Pirates in Paradise 2008 - Key West, Fl
(Photo: Callahan Digital Art)
(Photo: Callahan Digital Art)
Chapter 3rd - The first full day of the event, where
various happenings that were supposed to be repeated but never were are
explained - like Mission attending the Captain's Meetings and the Flag Procession.
Various happenings that were never meant to happen are explained - like
sewing pants, &c.
12/4/08 Today I arrived a few minutes late for the captain's meeting only to find several members of the Mercury crew already in attendance. Not wanting to overload the meeting with Mercury folks, I will sleep in tomorrow. The Captain's meeting was run by Harry (left) and was light and flaky. The weapons inspection followed, and since I have no weapon to be inspected - so to speak - I didn't stick around for that one. So I staggered over to the site, which had grown considerably overnight.
(Photo: Thatchers)
It was the most gorgeous day yet (see left), with a light breeze, lots of sun and a
nice light cotton-fabric friendly temp.
I arrived sans three top buttons on my trousers which you will have to guess at the reason being. (You guessed wrong, I can almost guarantee it.) Not wanting to be the first inadvertently pantsed pirate, I sought assistance which arrived in the form of Silas Thatcher's charming wife Lady Constance. Although she agreed to sew two of the lost buttons on while I was still wearing my slops, I thought it best not to have a needle near my nethers and so I removed said slops. Thank God for those loooong shirts and talllllll socks. Lady Constance proved to be just what the pants (and your ship's surgeon) needed and I was good to go within minutes. I'm not surprised since Lady Constance has done such an absolute bang-up job putting all her kids into good-looking gear for this event.
(Photo: Mission)
Lady Constance
(Photo: Thatchers)
Silas with Miles, Zach, Ryan & Andrew
The Thatchers came self-contained with all their food and necessaries. They are
already talking about ways to remake their gear (which is pretty decent already) even better.
Anyone who thinks the only way to get the non-PC folks to change is by
being condescending needs to come to Key West. Several new people to the hobby
are here who have been quite solicitous and interested in ways they can improve
their kit. (Laid back old Key West is just right for this.) The Thatchers wisely
brought an RV where the non-PC items needed to keep several kids fed, watered,
entertained and happy. They also set up a cool
little encampment with two tents facing each other and a fly in between so
that the kids can sleep out. I understand this set-up actually belongs to Captain
Bo of the WTF who couldn't make PiP, but loaned it to
them. Next to this is the smallest pup tent I have yet seen. It had a
stuffed raccoon atop of it when I arrived which I find sort of funny.
(Photo: Nicole Andreyko Callahan Digital Art)
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(Photo: Madam Grace)
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Above: The flag procession. It was decided that the pirates would all go from the encampment into the fort carrying their flags. The Bone Island Buccaneers lead the way. Above right: some of the Mercury crew with their borrowed flag. Captain Jim holds the flag while talking with Lily Alexander. Mission no doubt discusses something completely trivial with Captain Spike of Bone Island.
(Photo: Thatchers)
The day was pretty slow - in fact it was sort of a warm up day as was
explained at the Captain's meeting and we spent it hanging around at the
Sealkie's Hide eating munchies, sewing your surgeon's pants, making food
and discussing philosophy. At least I discussed philosophy, primarily with
Patrick Hand and Captain Jim. In fact, we did so while rolling cartridges
for the next day's engagement.
The discussion ranged from politics to steampunk, guns, bikinis, global warming, the Pub, Stynky's phone message from last year, bikinis, central Florida, gas stations, bikinis and other things which I am no doubt forgetting. (But which are no less irrelevant as a result.)
(Photo: Mission)
Jim had brought a second oar house (for one oar house is never enough)
this year with the intent of putting it at some
complex angle in relation to his primary abode. (He explained this angle
in great detail, an exercise which must be left to the reader as I never
got the gist of it, despite two attempts.)
It turned out to be fortuitous that Jim hadn't been able to put up the second oar house (probably because he had to square the integration of the angle and multiply by pi, but had forgotten his calculator), so he donated it to Delana whose pup tent was not adequate to meet the new requirements for a period encampment this year. She is a people person and was unhappily pining away in the area designated for non-period tents - near the dumpster. So Delana is sleeping in the backup oar house, the gravity of which I do not think she appreciates a whit, God love her.
(Photo: Callahan Digital Art)
When I was (apparently re-)introduced to Dutch's girlfriend Grace, she assured
me that we had met at The '08 Blackbeard Festival in Hampton but I did not remember her. She is
a free lance photographer who does work for The Pyrate's Way
magazine. I watched sharp for an opportunity to say "Run along,
freelance" to her (You'll have to look that arcane one up yourself), but fortunately this never occurred.
Grace has been doing piracy gigs for eight years with Blackbeard's Crew in Hampton, Virginia, apparently much against the odds. The idea of women in pirate groups still apparently has pockets of dissidents, but she overcame this and is now an esteemed member. Apparently that crew has a fairly longish hazing period. If I got the stories right, she wound up sponsoring Dutch into the group (against her initial wishes). However, this meant he was basically her slave for a year, stepping and fetching as required. Along the way, they became an Item, so I suppose their situation really hasn't changed all that much.
Grace said she was looking for Poster Pirates either for the magazine or possibly for a calendar, so she has taken lots of pics. I have seen a few of them and they are quite nice.