`Awesome!' say crowds as air & sea show soars

A flock of pelicans in the flight path.

But there was plenty more to come, from the roar of the strafing F-16 at full throttle, to the plume of red smoke left by a gently falling U.S. Army Golden Knights parachutist.

Judging from the crowds, the sighs and the cheers, the first day of the two-day event was a success, despite the 2 1/2-mile walk some had to endure from as far away as Holiday Park, the waits for the portable toilets, a few minor skirmishes with sprained wrists and heat stroke, one stabbing, and the blistering heat.

``Shade! We've got shade over here,'' yelled Richard Haggerty, 52, of an embroidery equipment salesman from Plantation. ``Get over here. We've got shade!''

It was by far the hottest commodity of the day, along with the beach showers -- with a crowd of bikini-clad bodies 15 deep.

``It's so hot, we came to cool off so we could go back and enjoy the show,'' said Barb Gervase of Coral Springs, in line with her two kids. ``I've never been down here before with this many people.''

Bicycles were another hot item, with hundreds of them locked and lined up against the beachfront fences.

A dejected Matt Moritz, manager of International Bicycle and Skate Shop on Sunrise Boulevard, watched helplessly as throngs of potential customers came and went without flashing a cent.

``Two weeks ago, State Farm told me I can't rent bikes anymore,'' he said, standing outside on the crowded sidewalk, arms folded. ``Last year, I was sold out of rentals by noon. Oh well, there's still a lot of flat tires and repairs.''

While the airplane pilots were attracting applause on the beach, pilots of in-line skates were attracting paramedics' attention a few hundred yards away.

One entirely unexpected twist were roller-skaters attempting in vain to cross the grated Intracoastal Waterway drawbridge at Sunrise Boulevard.

``I'm OK now,'' said one embarrassed young female skater, flashing a bandaged wrist to a volunteer cop. ``Thanks for the help!'' she said, before disappearing into the crowd.

A laughing Sofie Wiman, 24, of Weston, got about five feet onto the bridge before stopping short and making the precarious few steps back.

``I didn't know there was a real sidewalk right there or I would have been there from the start,'' she said. ``Ouch.''

``Yeah, we didn't expect that, but we've had several people falling on the bridge,'' said Pompano Beach police officer John Gill, who volunteered on bike patrol. ``There were a couple cases of heat stroke, falls and stuff, nothing major yet.''

The beach was a huge wall of people, with no room to spare. And in places, tensions ran high. Paramedics even took one beach stabbing victim to Broward General Medical Center.

``There was one robbery, but this crowd makes it tough on us,'' Gill said. ``They described three guys, one with long hair and a ponytail and another with a bandanna. What good does that do us in this mess?''

Jerry Pucillo and friends couldn't find a seat better than a piece of the pavement on Sunrise near the corner of State Road A1A. ``We thought we'd get on the beach in the sand, but I guess we didn't get here early enough,'' said the 34-year-old body-shop employee from Pembroke Pines.

``But, hey, who said these were bad seats,'' he said, referring to a tattooed young woman in the throng, standing just ahead. ``Can't beat these seats at all.''

Not far away, vendors were trying every tactic to make a sale.

Brad Tompkins was selling cameras and film. ``Take a picture of the traffic jam,'' he barked. ``It's only $7.50.''

The main attractions were the Blue Angels and the once top-secret B2 Stealth Bomber.

``Yeah, that's what I came for,'' said Haggerty, of Plantation. ``To see what my tax dollars are going for and to check up on them and make sure they're not fooling around with it.''

Seven-year-old Wayne Bernard of Margate cringed at the roar of a Fighting Falcon overhead.

``It hurts,'' he said, covering his ears and grinning. ``It's so loud I want to close my ears every time. . . . What I like about it is the airplanes look like the planes I have at home.''

``Cool!'' said Zach Roggin, 7, of Royal Palm Beach, as the Blue Angels did a unified 360-degree turn in the air.

``Awesome!'' chimed in Christopher Lowe, 10, sinking his feet into the sand.

``Holy cow! They're coming in upside down!'' Zach said.

Kurt Gallegos had a unique perspective on the crowds -- from the cockpit of an F-16.

``People were everywhere,`` said the U.S. Air Force pilot, who zipped over the crowd at 700 miles per hour. ``It had to be far more than a million.''