There is a a fun filled event that happens every year in Vallejo CA. http://www.norcalpiratefestival.com/ I've been to the event before and walked around the different booths, heard the musicians, watched sword fights and enjoyed the show as the Aldebaran captained by Pirate Hayden Brown sailed by firing cannons at the British soldiers on shore. This year I was privileged to be a pirate aboard the Aldebaran. I drove down to Vallejo kind of early Saturday the 18th and met up with the pirates aboard the Aldebaran. We waited patiently for the time to come to start heading out of the marina for the performance. I was able to borrow some awesome pirate garb from my good friend Liz, and added a few things I'd picked up at the party store. I'll share photos as soon as they are posted to facebook.
We left the marina and the crew hoisted the sails. I was given instructions for my job, I would be the guardian of the flame. Basically I held the lighting pole while the guns were reloaded, and then handed the tool to Bob to light the cannon. We had quite a good wind and so we had to make a couple passes without cannon fire before the allotted time came. We came in close to the dock and opened fire. I'm really glad that I had earplugs in cause the cannons both on the boat and those being fired in return from shore were loud. We made many passes in the 30 minutes of the show. I became very adept at crawling across the deck to change from starboard to port side as we sailed back and forth in our cannon battle. Pirate Bob even let me light a few of the rounds.
It was so much fun. I was glad that I got to take part in the battle this year. A little imagination, some black powder charges, and a most beautiful ship go a long way to make a fantastic pirate adventure and a Saturday that will be hard to forget.
No comments:
Post a Comment