FTPI 2012

[Lily Alexander]

Points well taken. I can only say that if last year's Sunday battle made people happy, then I'm sure they will love the battles this year. Sorry I won't give details until everything is approved. We learned a lot of lessons last year and Crudbeard and those that helped with the battles plans did an awesome job this year.

[Mission]

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.

Perhaps the encampment could be fenced off and have specific entrances and exits? That way when the park closed, folks could go through the encampment and make sure there weren't any outsiders hanging around in there. The rest of the park must already have to be gone through at some point, so that would be no different for the park employees. Anyone who might be with the reenactors should have their ID card handy at that time. (Or a pog. Pogs are great. Bring back the pogs! Lily hasn't nearly enough to do. )

[Lily Alexander]

Give it up. Not happening this year :) No more pogs EVER

[Mission]

No, I figured this year was already settled. I'm just thinking how we might be able to make it more palatable for the fort for the future. I know some people who didn't return (in part) because the camping got moved into the fort. (It's sort of ironic if they moved it inside the fort to make sure we could get enough people out which resulted in some people not coming out.)

What was wrong with the pogs?

[Lily Alexander]

*thumps Mission on the head with a box of pogs*

[Mission]

The pogs were cool! At the Michigan Pirate Festival they gave us those gaudy day-glo wrist bands which, while they really contrasted with our period linen and wool togs, weren't quite as spiffy as you'd hope. Pogs - no problem. They fit right in.

[Lily Alexander]

Are you volunteering to hand them out every five seconds because "I lost my pog". Pogs that when lost in town can be picked up by anyone and have free entry into the Fort not just during event hours but after hours as well? Shall I go on?

[michaelsbagley]

Cool, it's great to hear that there is a shift in things and thoughts to make things better, even if you can't share those until the event (meaning I don't get to find out about them until after )...

And I'm with Mission, the pogs were great! We need more pogs! More so than even cowbell!

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.

[Lily Alexander]

Please don't make me thump you too Michael

[Mission]

Are you volunteering to hand them out every five seconds because "I lost my pog". Pogs that when lost in town can be picked up by anyone and have free entry into the Fort not just during event hours but after hours as well? Shall I go on?

Ha ha ha. I never thought of that side of it.

What if we pre-drilled and threaded them with rawhide straps? I'd be willing to do that if we could get them. I'd even buy the rawhide. Then we could tie them around people's necks and tell them, "If you lose it, you better have a hotel reservation ready." (Having said that, I lost my pog and had to ask you for a new one. But I had no strap!)

[Lily Alexander]

Nice try Mission. No pogs.

as a side note. Do you remember Kyle, the red haired ranger that was wound a little too tight? He was criticized for checking pogs, but in fact, he was doing what he was told to do. They were catching people trying to use the previous year's pogs at the gate. He also caught some folks trying to get in at night.

[Mission]

Oh, man - I just learned that they are also called wooden nickels. Now I really wish we could do it. (Wooden nickels... ha ha ha!)

[Lily Alexander]

I really wanted lapel pins but they were way too expensive. Find out how much they would cost and maybe, just maybe, we could use them for something.

[Mission]

Tell you what - if you let us use them instead of the cards, I'll pay for them. I'll get multi-color, use the skull and swords from the multi-color image on the top half, the year in bright freaking red so even the blindest gate attendant can see it on the bottom half and drill and thread them with leather thongs. I'll get 250 of them, although I'd prefer to know how many we need threaded since that will be several hours of work (say ~the number of attendees + 20%).

What do you think?

[Lily Alexander]

The passes have already been approved when we submitted the event proposal in January. I think we can use the pogs somehow. Let me think on it a bit.

[Mission]

Hmm. Maybe next year instead? My desire to have them is also a bit selfish - fishing for that damned card in my pocket full of junk each morning while standing on my bike in front of the guard shack is a big pain in the ass.

For next year's reference - cuz' I'll forget what I've learned...

http://www.wooden-nickel.com/shop2

[Lily Alexander]

I'd be happy to staple it to your forehead

[D B Couper]

That won't work Lily. He tried stapling to his head last year when he crashed his bicycle over/into a telephone pole laying on the side of the road. Maybe super glue?

[Lily Alexander]

[Commodore Swab]

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.

Perhaps the issue of their being a lacking of small arms is that someone brings a couple cannon but no crew, many people that have small arms may get "drafted" to fill in spaces on cannon crews.

On the bright side I was happy to see the use of FFF approved in place of FF on the black powder rules under load maximums even if the the load guidlines are equally light for small arms as they are heavy for cannons.

At the request of several individuals at the last event I have written up a bit on the reliability competition and if it is not too late Ive sent you a copy.

[Lily Alexander]

Thank you for bringing that to my attention. Unfortunately that is an old typo that was never corrected. FFF and FFFF are not allowed at Fort Taylor.

[Commodore Swab]

FFFF is allowed for use in friction primers by the NPS for civil war

[Captain Jim]

And Ft Taylor is a State Park.

[Lily Alexander]

Fort Taylor is not NPS. It is under the Florida Park Service Department of Environmental Protection. As stated in their guidelines. "FFFg (3F) and FFFFg (4F) powder is not permitted.

I was able to find a couple of other Florida parks that have made this exception in their rules. If you can find other hard data please let us know.

Olustee Battlefield Historic State Park, pg 5, no. 15

http://battleofolust...regulations.pdf

"Maximum musket or rifle cartridge will follow the Table of Maximum Loads. Only FFg black powder will be used. NO Pyrodex. NO FFFFg (4F) powder will be used except by artillery units for priming. Cartridge paper will not be placed in the barrel and NO wadding or ramming will be permitted except in the use of handguns. Multiple loading is not permitted".

Dade Battlefield Historic State Park, pg 1, Firing Demonstrations, 6th bullet (worded same as above)

http://www.dadebattl...edures 2013.pdf

Fort Foster State Historic Site, pg 1, Firing Demonstrations, 6th bullet (worded same as above)

http://www.floridast...n/wpnSafety.pdf

Until such time that the FPS grants our request to allow us the use of FFF or FFFF powder. It will not be permitted at Fort Taylor.

[Commodore Swab]

And here my thoughts had been high that there was an improvement in sight. I will bring my small arms and have people to fire them on friday, if we are unable to get good ignition or a "bang" with FF we will not be firing on Saturday and Sunday

After reading thru

Olustee Battlefield Historic State Park -no flintlocks, all percussion

The other two are the same and don't specify they types of small arms used.

In short they allow for FFFF to be used for priming of all black powder weapons since there is no prime for percussion. As percussion are the only weapons allowed due to the time period (civil war) and do not rquire a prime.

Just playing devils advocate and I hope to not get hit by another box of pogs . . .