Ipswich illumination - Boats, Floats and Bonfires

Boats, Floats and Bonfires

The 10th Annual Ipswich Illumination

October 5, 2019

Keith Attenborough

Ok - so you’re a paddler and you get a call that ends when you accept an invite to hop into your boat, push off into the Ipswich River with a load of firewood, in the dark, without lights, paddle up to a float that’s got a pretty good sized bonfire going on it, reach over the side (a really stable position), put more wood on the fire, then sneak away. 

Welcome to the floating fire crew of the Ipswich Illumination, the team of volunteers who get together to light up the river for all of the Ipswich Illumination attendees to enjoy.  

This key part of the Illumination starts much earlier in the year when a volunteer core team makes sure the floats are in good shape, repairing and replacing as needed, and gathering up the firewood needed to keep 16+ separate fires burning bright for the three to four hours.

Illumination day for the fire crew starts with the early high tide.  A small group hauls the floats out of storage and down to the Ipswich town ramp.  Each set up consists of the float itself (topped with cement board), a cinder block anchor, four half blocks to support the burn barrel and the burn barrel.  

Here’s a good shot of a float - the fire’s just been lit

All of this gear is loaded onto the mothership, an all aluminum, flat bottomed, squared stern craft with a full width loading ramp for a bow.  The crew boards and heads up to the lagoon to deploy the floats and set up the burn barrels. Several of the floats are towed further upriver by a skiff which can handle the shallow water above the lagoon.

Once the floats are set, the fire starter, kindling and initial load of logs are put in place and covered against the elements, awaiting the grand illumination.

That evening the full crew shows up in kayaks, a few canoes (yeah!) and a SUP. 

Ready to go to work - note the lawn chair

They spread out to light the fires and then keep them blazing until 9pm.

Kayaks can load wood too…

That takes a bit of firewood, so the fire crew boats spend their time circulating between the fire floats and the mothership, which serves as a floating wood resupply station.  This can be “interesting”, with no lights, as the tide goes out, the water gets shallow and the rocks come to the surface. Bouncy, bouncy.

The “Mothership” - firewood resupply point. If you look hard, you can just make out a kayak picking up wood on the left, by the red light.

And the results are spectacular…

Ipswich River - Illuminated

It’s not over when the fires go out.  The next morning, a small crew has the fun task of catching the high tide (6am), running up the river and pulling all of the floats, blocks and barrels out of the river onto the mothership, then offloading them onto the trailer and trucks and hauling them back to storage, ready to start the cycle again.  

A lot of work?  Sure. Worth it?  Absolutely! So thanks to Ipswich Cultural Council and the Town of Ipswich for putting on this event, and thanks to the Illumination fire crews who keep the river fires burning.

Ipswich Illumination Dragon