Saturday of the ACBS Quarterly Meeting weekend was also Opening Day in Seattle.
Opening Day in Seattle is the official opening of boating season, an annual tradition where boats cruise in a parade from Lake Union into Lake Washington. The event sponsored by the Seattle Yacht Club has a unique theme each year – 2016 being “A Great Escape”. Boats are decorated, people are decorated, and the parade participants are judged as they go through the cut from one lake to the other.
This year the Pacific Northwest Chapter of ACBS, who always participate, chose to be “Escaped” prisoners which also required a load of police officers chasing them. ACBS Board Members joined in the fun with convict costumes.
The day started at the Center for Wooden Boats. After a quiet cruise and idling to wait our turn in the parade, all parade boats, big and small, went through the cut and then past what seemed like a thousand yachts full of spectators.
The lunch stop was at the University of Washington’s crew house where the 1936 Olympic winning scull is hung from the ceiling. (Have you read “Boys in the Boat”?
And then on the return trip, turning back into Lake Union, the beautiful Seattle skyline welcomed us back. It was a beautiful, glorious day to enjoy classic boating at its best.