OUTINGS : Sea Dog Paddle : A laid-back parade at Ventura Harbor features gaily decorated canoes, kayaks and other human-powered craft.

For those who can fit in another Christmas tradition, one is emerging at Ventura Harbor, launched by a maverick group of local sea dogs.

The Paddle Parade, now in its second year, is a laid-back alternative to the harbor’s long-established Parade of Lights. Both take place Saturday.

The newer event features human-powered craft, including canoes, kayaks, pedal boats and dories, or any boat operated without sails or engines.

“It’s more humble,” said Carolyn Pidduck of Ventura, comparing the Paddle Parade to the more elaborate Parade of Lights. “They will have live Santas and thousands and thousands of lights. We like to go with a more natural tradition.”

Warren Glaser of Ojai shed all modesty when he said, “It’s the only parade of its kind in the state of California. The time will come when it will be a very big deal.”

Half a dozen years ago, Glaser, a Nordhoff High School teacher and owner of OAARS kayak concession at the harbor, was the first person to enter a small boat in the Parade of Lights, resulting in the creation of a dinghy class for the event.

“We weren’t sure if they meant the boats or the people,” Glaser deadpanned recently at a parade organizers meeting at the harbor.

Last year--in the wake of complaints about the slow pace of the small boats from what he termed “the yachtees”--Glaser pioneered the paddle parade and persuaded 13 fellow oarsmen and women to join him.

It was a hit, from the participants’ point of view.

“You didn’t know the other paddlers, but the camaraderie was wonderful,” said Pidduck, an oarswoman for the Hokuloa Outrigger Club entry. “People lit up their arms so you saw them as they dipped the oars. They lit up the kayaks inside so the bodies glowed. It was beautiful.”

Seeing the chance to set a course free of small craft, the Parade of Lights this year jettisoned the dinghy class. But it’s all right with the paddlers, who say they won’t miss the smell of diesel fuel.

And they certainly won’t miss what they call “cutthroat” competition for awards that apparently gets bad enough that judges for the Parade of Lights are purposely not announced, according to a spokeswoman for Harbor Village.

“We don’t give the names,” she said. “Our losers can be real poor sports.”

Meanwhile, the paddlers will choose their own winner, except for a “people’s choice” award, which will be determined by spectators.

The parade, co-sponsored by Harbor Village, OAARS and Bay Queen Enterprises, will contribute a portion of the entry fees to the Boys & Girls Club of Ventura.

It will probably have about 20 boats, Glaser predicted, although a few days before the event not many paddlers had officially entered the race.

“The whole thing is somewhat spontaneous,” said its founder.

Glaser himself had not yet planned his decorating scheme, except that it involved a live Christmas tree, a small kayak and some sort of costume.

“I go and rummage through thrift shops and go to Bonnie’s and see what I come up with,” he said.

The low-budget nature of the event had some influence on Jeffrey Johnson, a landscape architect from Carpinteria who had traditionally been a participant in the Parade of Lights. This year he decided to borrow a kayak and enter the Paddle Parade.

“It gets real expensive to do the sailboat,” he said, adding that he spent $450 last year to decorate his own vessel for the Parade of Lights.

Though less spectacular, the paddle event “looks like it will be a lot of fun,” he said.

Or, as Pidduck described the effect of the small craft entourage: “It’s your hearts that light them up.”

HOLIDAYS AT THE HARBOR

Harbor holiday festivities Saturday include caroling, clog dancing, the Paddle Parade and the Parade of Lights, all at Ventura Harbor. The schedule of events are as follows:

* 4 p.m.: Caroling by Boys & Girls Club of Ventura; clogging by Seaview Cloggers.

* 5 p.m.: Paddle Parade follows the shoreline, leaving from Bay Queen dock.

* 6:15 p.m.: Parade of Lights in the central harbor.

Directions: From Harbor Boulevard, take Spinnaker Drive half a mile to Harbor Village entrance. Turn right into parking lot. Additional parking in beachfront lot. All events are free.