A charter boat company has vowed to assemble a fleet for the traditional Christmas Boat Parade in less than two weeks.

UberVida announced that it would hold the event between 6pm and 8pm on December 18 in Hamilton Harbour and wanted to recruit other boats to join in the celebrations.

Denis Owen of UberVida said that almost 20 boats had already signed up and that it was hoped to recapture some of the magic of the biennial event.

Mr Owen added: “We had been going to the boat parade for years and we absolutely love it, but no one has put it on for a couple of years.

“Last year I wanted to try something, but everything got locked down on December 8 because of Covid-19, especially for boats.

“I figured that I should try again this year and we have had a fantastic response so far.”

Mr Owen first contacted charter boats to see if they would be interested in taking part but found that many were closed for the off season.

But after he spread his appeal about the event on social media several said they would join the fleet.

Mr Owen said: “We have a couple of big boats but there are a lot of private boats.

“Owners have called us – they do this every year and decorate for Christmas anyway, so that has been really cool.

“This is our first time attempting anything like this, but I’m hoping people are going to have time to decorate their boats and people are going to want to come out and look.

“We might not be able to get back to the spectacular level it was before Covid this year, but hopefully it is something we can build back up again.”

Mr Owen added that the public had been pleased by news of the event’s return.

He said: “We’ve had so many messages, not just from people who want to put their boats in but people who want to watch it. We have had a lot of really good reactions.”

He said he was optimistic that the event would not be hindered by Covid-19 regulations and highlighted that participants would be “bubbled” on their boats.

Mr Owen said: “We are not organising anything on land, so we are just asking people to maintain their social-distancing when they come to watch.

He said that UberVida would not charge anyone involved in the event, but the firm was selling tickets on the firm’s boat and another vessel for spectators with a valid SafeKey who wanted to be closer to the action.

Mr Owen added: “Hopefully the weather will be good and people can come out and watch it, socially distanced.”

Anyone interested in taking part should e-mail ubercharters@gmail.com or call 236-2222.

Participants will be given a number and form up in numerical order before following a route across the harbour.