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Carl Sykes seems mighty jubilant with
his all-wench crew of Katie Elliott, Alyssa Gumkowski and Carol
Haney. |
Forrest Speck keeps telling Steve
Scott that the turn doesn't end when you draw the fourth pirate.
The Ra GM gets easily confused. |
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The Fishers are my kind of pirates. |
Chris LeFevre, Faith Wobbeking, and
John Douherty |
Pirates Aplenty ...
There
were plenty of pirates in the Cove this year as we set a new
attendance record. Former champs Brandon Bernard and RJ Gleaton
could not get past the semifinals, leaving clear sailing for
former champ John Elliott. Cliff Ackman made a late push to catch
him, with three sinkings and some buried loot, but fell just
short. John used Wee Willie Keeler's strategy of hittin' 'em
where they ain't. He figured out where everyone else was going,
and then went somewhere else to stay safe. Blackbeard he ain't!
He only sank one pirate. Cliff sank three, while Joe Collinson
and Jeff Pattison each collared four. Assistant GM & first
mate Jason Fisher only sank two, a dismal effort for 'chainlink'.
He won his third 'chain of shame'. How on earth did he get into
the Final? Oh, he won two heats, as did top seed Nico Parauda,
Scott Siriana, John Elliott, Ben Collinson Sr, Linda Pattison
and Colton Hardman. At least this year we kept the wenches out
of the Final and in the galley where they belong!
There were 663 player sinks, with the scurvy guys finally
redeeming themselves after three years of shame. The guys averaged
5.06 sinks per player, to the 5.02 for the wenches despite Ruth
'man-stopper' Evinger. She sank the Royal Navy twice and hung
a legendary pirate to boot in the same game.
With 49 preliminary games in the books, and only 25 semi-final
slots, you needed at least one win and a second to advance. Bryan
Berkenstock was the 25th qualifier with a win, two thirds and
a fourth. That 4th, along with 13 stones got him in the semi's.
There were 17 alternates with a minimum of one win and eight
came over the side to advance. Carol "never give a man an
even break" Haney, Jodi "the man-jabber" Folk,
and Dacey "slice 'n dice" Collinson doubled the wenches
presence in the semi's by appearing for alternate crew duty.
Linda "pat'em on da back as you stab'em" Pattison,
Alyssa "run'em thru" Gumbowski, and Katherine "hitch'm
to da yardarm" Hitchings fought valiantly, but to no avail
and were left at the wharf.
I apologize for forgetting to put out prizes for heats 3 and
4. Next year, I will have a list for you winners to pick from
first. Jeff Pattison received a pirates ship boardgame for fifth
place. Next year we'll jump up to five plaques! Can Sandman wood
be in the offing? Sign the articles and ship away with Cap'n
Larry and a perty fez can be yours!
Great news! Anybody playing in all four heats will get a nice
prize. I reward loyalty. Lastly, I want to thank Host for the
lousy AC that probably helped attendance in our cool Cove. Cap'n
Larry will have ten pounds of chocolate coins again next year
so sharpen those cutlasses. And as usual, Polly sez "Walk
da Plank!"
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Scurvy pirates Paul Weintraub, John
Pack and Henry Richardson |
And brush your teeth RJ or Jodi Folk
will keel haul ya. |
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Uh Larry, isn't Polly supposed
to be a parrot? |
Cap'n Larry with his hand-picked
finalists. |
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