TalesOfTheSevenSeas

Hey mates, I just created a topic for pirate stores in the Ports o' Call section... could one o' ye' do a write up on Teache's Hole? Sounds great, I've seen their website.

No pirate's visit to San Francisco is complete without a visit to 826 Valencia. Don't let the simple name fool you, this store is 100% pirate! 826 Valencia was started by the author of a best-selling book that wanted to give something back to his community. So with the proceeds from his book, he started a program that offers free writing workshops, seminars, tutoring and homework help, SAT coaching, classes on how to make greeting cards and even on how to write letters to the colleges you want to attend. All of this is offered to the children of San Francisco at no charge. What funds these programs is the pirate store that is in the streetfront of the building at 826 Valencia St. in San Francisco. Walk in the front door and you'll feel as if you just stepped aboard an old sailing ship. The wood is dark and heavy, there are pirate items for sale and ropes hang from the beams of the ceiling. But on first glance, there just doesn't seem to be that much stuff!! That's just it mates, at 826 Valencia, you have to PLUNDER it!! Suddenly, you notice that the walls and even the floor are full of doors, cubby holes and trap doors.... Forget everything the wench ye called Mamma taught ye about not touchin'! This be a pirate store and ye' must hunt fer the treasures!! You have to search throuch and explore- You may end up with a beautiful nautical box... or a drawer full of eyeballs! And watch out when ye head fer the ship's purser to pay fer yer plunder.... the register be booby trapped! There is a large box hidden in the beams and filled with soft cotton mop heads! The kids frequently spring the booby trap on unsuspecting adults, and "mop" them!! When in San Francisco, be sure to visit 826 Valencia and tell Yosh Han, the lady running it that I sent ye!

A mirror image says ye!! ARRRRRRRRRRR!!! I says we keelhaul the bloody scoundrel that t'would do such a thing!! Are ye' with me mates?!! GET A ROPE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sounds like a great trip Bilgemonkey!! I was just out that way a little bit ago for the Hampton Blackbeard Festival in Hampton VA. I loved the area and enjoyed reading about your trip! Any thoughts of coming to the Blackbeard Festival next year? We're planning to be there in force again... hint, hint, nudge, nudge!

Hmmmm.... *scratches head* I guess you could call me a "seafaring-wench-in-training"??!! as I am learning aboard the Royaliste about the guns and how to use one's legs to fend off the dreaded sea wall when pulling into the slip! I love it, but as yet I am very much a rookie with a loooooooooong long, long, long, way to go. My husband was an avid sailor, who gave up his boat, (26' sailboat) his home and his job in Oregon, five years short of retirement, to marry me. (the poor man was possessed by a demon we believe!) Although a recent wrist injury (arm wrestling machine, but that's another story) has kept him from doing much hoisting and hauling aboard the Royaliste, he's healing and should be in better shape after physical therapy. He has said that two of the best times of his life were when we sailed on the Nile in the area of Elephantine Island in Aswan, and a few weeks back, when the cannon clogged during a sea battle between the Royaliste and the Hawaiian Chieftain, and he was asked to take her helm for a few passes.

Look's like a fine crew ye' have thar Redbeard!!

The Port Royal Privateers have a nice costuming tips page with brief, basic info here: PRP's costuming tips I agree, trying to costume as Blackbeard would require a lot of research, and major bucks. You'll probably want to start out just bein' a pirate. I usually suggest a pair of solid-color or striped drawstring pants and a basic renaissance shirt. Add a headscarf and a waist sash or a wide belt. Another way to avoid buying a renaissance shirt is to search the thrift stores for a horizontally striped shirt in red or blue stripes. Some of those look OK if you're trying to be very conservative. For shoes, real pirates were barefoot on ship, but it's a bit risky to do that. You can generally get away with any simple leather lace-up shoes. Leather sandals will work too. If you want to invest in a pair of pirate boots, the best deal I've found on pirate boots is here: Hot Sexy Wear Scoll half way down the page past all the kinky boots and you'll find some very nice boots reasonably priced. I have them and love them. The tops fold over for a great pirate look. Then you're ready to go! To give it more of a look, you can accessorize by hanging things on your belt like a tankard, whip, shackles, jailer's keys, etc. What you DON'T want to do for a costume is by a pirate halloween costume. If it comes in a bag it's not what you want. Trust me on this one. If you want an elaborate costume, a few stores have theatrical rentals that are nice. Emphasis on some. Our group has loaner gear available for people who need it. The nice thing about it is that once started, people begin to donate their old gear as they grow with the group and improve their costumes. Here are some little photos showing loaner gear assembled from thrift store finds- Nuthin' fancy but a great place to start!!

