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Friendly competitors
Skip Wilson and
Paula Sturdy have
handed the Best
in Show title and trophy back
and forth for their lavish lighted
boat decorations displayed
during the North Carolina Holiday
Flotilla. After months of labor and
thousands of dollars, mechanical
contraptions and lights come
together to transform their large
power boats into extravagant
lighted parade floats.
The techniques they use vary,
but they both have years of mem-ories
from the event that comes
shortly after the Thanksgiving
holiday.
Wilson, the 2012 winner, began
entering the boat parade in 1987.
He is Catholic and wanted to
decorate away from the home out
of respect for his Jewish wife and
her family.
“I started doing it when my
girls were young,” Wilson says.
“It’s fun to see the kids, to hear
the cheers when you come
around by the dock. People are
getting enjoyment out of what
you’re doing. Every year I say I’m
not doing it. I say it every year —
because it is a lot of work,
a lot of money — but I do it
every year.”
He typically spends $2,000
to $3,000 on lights and decora-tions
for The Bottom Line, his
grandfather’s boat, a 1966 36-foot
Hatteras Sport Fisher.
Sturdy grew up sailing the
seven seas with her father and
even cut up his sails to make
decorations, like Christmas trees,
in his honor.
“He should have been born
a century ago as a pirate,” Sturdy
says.
She first entered her 38-foot
Sportfish Tiara Reel Hot five
years ago when the Wilmington
Invasion of the Pirates was
canceled.
Braggin’ Rights
Best in Show
by KELLY CORBETT
Who will win Best in Show during the 30th annual North Carolina
Holiday Flotilla, Nov. 30?
The themes from parade participants Paula Sturdy, 2010, and Skip Wilson, 2012.
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF SKIP WILSON
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF PAULA STURDY
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ALLISON POTTER