FTPI 2012

[Lily Alexander]

We are allowed 100 people camping in the Fort. That includes vendors and folks in the rv area. (Not including children under 16) We do not have a limit on the number of participants.

[Captain Jim]

Good, there's still a chance we can take over the Island...establish a Pyrate Republic...Mwhaaahaaaahaaaa...Did I just say that out loud?

[Lily Alexander]

The encampment is now full. Please continue to send in your registration forms. If you are among those that are placed on the waiting list, you will be contacted on a first come, first served basis as soon as space becomes available.

[D B Couper]

Wow! That was quick. We're going to need a bigger fort.

Anyone got a Fort-Stretcher?

[Mission]

Say, we could camp on the beach...

[Captain Jim]

Aye, when are they gonna move us back out to the beach? It's the natural place to put us. More breeze to dissipate certain pyrates' personal...ahhh...aura. Speaking of which, can you put Patrick downwind of me this year...?

[William Brand]

We have never filled the 100 pirate quota inside the fort yet, so the discussion of the added space on the beach won't become a bargaining chip unless we fill the fort and can show a significant waiting list lingering in the wings. Participation is key to growth and the beach possibilities.

[Captain Jim]

I don't think that tying "numbers" to "beach" is a good plan nor a reason to not camp on the beach. The beach is simply more fun, more natural, more in tune with the "careening camp" ethos that began the whole historical reenactment camp to begin with. Also, how can we pyrates attack a fort that we are living in? The whole "take over the Fort" scenario goes away if we live there already. Why is it that we, the people who spend a lot of our time, money and passion to support the Friends cannot camp on the beach for five days? Is there a logistical/legal/safety reason not to camp on the beach? What is the rationale for "in the Fort" as opposed to "out of the Fort?" Mind you that this question is posted not as an affront or challenge, merely wondering why. I cannot express how fond I am of the memories of waking up to the sounds of the gentle waves lapping the shore of Cayo Huevos. Can we not pass this memory on?

[Hawkyns]

Have to say, I agree with Jim. When I was in the fort sutlering, I was very jealous of the beach camps. I would love to have been out there. Much cooler, too, considering that wonderful flat black paint job in the fort :) Could you give us the fort's reasoning for disallowing that, please?

Hawkyns

Master Gunner

[William Brand]

The beach is great and I miss the beach, but the park makes the decision about the beach and they prefer to have us in the fort as the fort is the draw that they wish to push to the public. The positive and favorable reasons for camping on the beach have been presented many times, but the decision to return to the beach has always been based on the numbers in the fort. We have no bargaining chip until we meet and exceed the numbers that the fort itself can handle.

[Hawkyns]

Just as a thought, William. Obviously, the fort wants people in to get their dollars, understandable. Could it be promoted as more than just the fort, but to include the beach camps, and instead of collecting the money at the fort entrance, collect it at the chain link gate?

Also, are we proposing to send groups out onto Duval and Mallory during the dayto promote the event?

Hawkyns

Master Gunner

[William Brand]

Could it be promoted as more than just the fort, but to include the beach camps, and instead of collecting the money at the fort entrance, collect it at the chain link gate?

Aye, once we can prove that we have enough pirates to fill the fort and the beach.

[Mission]

They should put all the events in the Fort and the camping on the beach.

The key is to come up with events and reenacting stations in the fort to attract the reenactors there during the day. That is already half done anyhow They didn't have the push for displays and anything near the schedules of events that we do now. (That started in '10, didn't it?)

I also think they ought to put half the battle back in there. Having been on the wall for the battle last year on Friday I can tell you that it's sort of dull. If it weren't for Michelle, it would be almost unwatchable because you really can't tell what's going on. (I do recall a discussion about microphones after last year, which might help, but based on what I saw last year, you still feel distant from the action. Look at some of the wall photos taken without zoom to see what I mean. You can't tell one person from another; it's like watching walking Weebles fight.)

People could shoot from the gun ports or shoot hand weapons from the wall since we're not allowed to shoot cannons from the walls. Heck, just put all the cannons on the side of the people who are located in the field. It would make more sense that way anyhow - it would be easier for the pirates to take the fort if you want to stick with that storyline.

