multiple strings of lights to simulate a Christmas tree. When it came time for the annual event, I put my tiny boat in the back of my 1954 International Harvester pickup and drove over to the boat launch area. My wife and I took the boat out of the truck bed and dragged it down the launch ramp. I installed that antique outboard on the stern, put the generator near the transom and plugged in the lights.
The outboard and generator cooperated, so off we sailed, looking between the strands of lights as we motored off to join the parade, right at dusk. Both my wife and I were wearing lifejackets, of course.
The Scow Joan P. was, by far, the smallest boat participating in that parade. By far. We were surrounded by boats, all of which were at least three times longer than ours. And yet, as we passed by the piers and docks in Morro Bay, people hooted and hollered to see our tiny craft go by with its 12' tree of lights. For our own safety, we kept near the docks, to avoid being overrun by the yachts and large powerboats that made up the parade.
No boats sank during the parade, I am happy to report. Perhaps that was because no political issues were involved in the parade.
= new reply since forum marked as read
and limited funds 
consider all of the "safety issues" that would now have you determined to not even THINK of leaving shore!
Ah, but for the youth......... 
some forard progress was made in his lil dinghy.
and they should probably also be followed on open waters when large groups of boats are together.
Most safety rules are based on common sense.
A: Proud Buoy
