Rockets Red Glare
The show is actually held on the evening of the third of July. This is because the company hired to put on the display is none other then the world famous Gucci Family of Long Island New York. On the Fourth of July they are busy doing the show in New York Harbor.
This is one town that takes the celebration of the birth of our nation serious. It doesn’t matter which day of the week the third falls on it is a holiday in Red Bank. The streets surrounding the harbor are closed to vehicular traffic and the whole area becomes one giant street fair. There is a Municipal Park that fronts on the water and from a stage facing the harbor any number of musical acts keep the crowd entertained throughout the day. Boats of all shapes and sizes begin to converge on the harbor at the crack of dawn. They anchor in areas assigned by the Coast Guard and New Jersey Marine Police.
A group that I am a member of, The Atlantic Sea Kayakers is based in the area. Each year a group of us paddle to the harbor to enjoy the show. We like to put in at a small marina called Chris’s Landing located on the Swimming River about a half a mile upstream from the town. For the nominal fee of five dollars we get parking and the use of one of the floating docks to launch from. We generally like to get on the water at around 1900 hours. By this time all of the large boats are for the most part settled in for the duration of the show.
We paddle down river along the Red Bank side. After passing the Municipal Park we head across the harbor. There is a channel, which must be crossed, and we make the crossing quickly as a flotilla. We then paddle back up river along the Middletown side. I often equate some in the group as being nothing more than trained circus seals because they will show off their rolling skills to any boaters who shout a request. Here is where a kayak comes in very handy. We paddle through the anchorage and right up to the front row. Since we sit so low on the water no one has ever complained about us arriving shortly before show time and getting the best seats in the house. Any one of our fellow boaters can see right over us. We might have a dozen or so boats with us. We put out a couple of anchors and then form up as a large raft. Snacks appear out from out of dry bags and we settle in for the show.
Soon it was dark and the performance commenced. The fireworks are choreographed to music broadcast on a local radio station. With the multitude of boats in our vicinity we had no trouble hearing every note. All too soon the show ended. We started to rig our lights for the paddle back to the marina. The color regs say that a kayak is supposed to show a white light in time to avoid a collision. What we have found that works best for us is affixing chemical light sticks to the blades of our paddles. We do this simply with rubber bands. I like to use the proper green and red lights on my paddle. They are an attention getter because of the way they bob up and down while paddling.
On this particular night they garnered attention we didn’t want. It seemed that no sooner had we upped anchor and broke up the raft that the entire contingent of Marine Police swooped down on us. “You are entering a restricted area, heave to or you will be arrested.” Said an amplified voice. They have a security perimeter set up around the barges where the shells are fired. The safety zone remains in effect for at least one hour after the show I learned later. I didn’t delight in the thought paddling back the way we had come to the show because what had been an anchorage was now total chaos. Picture if you can about a thousand boats all trying to pull up anchor and leave at the same time. With many of the boats being skippered by people who had been drinking all day. One of the Marine Police officers asked in his most professional voice “Do any of you assholes have a radio on board?” I volunteered that I did and he told me to contact them on channel 16 in one hour to ask for permission to proceed. We waited about fifteen minutes and then started paddling back to the marina. We could hear on the VHF that the Police and Coast Guard had their hands full trying to corral all of the other boats making a mad dash down river.
We made it back without incident. This is a trip I think every paddler should try at least once.
The town of Red Bank New Jersey is situated on the headwaters of the Navesink River. Each year the town hosts a spectacular Fourth of July fireworks show. The rockets are fired from barges anchored in the middle of the harbor. The best vantage point to see the show is of course from a boat.
Last year after rafting up I heard shouts coming from off my stern. People on the bow of a large sloop were frantically trying to get our attention. I couldn’t hear what they were saying over the noise from all the other boats. I held up my handheld VHF with the hope that they would try to contact me on the radio. They soon did. The cause of the commotion was that a seat cushion had fallen off of their boat and was drifting away astern of them. They asked if I could paddle down and retrieve it for them. They couldn’t very well just up anchor and catch it themselves given the amount of congestion in the anchorage. I left the raft and did my good deed for the day. When I returned to our party I was able to pass out burgers and shrimp fresh off the grill that the grateful owners of the sloop insisted I take as payment for a job well done. “Well it doesn’t get much better than this.” One of my fellow paddler’s observed.