[William Brand]

The key is to come up with events and reenacting stations in the fort to attract the reenactors there during the day. That is already half done anyhow They didn't have the push for displays and anything near the schedules of events that we do now. (That started in '10, didn't it?)

It is key and that solution is carried out best through numbers. We need more pirates willing to attend and willing to demonstrate. The park set a limit of 100 pirates camping inside the fort. When this number was thrown out (almost arbitrarily) a few years ago, we thought we'd meet it with ease. We haven't reached it yet. Even now we have more than enough registered numbers, but we'll suffer losses to work rand family related issues and financial problems that will keep some of those pirates home come December. Any way you slice it, the fort set a mark we have to reach and surpass to show them that we'll exceed their expectations.

I also think they ought to put half the battle back in there. Having been on the wall for the battle last year on Friday I can tell you that it's sort of dull. If it weren't for Michelle, it would be almost unwatchable because you really can't see what's going on. (I do recall a discussion about microphones after last year, which might help that, but you still feel really distant from the action even with that.) People could shoot from the gun ports or shoot hand weapons from the wall since we're not allowed to shoot cannons from the walls. Heck, just put all the cannons on the side of the people who are located in the field. It would make more sense that way anyhow - it would be easier for the pirates to take the fort if you want to stick with that storyline.

While the decisions about battles, gunpowder, hand-to-hand combat and the like are influenced by us, the Friends of Fort Taylor and the staff, many of the 'battle' decisions about position and logistics are decided by people at a state level that never attend. Call it blind bureaucracy, but some of the overall decisions are dictates from agencies outside the park staff. Gone are the days when Harry carefully sidestepped the powers that be and allowed us a free 'walk in the park' as it were.

Does this stop the Friends of Fort Taylor, Jai, Fayma and Lily from burying them in well cited examples and deeply researched study papers? No, but the state sometimes paints with a wide brush.

[Hawkyns]

Agreed about the fort and beiing on the rampart, Mission. Worklng with Michelle was the only thing that stopped it from being boring as hell in '10. The battle, as it was then, was so far out that you could barely see anything. Far enough that there was a lag between seeing the smoke and hearing the blast. What could be done, practically anyway, would be to bring the battle closer to the wall and put people with small arms in the casemates in the north wall. Whether that would be acceptable to the bureaucrats is another question.

One thing about populating the fort with activities during the day- are we going to have more opportunities because PiP is not happening? Certainly less reason to split our forces and have people downtown.

Hawkyns

Master Gunner

[William Brand]

Agreed about the fort and beiing on the rampart, Mission. Worklng with Michelle was the only thing that stopped it from being boring as hell in '10. The battle, as it was then, was so far out that you could barely see anything. Far enough that there was a lag between seeing the smoke and hearing the blast. What could be done, practically anyway, would be to bring the battle closer to the wall and put people with small arms in the casemates in the north wall. Whether that would be acceptable to the bureaucrats is another question.

"The state requires that members of the park staff be present to monitor our actions during the 'battles', so the field is the primary location for all the cannon and small arms for that regulation. The planning team had to submit a battle plan very early on for approval at a state level, and so that's being approved for the year already. If we have enough people to man the field and the casement I think that would be great, and we can see if they'll accept an amendment, but they may require us to push it to next year. The state (if you happen to be an event governed by the state) is moving to an 'everything in writing' mode. " I'll pass along the additional suggestion, but I submit that we need more people in the battle. Numbers! We must get the numbers up.

One thing about populating the fort with activities during the day- are we going to have more opportunities because PiP is not happening? Certainly less reason to split our forces and have people downtown.

There will be more activities during the day. It's actually busy enough at night that things have had to be moved around so that we wouldn't all have to be in too many places at once.

[Hawkyns]

OK, fair enough. I think it would only take one park employee if we limited the work to that one little stub casemate (the one behind where the ice machine was a couple of years ago). Then we could use the same number of people outside the fort. Just swing the action about 45 degrees. Instead of moving just across the front, bring the battle to the point of attacking that stub. Bring them as far as the moat, the pirates find they can't cross the moat and then they give up and retreat.

