Niko

Ah the one about a block from Duval? I know the place all to well. I'll have to stop by and give it a look.

Then welcome aboard the Mercury, Lad. Awesome. Look forward to seeing you guys.

PiP '07 was my first full blown pirate event and I heard scuttlebutt in the campsite about being on a cannon crew. Since I was writing the surgeon's journal, I decided to do anything I could related to the event so I would have something to talk about. I asked Mercury Quartermaster William Red Wake how to get on one of the crews. He told me to go to the fort about an hour before the battle began (2pm) and hang around where the cannon were. Like you, I was looking for some sort of commitment, so I asked someone there (probably Harry) about firing a cannon. As a result, I was paired up with Mark - a local volunteer - who taught me how to fire a cannon in the field. You can read my (brief) account of that here. Since there are cannon in the field and in the fort, there are several opportunities to get on a crew. As vintagesailor said, the Viceroy has several on the fort wall. They fire them during the battle and at sunset. There are three battles and three sunsets resulting in lots of opportunities. You do have to be there early enough to get trained on your role in the crew (which varies - depending on how many people there are volunteering.) M.A. d'Dogge was in charge of the crew I was on last year - we had a team of five or six people (you can see my account of my '08 experience here.) It really is mostly just a matter of being around about an hour or so before battle from my experience. They're nearly always looking for volunteers. Alright cool. Thanks again for the help Mission.

Now, c'mon...it's the Keys! You just stand around long enough and wait until someone mentions that they're looking for cannoneers. (You're looking for organization where little exists. Come to think of it, I've never been to an event - even the more formally organized ones - where they had sign up sheets for cannon crews. Someone mentions that they're looking for cannon crew volunteers (they're always looking for cannon crew volunteers) and that they need to be somewhere that day at some time and it all just sort of happens.) I'm always on the watching end of cannon firings.

I live in Marathon. Yeah I can walk on pea rock and such fine but all day for multiple days might be too much for me to handle. Where in KW did you get the boots? Mind sharing? I'd more than willingly supply some powder but I'm not to sure if I'm old enough to buy it. I'm 19 now and when PiP rolls around I'll be 20. But if I can buy it I will be sure to do so.

I plan on attending but I don't have a crew or anything.

Its Key West. The only people that will look at you funny are the tourists and the people that haven't been here long enough to realize that everyone living on these islands are all a little crazy. ...Some more so than others... Like Crazy Lary or the Pirate guy that sells fish...or the bus stop cross dresser....The list goes on really.

Yeah I'm not aiming to be 100% PC here. Plus I think the drop fronts are like the coolest things ever lol. I looked around for a pair of rope sandals made from something like hemp but had no such luck. Would a pair of gurkees work? Or do any of you know of a place I can get a pair of decent rope sandals? And thanks for all the barefoot warnings everyone but I do have fairily leathery feet as me and my friends go "Bahamian" every so often. (I hate when my feet get all black and nasty though! ) So how do I go about getting on a cannon crew? And what all would I be doing? I'd love to fire a black powder gun! I've only fired conventional firearms. That would be cool do they have a website or some one I can contact? Thanks for all the help everyone! I really appreciate it! -Niko

I've lived in the Florida Keys for about 9 Years now and only heard about PiP a few years ago, but seeing as how I never had an outfit that wouldn't make me look like a fool to much more serious pirate folk I've never bothered going. This year though I am hell bent on going! So I'm now starting to actually buy the outfit I've always imagined (starting off small though ) And I'd thought I'd ask everyone's opinions of my choices of clothing and ask about PiP in general. So my clothing choices: The shirt The pants (I'm getting them in brown) I'm considering getting this with a brown hemp fabric. I'm considering going barefoot or in my kinos lol...I want a good pair of shoes or boots but I dont have the money to spend on them as of now. I'm also getting a belt and leather bottell from Leather Lore and a boarding axe and a dagger to arm myself. So anyone want to give me a rundown of PiP events and what to expect or how I should approch it? Maybe people I should seek out when I'm there that might be willing to show me around and stuff? I've checked out the website but I'm still kind of like "...huh?..." on the whole thing. Any questions, comments, critque, advice, or whatever are welcome! (Don't worry about hurting my feelings or anything now) -Niko

North of Key Largo at Manatee Bay, I am sure the bottom needs alot of work. There is no engine/outboard, other than that I don't know. I have no place to put it other than at anchor and what would I do with it since I already have a sailboat that is larger but small enough to comfortably day sail How big is the boat? I live in Marathon and I'm interested

Rather old thread I'm bringing up here but I would like to note I used a 1/2 pound of white beeswax and about 1/3 cup of hemp oil melted it down and brushed it on. It didn't seem to absorb as much as wanted it to so I a little bit more on the hat and threw it in the oven for a few minutes on low to melt the wax into the felt and then let it cool. The hat is hard but not too hard and the outside is water proof while the inside is still like normal felt which helps to absorb sweat from my big head. I love the damned thing.

If you come to Florida come to the Keys. I don't think it'd be worth it otherwise lol.

I would give so much to sail around on that little boat....