As a sub-post to my comments on the Johnny Depp T-shirt, a friend pointed out to me that that seller had 3 negative feedback comments for selling fake knock-off items with iron-on decals.

The shirt that The Royaliste has is a promo shirt... we got them when we did the premiere performance. That style aren't sold on the open market. But fear not... there are more of them coming up for sale on Ebay and the prices are becoming more reasonable. A few weeks ago I saw one go for $75. POTC T-Shirts on Ebay At the bottom is a veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery cool looking Captain Jack Sparrow T-shirt I haven't seen before... drat n' damnation I wish that was a size small or medium!!! *bites knuckles in frustration*

Nope... I got it from another Ebay seller, Grendel's Cave that I've been very happy with. Here's one just like mine up for bids now. (I dyed my scabbard black)Naval Cutlass - Grendel's Cave I have purchased from gparrot also, but wasn't to thrilled when I had a defective item and was expected to pay for the shipping on the replacement. To gparrot's credit, he did split this with me when I complained, but most sellers will ship a replacement at thier own expense, since the buyer has paid the first shipping and the return shipping. I really like my cutlass and get lots of compliments on it. Kids get wide-eyed and say... "Wow, is that a REAL SWORD?!!!"

Elainiac, you should have an email with info now. Let me know if it didn't arrive. -Claire

By Neptune's gonads... this is truly amazing. Here are the final prices for some of the POTC items on Ebay. Gads... I'm in shock. Click here... but have a swill o' rum first

Mad Maudlin, nay... I'm afraid that I've no McRevy's in my family and I 'tho I be a-hatin' to disappoint ye' lad, if me hair looks red, 'tis yer computer settings... Fer I be a blonde!!

I just did my first choreographed sword fight for the POTC premiere here and I'm looking forward to many more! I also have had a few months of foil fencing, which is an entirely different experience altogether. I had to put that aside for work reasons unfortunately, but hope to pick it up again at a later date!

Holy cats mates... Captain Jack Sparrow's hat is at $4,827.77 on Ebay!! Anyone care to make a wager as to how high it will go?!!! Click here to see the auction

And here be me weeeeee bit o' the Pirates of the Caribbean treasure, in all it's superficial tin glory! Me silly treasure coins n' painted lava rocks don't look half bad mounted like that, eh?!! Ye' know what they say, one pirates junk is another pirate's treasure!

Turns out my website's server has been having a bit of trouble today and was down for several minutes this afternoon. I called support and it is up now and should be running smoothly again. Sorry about that... give it one more try.

Sounds great Captain Teach! I'll watch for your email!

Chhaya, I'm not sure why you got that error, it is working just fine for me! Try pasting in the URL or typing it in: http://www.talesofthesevenseas.com

We've got a wide age range - 16 to 50's and some in their 20's.

Braydon aka Cap'n Teach, If you'd like to have a pirate gang to hang with, we'd love to have you with us. We're based in northern CA and you might get more mileage out of one of the southern CA guilds in the long run, but we'd love to have you join us in Ojai. Drop me an email at talesofthesevenseas@hotmail.com and I can add you to our mailing list and fill you in on details of what we're up to. As far as costuming, we do have loaner gear if you'd like to borrow some for your first venture out or, as Stynky suggested, the plunder section is good, Ebay and the merchants list at NQG.

How many of you are planning to attend the Goldcoast Pirate Faire at Lake Casitas in Ojai CA? Pirate Faire Website Tales of the Seven Seas will have an encampment. I would love to meet some of you in person! Additionally, if there are any crewless/guildless pirates looking for a hoarde to hang out with, we always welcome new pirates to join us!

Earlier this month we did the media premiere in the south Bay Area for POTC- We had 24 pirates meeting and greeting guests, then we intro'd the movie with a skit which had 8 pairs of pirates involved in a mass sword fight. Next month we're sailing out for a day of terrorizing the innocent on the SF Bay aboard the Royaliste, with about 18 pirates in costume, a barbeque full of feastables and plenty of gunpowder!! Then in Sept, we have a couple of tall ships visiting the Bay Area that we'll work with from the pier meeting guests and bringing them to the ship and we'll finish the month off with an encampment at the Gold Coast Pirate Faire in Ojai!!

On roses, so far I haven't found anything about pirates having used them, but Tudor roses were painted on the sails of the British Royal Navy... hmm... does that mean that if you wear a grateful dead shirt you're saying "death to the English?!!"

Another really interesting one was Bartholomew Roberts. The initials at the bottom stand for "A Martinican's Head" and "A Barbadian's Head." and here is REAL one from the 19th century!! Is this cool or what, eh?!!