Pirate Fest, the voyage home...

Pirate Fest 2009, Blow the Man Down... and we did! This was such a great success. I don't remember ever having this much fun, great food, side-splitting moments or good friends around me ever in my years sailing the forest floors.

I want to thank Randall for being the bad guy and collecting money from everyone. For the first time ever we broke even and had enough to give a little back to those who went above and beyond. Thank you Myla for arranging for all the wood to be delivered in a most convenient and cost-effective manner. Thank you Jordan and Anna for building and delivering the chairs and swanky playboy sheets for the Black Shenanigan. Thank you Amelia for bringing that excellent homebrew, especially that mead that caused many of us memory loss on Friday night.

Thank you Chunker for bringing those awesome egg rolls. Thank you Benny for the great rum pasta salad. Thank you Greg for the awesome gumbo and congratulations to you and Maria for best outfits. I forget or do not know who brought what dishes entirely but thank you all for really beefing up on the Pirate Feast this year! Last year there were maybe half the dishes but you all really put out this time round.

Thanks Randall for bringing dice and Ivanhoe, Alan and Debbie for bringing Unspeakable Words and Monsters Menace America, Tommy for bringing Toblero, Julie for bringing Apples to Apples and anyone else who brought a game at the great risk of losing pieces to the camping gods.

Thank you Niko for bringing the wide array of weapons, explosive and sharp alike. Perhaps we could drag some more fighters up there next year for a mini pirate fighting tourney!

Chunker, James, Kevin and a few others have taken some great pictures which are currently featured on Facebook. I think you may need an account to access them but HERE is the link to Chunker's and HERE is Kevin's. If anyone else has a gallery URL to send to me and add to the list they will all be added to the Santa Cruz Pirate Fest website.

Thanks to everyone for being awesome about carpooling! I hope the way we did things this year was okay with everyone and if there are any comments or suggestions please feel free to email me.

Finally, thanks for being a saucy crew and taking the weekend out to hold your steins high in the air.


-Captain Groggy Swagger

Avast!

Tomorrow Pirate Fest begins. I am extremely excited! We have some surprises in store for everyone coming. Remember to bring something for the Pirate Feast Saturday evening!

In other news, I had Rock n Roll hauled out of the water and re-painted. It was quite an ordeal and I have to give a big thank you to Vince, Randall and Maddie for putting me up in their house the whole time. Thanks also to Mark Dowdy and Randall for helping me get the boat back and forth under the bridge.

I am taking Jui-jitsu classes right now. It's a great workout! Thanks to Adam for forcing me to go, I needed it.

-Aaron

Night Watching

Late in the evening of July 4th Jordan, Anna, Darwin and some new friends Matt and Jody and myself took Rock n Roll out into the bay to watch the fireworks. It was ... amazing. It was the first time running at night for me. My new favorite phrase right now is the best way to learn is to do. The experience was surreal. I woke in the morning wondering if it all really happened. Might add pictures to this post later.

UPDATE: Here is a photo taken by Anna during the fireworks.



-Aaron