Trump boaters go on parade
Show of support from Craney Island to Waterside
As President Donald Trump remained in the hospital Saturday for COVID-19 treatment, local supporters gathered for a boat parade on the Elizabeth River.
Boats with Trump flags paraded slowly from Craney Island to Waterside, the Tidewater Yacht Marina and back early Saturday afternoon.
“This is all about President Trump,” said Cindy Ewing, one of the event’s organizers. She talked to The Virginian-Pilot by phone Friday prior to the parade, which was planned well before the president got sick. “I’ve never seen anything like this for other reasons.”
Ewing said their first Elizabeth River Trump boat parade in June taught them to go slow to keep the wake from endangering any boats from sinking, as they had at a similar event in Texas.
“When you’ve got that many people, it’s like herding cats,” said Brent Gooding, who participated in his 38-foot Regal Cruiser.
“I think all the people out there are avid boaters and they have respect for the water and they have respect for their fellow boaters.”
In an interview Friday, Gooding said many of the boats in the parade were owned by Navy veterans. Gooding was a Navy captain himself.
“Obviously there’s a lot of Navy here,” he said. “And all the Navy Folks I know are avid supporters of the president.”
Ewing said there wasn’t much concern about spreading the coronavirus because the boats were spread out on the water and usually, each contained one family or a few close friends. She added that Trump’s infection was putting a different spin, but not a damper, on the parade.
“We are all sad about that and praying very hard for his and the first lady’s recovery and health,” she said. “It weighs on everyone’s mind.”
Red and blue “Trump” flags, as well as black and blue thin blue line flags supporting police flew on boats big and small.
After a summer of protests against police killings of Black people and constant divisiveness over Trump administration policies on everything from the environment to healthcare, supporters have been accused of using flags and gatherings to intimidate as the election draws near.
Ewing said it was ludicrous to think parade participants were trying to intimidate anyone.
“We have the freedom to support the candidate of our choice,” she said.
“We’re safety conscious and law abiding.”
The Coast Guard was out on the water during the parade; they had a meeting to plan things out beforehand.
Charlie Burke, a former Navy Commander, participated in the parade. He said choppy seas and high winds early in the day made it difficult for some boats to make it to Craney Island, and kept the number of participants down.
Burke said he loves being on the water and he loves the president. Three times he’s completed the Great Loop — a year-long excursion on a continuous waterway that takes boaters up up the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, through the Great Lakes, down to the Gulf of Mexico, around the Florida Keys and back.
“I’ll go boating at the drop of a hat, just for the heck of it,” he said in a phone interview Friday. “And this is a good excuse to go boating.”