hurricane

The work is superb as always and much, much appreciated. I know how much time these things can take. Don't feel bad, I can't find typos in my own work, only others'. -- Hurricane

Writer that I am, "bretheren" should be "brethren". It doesn't have the middle 'e'. -- Huricane

Unfortunately, our crewe is not made of card givers, but men of action. Tomorrow, the mates cook the lasses a four course meal... Chocolate Dipped Strawberries Basil Tortellini Salad Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms (garlic, a little asiago cheese) Sailor's Chicken (with too many herbs and spices to mention, roasted on the BBQ) Garlic Mashed Potatoes Baked Alaska (flaming, of course) Appropriate Wines with each course, of course. I think we have 16 for dinner. That's VD Pyrates of the Coast style. Men, man yer bunks afterwards and drink plenty of fluids at dinner.

That's really cool that you figured out how to use the words "Jeff" and "safety" in the same sentence. Very witty, you! -- Hurricane As soon as new info comes up I will post it. Buccaneer Officer's for the event will be posted soon. Hear Ye, Hear Ye, Officer posting for Searle's Raid. The Company held a meeting at our School of the 16th Century this past weekend. Officers for our upcoming events were cussed and discussed. William Kunze: "AKA Capt. William" Captain of the Buccaneer Forces. Doug Pummel: Ensign and Safety Officer Jeff Johnson: "AKA Sgt Johnson" Sgt. of Musket and Safety Officer Brad Rivard: Gun Captain (yes we have cannons) and Safety officer Melissa Johnson: Head Camp Mistress We look forward to hosting all of you that have expressed interst and that are coming down for this event! If you have any further questions please feel free to email them to me. Your Humble Servent,

Fear not, Mission. The Catt & Fiddle will be coming beachside to join forces with the Silkie's place to help quench your thirst and cook up some of everyone's favorites. Let's see: 1. Not get sick again this year (two out of the last four, including last year). 2. Go beachside and set up our camp. 3. Take a dip in the waters there with Diosa. 4. Die in a horrendous duel on the beach there between Mary Read and the man who had challenged her man to a duel. 5. Continue to give my liver a much needed break. -- Hurricane

Wow! I haven't had a problem with them since I broke them in. After PiP roughed the bottoms up, they aren't slippery any longer. Before that I just learned to walk on the balls of the feet rather than the heel. I would imagine the owners or real pairs just did the same. Rubber just seems so modern to me -- can't bear to do it to mine. -- Hurricane

Diosa and I and perhaps some other crewe mates will be there Saturday all day. -- Hurricane

How to handle payments is always a personal choice. However, the fewer options you offer, the more doors you close to sales, until you limit your potential to draw new customers. We've used PayPal for years for piratephernalia.com and have never had any problems. For the few festivals we do we have a wireless terminal for credit card payments. The small monthly fee is easily offset by the fact that customers will tend to spend 50% more with a credit card than they will with cash. Again, we try not to close a single door to any customer, even if it costs us a bit on the sales side. -- Hurricane

Yes, it was great! Sorry, been down with the plague the past day or so. Damned vermon. -- Hurricane

I can't wait for mine. I had Sutlerjon make them with a shorter drill depth for 80 grains so I don't have to measure separately. Enough to prime and powder the gun. -- Hurricane

For those on the fence about going or who have never been, here's the video Conch TV did... Pirates In Paradise Promo -- Hurricane

That's not always so. I've been a member of various chambers in tourist areas for 15 years. I've served on committees and on the board and I can safely say that you only get as much out of them as you put into them. Being a member gets you in the directory and your event on the calendar, nothing else. Where you get the support (and sponsorships, in some cases) is by volunteering on the committees, serving on the board, attending meetings and networking. While the organization is politically bent and does have red tape, the friendships and business relationships you cut directly with other chamber members circumvent that. Our own group got many gigs and my business many jobs through this type of interaction. We even did a chamber funded tourism video that we jointly got funding for, both from chamber members and the city's hotel/motel tax cache. It's the old adage, "give and you'll get back many times over." I don't know of any chamber that will go out of its way to help an organization who just sends in a basic membership fee and expects the world from the organization. That's not what they do and it's not how they work. That said, that means a lot of time volunteering and working directly on chamber projects, attending meetings, listening to often dull speakers, being a dull speaker yourself, eating horrible lunches and listening to endless politics. This is, unfortunately, part of the game. -- Hurricane

It's just up the road from me and only $450 and I still wouldn't go. Now, if it had Kiera or Geoffrey... perhaps. But glorified extras? I don't think so. -- Hurricane

