TalesOfTheSevenSeas

LOL so I take it this was rather naieve of me, eh Captain?!! LOL You da boss! You know me, always hoping for diplomatic solution.

Hey Coastie, I was hoping you'd respond to this. Do you have any recommendations as to what might be a good way to proceed? Should we approach the CG in a supportive, helpful way and let them know we'd heard rumors and would like to know what's up so that we can work with them? Or should we just sit tight and see what happens? Got any recommendations?

Yeah but the Royaliste wasn't there two years ago and only recently was armed with 5 big arse guns, LOL. Just last Friday, a CG ship pulled up along side twice and took photos. We were kinda wonderin' what's up with that. Ya know.... I'm thinking that if this is to come to pass, that probably the way to deal with it is to talk to the Coast Guard or Harbor Patrol and ask what is up BEFORE it goes into effect. That way we could present ourselves as supportive and cooperative. Hopefully presenting the Royaliste and crew with a sense of good will, cooperation and understanding of the circumstances. My guess is that they won't eliminate them entirely, but you'll have to be on the roster for an event, in which case we want to make sure we don't get squeezed out and that we've got all the proper B.S. paperwork filed. Now what about outside the Golden Gate? Open sea is a different ball game, correct?

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!! Say it ain't so!!! I bet it's a matter of the Coast Guard wanting to have all cannons under tight control in a post 9-11 Bay Area. We probably look/sound like a public risk. Remember they photographed us Friday? I'm betting, that they would like to see all sea battles scheduled with organizations like Sail SF and just some sort of regulation going on so they know when the booms are coming.

Nyre, it's good to hear from you- we've been thinking about you and Captain Jack and hoping everyone is hanging in there OK. Sure, you're welcome to cast Nyre the figurehead too! I will have lots of photos and there is a link were you can order a parade video of the event on-line afterwards. I'll post it later for anyone interested. Lady Elaina, the first parade for the Land Shark is next weekend, Sunday Dec. 7th for the San Jose Holiday Parade in San Jose CA. It will also be in the Dublin CA St. Patrick's Day Parade in March and Carnaval San Francisco in May. Maybe others. I'd love to see photos of your float!! The Land Shark is nearly complete, except for the bowsprit, which is waiting on the arrival of the figurehead before it can be attached. I don't have photos because it is POURING rain here, so it's all under tarps. There are now electric lights in glass lanterns on the back cabin on either side of the door. The name LAND SHARK is on the back of the cabin. The cherubs are mounted on the back cabin. All the railings are up and mounted. All the painting, excepting minor touch-ups is complete. The ship's wheel is up, the mast/crows nest is done, but disassembled under the tarps. The cannons have been assembled and tested. I filled my whole house with smoke tonight... LOL they work pretty good!! Bob has been working very hard on the Land Shark. As you can see by this photo, he's now become a martyr...

Did you guys hear about that chemical spill in Arizona? A truck full of liquified Viagra wrecked in Tucson along I-10....

Yeah, the Captain is passionate about his ship, eh?!! Thanks, E.P. I'm happy about how it's turning out. I really didn't know when I started this if it would work well or not and it's really a thrill to see it working out OK. I 've also never built anything even close to this size before, so that's kinda cool too. Now's the fun part where it all comes together! woohoo!!

Awesome... thanks Deacon for the directions. I'll point Royaliste towards them and he can decide what he'd like to do. He did want to produce some reproductions of the figurehead. El Pirata, I should have photos of the finished Land Shark up at the end of this weekend if everything goes according to plan. So far we're on schedule and everything is looking good. It's looking pretty much like the photos at the end of the web page right now, because the last part of the work is completing the pieces for the assembly. Building the rails, painting them, assembling the mast etc. But I've got almost everything done, just have to put it all together now. I found a battery operated "candle" among some christmas novelties that will go in the bowsprit lantern. I found two electrical "candles" that can plug into the generator and will light the lanterns I have hanging on either side of the aft cabin door.

Thanks gang- Saber deserves the credit for finding this one. Me honey did good, eh? Dorian, from looking at similar swords on-line, this one appears [/i] to date to the mid to late 1800's, but we don't know for sure. I'm taking it up to Royaliste to let him have a look at it and he may be able to tell me more when he sees it. If it appears that the loosness could potentially cause damage to the bone grip or another part of the sword, I'll definitely have it done by a swordsmith. Otherwise, if nothing is likely to be harmed, I'll leave it as is. As you said, it is quite sturdy, which is why the weight is so surprising. It looks like a heavy piece, but when you pick it up, it weighs next to nothing. It's actually kind of surprising, the first time you lift it. It's light as a feather. There are no nicks on the blade at all, that would indicate combative use, but then again who knows? I'll post anything Royaliste has to say after he sees it.

