Texas Mariners Cruising Association
The Largest Boating Club on the Gulf Coast Established 1979
TMCA PO Box 946 Kemah, TX 77565
Cruise Leader is TIm Marshall
The Pirate Cruise to Red Fish Island is having a change of venue. Winds are out of the South and Southwest this weekend making Redfish far from an ideal place to anchor. Wussy Bay, just north of Houston Yacht Club is well protected in those wind directions. There is a beach so we can still have dinner there but we will not have the bonfire so change your food plans accordingly.
As is always the case with pirates there will looting and no burning this time!!
The plan is to have a bonfire on the beach and it would be good if you could bring some scrap wood or fire wood along. You can go ashore and scavenge for wood as there usually is a fair amount washed up on the island.
Pirate clothing of any kind is encouraged. We will all vote to pick the winner on the beach.
The fun starts in the afternoon. Place the wood you have on the bow where it is reachable from the water. Tie a few strips of cloth around the bow as marks of your vessel. Then get aboard your dingy, armed with your water weapons. Approach the other pirate boats and try to take the wood and "vessel marks" from them. They will try to fend you off with their water weapons so you will have to dissuade them with yours. It promises to be a great afternoon!
In the evening we will have a bonfire on the island and a shared meal. Bring beverages and a dish to share.
I've been told water balloons are not allowed because turtles eat them and die. So, no water balloons.
Additional info sent in an email to registrants follows.
Pirates,
Some clarification on the flags and wood situation for others to “steal/raid” from your bow. What I used last year was cut up t-shirts with my boat name on them attached with clothes pins to my pulpit and lifelines. Casey and David had both wood on the bow and some cloth strips tied to their pulpit and stanchions. Kevin had engineering tape streamers on his aft deck because the pulpit is very high on his boat. There really are very few rules. Last year we had 3 boats for the pirate games and this year we have 12 registered and I’ve been told 2 more may join. I think this is going to be a lot of fun.
Criteria to win the game. Last year Kevin won because he was the only one to steal stuff from more than one other boat. I like that criteria so we’re using it again. He or she who steals stuff from the most boats wins a valuable prize and possible collectors item but don’t get too excited about that because it’s mostly about bragging rights. Multiple items from one boat won’t count as multiple items unless you have something from every other boat out there. This should keep the unscrupulous among you from taking everything at once off a near defenseless single hander. The game will run from 2:00 to 4:00 and I'll confirm that with a radio call on channel 68.
The other game is a Pirate Costume contest on the beach and we will all vote to select a winner from those who wish to compete. Pirates after all were an early and mostly democratic society.
About the food for the shared dinner. Last year it was mostly finger foods and it was fine. We had pinwheels, cookies, Caprese salad sticks and a big bowl of cut fruit. I’ll have a small table or 2 but we may need another one. My point here is it doesn’t have to big or fancy, with 12 boats there should be sufficient variety and abundance for everyone to get something to eat. There will be a fire on the beach so s’mores and hot dogs, AKA scurvy dogs for purposes of this cruise, and other fire grilled fare are possibilities. I will bring some skewers but if you have some it wouldn’t hurt to bring your own. I will also have paper plates, bowls, knives, forks and spoons and a big roll of paper towels. If you need something else, please bring it. Dinner will start around 6:00 on the island.
I’m watching the weather and am a little concerned with the predicted wind direction but the speeds are fine and as of now it’s still a go. I’ll send updates if that changes for the worse.
Other than that, if anyone has any questions feel free to email or call me and if it seems something everyone should know I’ll send out another email.
Thank you for registering. I’m really looking forward to this weekend.
Tim Marshall
tim.marshall@marcotechsales.com
(281) 727-6947