You're not alone. And you're not a dreamer if you actually accomplish some of the things you've been thinking about. 1. I think that's what drives us in life. Finding what fulfills us. It changes over time for some. And it is what keeps us growing. We don't all know what we were born to do. Often, our entire lives are consumed by the journey, and not necessarily by the destination. 2. I would rather be remembered than rich, that's for sure. I don't really think in terms of 200 years. I think more in terms of touching others I don't know and may never see again, whose life was touched by something I did. I remember once entertaining at a shelter. During the entire time, one war vet was writing - seemingly not paying attention. At the end of the performance, he handed me what he was writing. It was a poem, to me, about how much he appreciated taking the time to come to the shelter. Those are the moments that mean the most to me, whether or not it lasts a lifetime or beyond my lifetime. We touched each other's lives for that moment and then were changed ever so slightly because of it. 3. Yes. And I thought the very same. I was 19 at the time. And it touches you deeply at the time. For me, it went away in my 20s and 30s when I seemed like I had all the time in the world. But it has returned with a fervor now that I'm 50 and you find yourself on the backside of your lifespan. Time becomes precious again and you suddenly realized you have an awful lot to do before you can checkout of the hotel of life. -- Hurricane

Did I just get called a pig? Them's be fighting words and I will do my best to slaughter the likes of me crewe with all the indignity and dishonor a true pirate (or buccaneer) would. I will scratch, bite, kick in the groin, backside, hack, spit, poke and otherwise dispatch the enemy as quickly as possible. None of those namby-pamby fencing moves like I see. If the blood ain't there, me sticker needs sharpening it does. No worries Dogge, I am preparing me list of crewe members in the order they will practice with Diosa and I so we can get really good before we face one another and I meet my inevitable doom at her angry hands. That is my oath to you, sir! -- Hurricane (Voted "Most Likely To Leak in Swordplay")

Did I just get called a pig? Them's be fighting words and I will do my best to slaughter the likes of me crewe with all the indignity and dishonor a true pirate (or buccaneer) would. I will scratch, bite, kick in the groin, backside, hack, spit, poke and otherwise dispatch the enemy as quickly as possible. None of those namby-pamby fencing moves like I see. If the blood ain't there, me sticker needs sharpening it does. No worries Dogge, I am preparing me list of crewe members in the order they will practice with Diosa and I so we can get really good before we face one another and I meet my inevitable doom at her angry hands. That is my oath to you, sir! -- Hurricane (Voted "Most Likely To Leak in Swordplay")

Great photos. I see you got one of the cannon I desperately wanted... :) I can't wait for next year's event. I definitely want to enter the shooting event. -- Hurricane

I though the flintlock here would be a nice addition for PiP... :) http://www.auctionsimperial.com/Featured%20Items.html -- Hurricane

Wow! How did we miss you? Damn! I must say, if anyone ever wants a terrific experience, head to this event. We geared up and played all day. Met lots of great people and the vendors -- geez, must have been a 100 or more. There was period leather, gator skins, weapons, cookware, accoutrements, clothing. I ordered a new 1600s vest from one vendor. Got a portable table stand from another for our encampment, Diosa got a loom so she can, well, loom. They also have a shooting competition which I missed and some 1200 encampments. Diosa wants to camp there next year so we may just pony up and put a pirate camp in there with the lot of them. Oh, and I forgot all the trade blankets with dirt cheap stuff on them. A pair of almost new Fugawee women's shoes for $30. Pots and pans, gourd jugs, knives, rifles for $250 to $300 that are almost new (these guys really take good care of their stuff), and just about anything else you can think of for your encampments. This was their 37th year. Best part... they own a huge amount of acreage so they can pretty much do as they please there. And yes, you can bring your weapons in. -- Hurricane

I believe we're in John's Pass for their pirate festival that weekend, but I will need to check with the crewe's director on that! -- Hurricane

Ahoy! We know the spot well, since our entire crewe is based three blocks from the park. Unfortunately we're all at Blackbeard Festival that weekend in Hampton VA. Isn't that always the way it is. :) -- Hurricane

Great find! I downloaded it and am reading it now. Thanks! -- Hurricane

Very nice. I know some of my crewe would be interested in both the lantern and the apostles. Are you going to have any at Searles? -- Hurricane

Ahoy all! Benerson Little wrote me today with an interesting addendum to his book on buccaneers, the Buccaneer's Realm. It's about tentage during the buccaneer era. Here it is: Page 41, 2nd paragraph, mosquito netting. According the anonymous author of a pamphlet on making war against the French and Spanish in the New World, boucaniers and others who traveled through the “woods or such like places” had “his pavilion to sleep under, and defend him from gnats....This pavilion is made of thin canvas, in such a form that, being spread and supported upon some sticks planted in the ground, a man lies under it, the canvas falling like the curtains of a bed, and so leaves no room for gnats to get in. The man has his fusee [flintlock musket] between his legs, and lies upon some grass or leaves, and in a march carries his pavilion like a shoulder-belt....This is the buccaneers fashion, and by these means their incampments are soon made and soon raised.” (See Anon. “Proposals for Carrying on an Effectual War in America, Against the French and Spaniards.” His work on Pyrate Hunters is on hold until a dispute with the publisher is resolved. Sorry, Sterling! -- Hurricane

We have the Loyalist 62 cal doglocks. We use a 70 grains for priming the pan and the charge itself. No wad. It makes a great sound. We originally started with 90 but it didn't give us that much more bang for the buck, so to speak. -- Hurricane