Playing favorites – Why I love the boat parade and blessing of the fleet

It?s really hard to choose a favorite event among all of those occasions that are so special on Hatteras Island.  

It?s like choosing a favorite child or grandchild.

However, after the weekend, I am ready to go on the record.

My favorite event on Hatteras Island is the annual boat parade and blessing of the fleet that follows the Day at the Docks: A Celebration of Hatteras Island Watermen.

This single event speaks the most to me about what Hatteras Island is all about.

Its history and its heritage are so intimately tied to the men ? and now women ? who make their living on the water.

In the Bible?s Psalm 107, they are the ones ?that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters.?

The first parade of boats and blessing of the fleet was on Saturday night, Sept. 18, 2004, the first anniversary of Hurricane Isabel, a devastating storm that destroyed most of the eastern end of Hatteras village and cut an inlet between Hatteras and Frisco.

That first event was a celebration of the spirit of villagers and their recovery from the storm.  It was a gray, cool, windy evening with a sunset that was hidden by the clouds.

The next year, in 2005, villagers expanded their celebration to include the Day at the Docks event on the Hatteras village waterfront.  It was designed to showcase the coast?s disappearing working waterfronts and to educate islanders and visitors about the life and work of the island?s watermen and the culture and history of fishing for a living.

That year the event was almost canceled because of Hurricane Ophelia, but it did happen, though on a smaller scale.  Since then, the wind has always been blowing on the date of Day at the Docks and the boat parade and blessing.

The past few years have seen a brisk northwest wind that has discouraged some captains from participating in the parade.

This year, the wind was brisk, but from the northeast, and it was kinder to the 30 or so boats that paraded into the harbor for the blessing.

Lynne Foster, the chairwoman of the Day at the Docks committee, said a few years ago that she thinks the weather that dogs the event is most appropriate.

?This is the way we live our lives,? she said, ?adjusting for the weather.?

The participants in this year?s workboat parade started leaving Hatteras harbor about 5:30 p.m., just after the day-long Day at the Docks event ended.  

They filed out of the harbor, milled around in the Pamlico Sound for a half hour or so as the boats gathered, and somehow, under the direction of Capt. Ernie Foster, managed to get in line and file back through the breakwater and into slips around Hatteras Harbor Marina.

Ernie has led the parade since the beginning with the Albatross, the boat that his father, Capt. Ernal Foster, who is considered the founder of the Hatteras charter fleet, had built in 1937.  It is the oldest working boat in the Hatteras fleet.

This year?s parade was one of the most inclusive and representative of all of the working boats in Hatteras.

There were big boats and little boats, old boats and new boats, sleek charter fishing boats and basic commercial workboats festooned with colorful buoys, skiffs and a historic shad boat. There was a U.S. Coast Guard boat, a shrimp trawler, the headboat Miss Hatteras, and the last remaining working skipjack in North Carolina ? Ada Mae.

Almost all of the boats were crowded with celebrants ? little kids and big kids, parents and grandparents, dogs, and festive partying friends.

As the boats filed into Hatteras Harbor and took their places for the blessing, a choir of island volunteers, under the direction of Debbie Burrus, sang a medley of hymns and patriotic songs ? from ?That Old-Time Religion? to ?Let There Be Peace on Earth? to the ?Battle Hymn of the Republic? and ?America the Beautiful.?

The songs wafted over the harbor on a lovely late summer evening as the sun sank lower in the sky.

Johnnie Baum, Hatteras Island poet, read verses about the island?s watermen, as did Dale Farrow, who is a waterman himself.

The Rev. Cory Oliver, Hatteras United Methodist Charge pastor, blessed the fleet, invoking the island?s heritage and family tradition of fishing.

Dan Oden of Oden?s Dock delivered a wreath ? by boat, of course ? to waterman Michael Peele in his shad boat.  This year?s wreath was designed by Sydnee Slaughter of Sunflowers Florist of ?ocean friendly? local shrubs and blooms ? Russian olive branches, lilies, and roses.

After the choir?s rendition of ?Eternal Father,? Peele, with the preacher on board, headed back out of the breakwater to toss the wreath onto the waters of the sound with a prayer ?for all of those who have gone before us, all of those who have crossed the bar.?

This is what Hatteras Island is all about.  

Yes, it?s about the history and heritage of the island.

But it is also about the present ? and we hope the future.

We hope that men and women will continue to go down to the sea in ships, will continue to ply these waters, will continue to preserve the island heritage, will continue to make a living on their boats, and will be safe doing it.

You can read a story and view on slide show on the Day at the Docks and blessing of the fleet on The Local News Page.

OUT IN THE DEEP
By Dale Farrow

Lord, you hear me saying
For today I give thanks.
Other times I cried out in fear
Like the day my boat sank.

Many times late at night I pray
That the winds will not blow.
Others I am asking You
Where are the fish down below.

Sometimes I grumble out loud
When the seas my boat does toss.
Often I pray for my friends lives
So their souls won?t be lost.

While working on my nets,
The Lord was passing by.
He told me to go reset them,
?But Lord? was my reply.

I have toiled all night and caught nothing,
But on your word I will rely
I?ll launch out in the deep
And cast them from the other side.

Now my nets are overflowing
With the bounty from God above.
Come alongside my brothers,
So I can share with you His love