Monday, March 14, 2005

Battle Sail Weekend in Oakland!

This weekend, aboard schooner Bill of Rights, we changed positions.
Erin Doak, an experienced gunner and our current Bosun's Mate, took the
place of Rich Sloat as our Gunner. And Kim Carver is now her Gunner's
Mate! What fun! The girls tag-teamed the lyle gun and the swivel to
best defend our beloved schooner agains the dastardly brig that keeps
chasing us! Just for reference purposes, here's one of the brig's guns.
A 3 pound deck gun, with, as their gunner "Shiny" found out, a little
kick to it. We load the charges (gunpowder in tinfoil) prick the foil
through the touchhole, and lead a gunpowder trail up through the
touchhole, then light that with slowmatch (a line soaked in saltpeter
and set to burn slowly). Then we aim for the brig's transom! She's a
bit better at sharp turns, but we still stomp her good some days.
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A fine example of proper use of a cabin for ultimate storage capacity.
The brig has bunks in it's main hold, and benches- all of which hold
stuff for their store, and food, and clothes, and gear.
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Look at that forecourse fly! That dang brig came within 20 feet of our port side! And they STILL didn't shoot on time!
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Expert gunner Erin Doak after firing off the Lyle Gun. You can practically smell the sulfur.
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However badly we might try to sink her, she's still beautiful!
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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Girls with big guns. That's hot.