I want to post a special thank-you to the following people as patrons of the Land Shark's figurehead, which was just purchased this morning. Captain Jack Nyre & Royaliste Originally, Royaliste offered to allow us to use Lady Liberte, the figurehead from his ship on the Land Shark for our first parade. As the figurehead of the Royaliste is a one-of-a-kind, hand-carved work created by an artist from a maritime museum, I was both overwhelmed by Royaliste's generosity and absolutely petrified that something might happen to the figurehead. That's where Nyre and Captain Jack stepped in. They offered to make a casting of the Royaliste's figurehead and reproduce it for the Land Shark. They made a long drive to the ship over the course of two weekends and bought the materials out of their own pockets. In the end, the methods we tried didn't have the desired result. So this morning, despite their family's recent personal loss, Jack and Nyre contacted me to let me know that they'd purchased the lovely mermaid figurehead you see in the images below. Tremendous thanks to all three of you. *giant hugs all around!!* You guys have got way above and beyond on this one! The figurehead is being named "Nyre" after her "Mum".

The sword arrived yesterday. It's pretty neat. It is very intricate and it is a very attractive piece. I was very surprised by how light weight it is. It is almost the weight of a modern fencing foil. I'm guessing it's a dress sword? Not actually used in action, but I really don't know. There are no marks on the blade that would indicate it was ever used for anything but appearances. Royaliste, I'm hoping you can tell me more about it when you see it. I'll bring it with us next time. The hilt needs to be tightened up as the parts are a bit loose and wiggly. The bone grip is lovely. No cracks or dryness and it has darkened with age. There are twisted spirals of what appears to be bronze inlaid into the grip. The details are the best part about it. The more you look at it, the more you see. Someone put a lot of creativity and care into the hilt design and it is quite lovely. On one side, there is a shield, that has two very tiny holes in it, as if an emblem or an initial was attached there. No idea what it might have been.

I was planning to do the naming party as soon as the construction is complete. Can't name a half finished ship! Yeah I'm kind scared to pour anything liquid on the Land Shark and if the bottle doesn't break on the first try, it's supposed to be bad luck. I'm not sure what to do about that aspect of it. Maybe we could play it safe by just drinking a toast and pouring one into the Land Shark rather than breaking the bottle on her hull.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!! Paint fumes n' rum!!! Now ye' know why I'm out there all day!!!!!!!!!

LOL , But what more could ye' ask for Saber, than a wife who takes up sailing? And on a tall ship no less?!! I don't hear the Peanut Gallery complainin' on the weekends we head to the Royaliste!!! El Pirata, we looked into polyurethane, but at $30 per quart and 17' of Land Shark to paint. Enamel would have been rigid and might have cracked and flaked when the Land Shark was transported. We went with a base coat of Behr Aqua Acrylic Gripper Primer, which sticks to slick surfaces and provides an absorbent surface. Then we painted with Behr exterior laytex house paint. It worked great, but our biggest problem has been the damp weather in the mountains. For a while, with the first coats, we had to use a blow dryer to get it to stick! The gold takes a couple of coats more to cover than the brown. Funny thing about that gold paint. Mosquitos are attracted to it and I got a whole bunch of them stuck in it by their feet!! So if you look closely at the yellow, you can see bugs! LOL! Hmmmm.... perhaps someday, an archaeologist is going to dig up the Land Shark, and when they find the holes drilled in the bottom, they will speculate about what sort of mysterious pagan religious ritual it was used for. Then they can clone my family from the DNA in the mosquitos that bit us and the Land Shark will become a virtual time capsule! And then... hmmm... perhaps I'm reaching a bit, eh?!!!!