People. Numbers. The bain of any reenactment. Always too many or too few. OK , here's my take on this, as a veteran of planning many 17th century battles. I will start by committing a grand heresy. We have too many great guns on the field. They look great, no doubt, but to crew that many pieces takes a large number of people. We can have 25 people in a relatively static role to crew them, and have a slow moving battle, or we can put small arms in 15 of those people's hands, and have a fast moving skirmish line that can advance and retreat numerous times, even come to close with steel, if we have enough trained folks, and keep the interest up. Multiple little vignettes for people to watch. 5 people advancing in the bush over there, 4 people sword fighting here, half a dozen others trapped and trying to break out of a position somewhere else.

Numbers are definitely an issue, but the greater question is how you use those numbers, and I think we are committing too many people to the great guns.

And I say that as a 30 year veteran artillerist.

Hawkyns

Master Gunner

[Lily Alexander]

Hawkyns, your points and suggestions are well taken. However, the plans for this year's battle have already been submitted for approval. The number of guns we have on the field depends on how many people bring guns down. I'm not sure how well those folks would take it if we tell them sorry you took the trouble to travel all this way with your guns but they aren't needed. Once the battery has concluded there will be opportunities for people to take up small arms, etc. A lot of time and effort has gone into the plans for this year. We would welcome your suggestions in writing for next year as we start the planning process.

In general, Friday is a slow day in the Fort. Between kids being in school and people working, we just don't get a lot of traffic. It's always been that way. Friday is set up as a "dress rehearsal", for lack of a better term. It's an easy battle day, that allows all the new folks to get accustomed with working with different crews, bugs worked out and prepared for the following day I believe some of your suggestions are already in the plans for Saturday and Sunday.

[Hawkyns]

OK, No problem, just trying to help. I'm more used to the unit commanders getting together on the morning of the battle, seeing what we've got for troops and weapons, and making the battle plan from there.

Fair Winds

Hawkyns

Master Gunner

[michaelsbagley]

Answers already covered... stupid phone didn't display them when I typed the response... please ignore

[Lily Alexander]

I know you and many other are trying to help and all the comments and suggestions are very much appreciated.

[Lily Alexander]

Wasn't there a "security" concern for the camps being on the beach? Some vagrants followed the example of the pirates camping on the beach ignoring the fact we were supposed to be there and they were not? Or some such thing like that? Noses got bent from the incident... and the saying "once bitten, twice shy" is amplified even more when dealing with government agencies like Florida State Park officials....

Yes, there is a large homeless issue in Key West and it was very easy for people to hide when the encampment was on the beach. The Fort staff also had major issues getting people that didn't belong in the encampment off Park property when the Park closed. There is also an issue with new plantings in the area where we camped. For now, we are in the Fort. Will that change someday? Good question.

[michaelsbagley]

I don't like raising points like this, specially on game year I am not attending... Haunting Lily, you raise a good point about the battle being changed rocking the boat of the artilerists who at often significant personal expense travelled with their canons to the event.... but in that same breath, what about those with small arms who travel equally far? I really felt last year the small arms folks were heavily marginalized in the canon battles. I did raise the issue at a battle meeting, and a small concession was made and attempted (to reasonable success), but that only changed it so that a small percentage of the small arms folks got to be involved in a dynamic way (4 of us out of the 20 something small arms participants).

Not sure if there is a solution to that at the moment or not with the current constraints, but it might be worth keeping in mind for future years.

[Lily Alexander]

I agree with you. I believe those points are taken into account this year. However, there were other opportunities for people to shoot small arms (afternoon fire & sunset fire) and no one wanted to do it. We do our best to accommodate for a lot of variables. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. But we do try.

[michaelsbagley]

I guess the punctuation here is stressing "in the battle". Most of us can blow off some powder at any opportunity. But being in a dynamic battle makes blowing dome powder off infinitely more interesting. Being offered the chance for a sunset salute isn't much consolation for being marginalized in the battle.

And I thing the Sunday wide flank was a great first step, and I hope more ideas like that will be forthcoming. And I do appreciate the thoughts and openness to suggestion and constructive critique this whole event is done with. But i feel it fair to point out the small arms folks get the really raw end.. any casualties (which were cried for by the audience, and repeated in the Sunday battle planning) have to come from small arms, as it is unsafe for artillery to take casualties (diminishing a firing crew), the pace and flow of the battle is dictated by artillery (again safety reasons), the previous two factors pretty much all but keep small arms out of the sword fighting (but not necessarily so). What can be done to throw the small arms folks some incentive for the battles?