Every year a local radio station puts on a huge fireworks show called Kaboom! The fireworks are timed to music broadcast simultaneously. I have heard people say that it is the best fireworks show of the year, rivaling the city sponsored ones at the 4th of July and New Years. There is usually a group of BASKers paddling out to watch it from the water but I have never managed to go on one of these trips. This year I determined to do so.
The paddle is always a pot luck and this being BASK the competition to bring very good food is fierce. I had recently found a package mix for Thai peanut sauce and tried it out as a topping over fresh steamed asparagus. The peanut sauce was very good, and will now become a staple to bring on expeditions to places like Baja. However, I didn’t bring nearly enough asparagus and there wasn’t enough to go around!
After dark and a lot of drinking fine wines, the music started out from several boom-boxes. I mean the kind of boom-box that has a radio in it, and several people brought those for this event. There is also a brand of portable toilet called a “boom-box” that is designed to fit inside a kayak but that is not the kind I am talking about. At any rate, the music started and the fireworks went off. I was pleasantly surprised to hear a Madonna song I liked as one of the pieces done to fireworks.
Afterwards we waited a few minutes for most of the yachts to buzz out of our way and then we paddled back to the Emeryville Marina. On the trip out the wind had fetched up waves that got us wet. I had hoped that these waves would allow us to surf back to our cars, but no such luck. The wind and waves died down with the sun and it was a calm trip back. We had to paddle the whole way under our own power.