Thanks El Pirata! OK here's the latest. I'm going to wait to take a photo until we've got the paint dry on the railings and everything is in place. We're nearly done!! The railings were a bit more difficult to do than we expected, but we have them all assembled and painted. As soon as the paint is dry they'll go on the ship. The mast, yardarm and crows nest are complete, assembled and are looking great. I made a mistake calling them PVC. They are black ABS piping. They are sitting on my deck, waiting while we figure out how to attach the mast to the Land Shark. It looks like we'll just build a box at the base. We were unable to find a fitting that was deep enough to use as a base. We had a couple of mishaps- One of the cherubs became a "fallen angel" when it tumbled off my deck rail and broke off it's wings! So I'll be making a replacement. The second was when the ship's wheel fell over and a thin piece of the finish wood broke off the back side of the wheel. That was repairable though and fortunately, the damage was limited to the back side of the wheel. I finally found the elusive letter "D" that I needed! So I have all the letters for LAND SHARK now. We have the wood painted to cover the motor hole and will put that on as soon as it is dry and put the letters over it. All but two of the window panes are painted and ready to go. I'll finish the other two this week. So we're almost there, mostly just assembly and touch-ups

Absolutely!! Bring out the "inner pirate" in your old boat!!! Do you have an old boat that you might turn into a parade float?!! If you do, I'd love to see photos of it's transformation!

We had a perfect day for painting which has been a rare occurance up here in the forest. Sun, light breezes and paint drying beautifully. I think it must have had something to do with Iron Bess, as she said she would put in a good word for us for sunny weather. It was supposed to rain according to earlier predictions and instead, we had a Disney quality sunny day, with paint drying like magic! (Many thanks to Bess for putting in a good word with Uncle Walt!!) I put the final coat on the hull and tomorrow will completete the trim. We bought the last of the 2x4's and will put the remaining railings on tomorrow. We also bought the PVC for the mast and the bowsprit. I think we might even finish tomorrow if all goes well. Then we can enjoy the Thanksgiving weekend without the pressure of having to finish. All that's left after this is the skirting, the sheet for the sail and the holiday decor. It's actually looking very cute and after today, the paint looks much better. I'll have photos at the end of the weekend. Black Deacon, I can't make it seaworthy again because I officially took it out of commission with the DMV. It was offically "junked" so that it could be made into a parade float. We've also drilled holes in the bottom of it to allow for drainage. We get a lot of rain up here in the Santa Cruz Mountains and I would have it full of water in no time, out in the open like it is. Endkaos, the trailer is now all brown to blend in. We'll have metalic blue skirting, typical of most parade floats. all around the trailer. I'd like to make a "wave" out of chicken wire covered with cotton and spray painted, but I don't think it will get done for this first parade.

And whoooooooooooooooooooo's fault might the smell be, eh?!!! :) *hands the captain a mop*

Speaking o' receptacles.... damn Captain! What happened in here? Ye flooded the bilge!!! Better get a grip on yer...eh... "dirk" lad!!!

*'Quill, pulls out her "dagger". (She always pulls out a "dagger" in the privy rather than a "dirk" because "dirk" could so easily be misspelled with catastrophic consequences by a wench who often types too fast for her own good.) So with "dagger" in hand, LOL, she begins to carve a challenge to all the other pirates to answer...* So ye' think ye' were born to be a pirate eh? So how do ye' know? I know I was born ta be a pirate cuz me Mum powdered me bum with gunpowder!!! ARRRRR!!!

There is also a good nautical shop right on the waterfront, directly across from the Cannery in SF. I'll have to get the name next time I'm down that way. They have some wonderful scale models, compasses, tall ship art, nautical bottle openers and key chains etc. Things in all price ranges. I've purchased a wonderful old-style compass, a scale model of the Adventure pirate ship, a tall ship calendar and a metal canon that I put on my key ring. What kinda pirate wench would I be if I didn't have a cannon on me purse, eh?

Nope, same videos, I've just learned how to use Premiere to grab video captures out of our .AVI files. Here is a page of all of them plus Captain Jack's infamous #8 photo: Royaliste in Battle

Arrrrr yer sick too, eh Ryanne? Misery love comp'ny lass!! Ill 'Quill lay in her bed Bottle o' Pepto by her head Glad just this once at least T'wasn't aboard the Royaliste For had she been, one thing be certain At sea her belly woulda been hurtin' And she'd not lookt like much of a pirate girl leanin' o're the railin' havin' t' hurl! And it would be embarassin' anyhow T' pull into port with barf on our bow! So just this once when me belly say ouch I'll keep me arse home on ye' olde couch!

*laughs so hard that Thera-Flu comes out her nose!!!*