Besides the times I sing along to ‘The Lonely Island’ – I rarely step foot on any type of boat.  When I was in preschool,  one of my teachers had a little 15′ boat he’d take us little tykes out on; it was honestly one of the highlights of my childhood.  A group of 15 kids would go out in the middle of the Bay and have story time; but the older I got, the more seasick I became and started to avoid smaller boats like the plague.

My body has a weird habit of internalizing my movements during the day and replaying them at night, and even if I was on a Ferry – I would wake up in the morning, feeling like my body was rocking to and fro. Last summer for the 4th of July, I went out in Santa Barbara on a friends boat and had to jump ship 30 minutes in because being in the cold water was preferable to feeling sea sick.  Long story short, I’ve essentially sworn off boats of all shapes and sizes.

TWel, that all changed last weekend when I cruised down to Newport with some of my good friends for some fun in the summer sun.  Harmonic Productions, the promotional team that runs HEAR, BASK,and Damaged Goods, has been throwing Overboard boat parties on the famed Tiki Boat in Newport Harbor for the past few summers.

Los Angeles was in the midst of a 100+ week long heat wave and being outside wasn’t exactly fun.  Down in Newport the weather was a gorgeous 85 and sunny, a few clouds but overall amazing weather to sail around the harbor.  The timing could not have been better.

The Tiki Boat has a fully stoked bar on the bottom level, a DJ booth, dance floor and there were a few booths to sit and relax in if you’re into that type of thing.  But between the deep house jams, lively conversation and run ins with friends both new and old – that wasn’t a very likely scenario.  The upper deck had a large observation area and ample space outside for us to mingle and enjoy some sunshine. The cruise lasted for five crazy fun hours and we were making friends up and down the harbor; there were a few little kid moments that reminded me of being on the school bus and making faces at the people passing by.  But instead of faces, it was peace signs, good vibes and fresh dance moves.

I was lucky enough to have several different groups of friends in attendance, which FYI was kept to a very low number so we could get everyone on the boat.  Maybe 250 tickets were sold for the event, and that’s being generous. But even if you didn’t know anyone when you got on the boat, when you left you had some brand spanking new friendships to show for yourself.  Everyone that was involved, from the promotional team, to the DJs, to the bartenders and back to the fun loving, trouble making crowd in attendance – helped make that event as fabulous as it was.  I can’t wait to go back for the party next year!