President's Day Zaf (2008) - Part 2

Oh, the rigors of a brotherhood zaf: we finally got some sleep Thursday night. A deep charge of the personal storage batteries helped get us ready for the first official day of the President’s Day Zaf. With nothing formally planned for the day, some twisted member of our group suggested we go to Key West for the afternoon. "Wait a minute." I thought to myself, "Didn’t we just get back from there last night?" I voiced my question to the group. I was informed that this would be a good day for a Duval Street crawl. I couldn’t deny the pleasurable day that had broken over the Keys: lots of sun, a few clouds, reasonable winds and temperatures in the high 70's. "Alright." I agreed. "But I’m not driving today." The girls assured me that they were fine - even happy - to navigate and pilot the car. We left at 11:30 AM...back on the road, headed south.

We found a place to park and struggled with the cruise ship tourists on Duval Street. They were hungry and the restaurants and bars were hopping. We dined at the Cheese Burger of Key West. The waitress, an ex-cruiser, talked me into a double key lime margurita in a plastic pineapple complete with a slot on the top. The idea was to turn it into a piggy bank to start saving for my next trip to the Keys. But it was the fact that I could bring it back, anytime, and get a double margurita for the price of a single that convinced me to part with the $5.95 cost of the plastic pineapple. Before I left, I had it refilled. It was already paying dividends. I was already feeling its effects.

We made our way back to the west side of Duval Street and spent a few minutes sitting on the seawall, watching the boats and discussing how nice it would be to be down in the keys on our own bottoms. Someday in the future. Hopefully the near future. Back in the car, we headed north. We didn’t want to be late for the Friday night reunion at Steve and Lori’s house.

As we exited the car at Steve and Lori’s, we could hear the revelry of the brothers that had already arrived. Limey and Holly arrived as we did. We had read their accounts of the cruise south but had not seen them in five months. As soon as the door opened, we were welcomed by brothers from near and far. It would be a good night.

Lori was moving rapidly in her kitchen: double time this year as the help she thought she had arranged had not materialized. The food arrived on time but, she did not slow down for most of the evening. After most of the food had been served, she took some time to don her pirate gear to tell us about the costume party she and Steve had recently attended. Her red wig reminded me of Sherry from the night before but there was a difference: her new hair was red AND curly. She was HOT!

I was impressed by the attendance from the newest US Table. The new brothers from the Solomon’s Table were well represented. A stalwart group of rabble raisers from the Chesapeake Bay. I chalked it up to the good living of the Bay and reflected on what a good addition they were to the "‘hood."

We ate and drank well, once again confirming that, unlike the pirates of the late 17th century, no one ever starves at a brotherhood event. Shortly after the briefing on Saturday’s events, people started disappearing as "Marathon Midnight" approached. Our party headed to Orza, tied up behind Snapper King and Margie’s house. It is always the last party of the evening. After a nightcap, we headed home for some rest. Saturday was almost at hand.

President's Day Zaf (2008) - Part 1

"Are you feeling Presidential?” The Email came through from the Marathon Table in early January. My captive and wife, June, asked me that evening what I thought about making the trip in mid-February. We had traveled down to the event for three of the past four years. June has come to enjoy the mid-winter break; the warm tropical weather (although last year it only hit 62 degrees when we went to Key West!) And the clear turquoise waters where the Atlantic meets the Gulf of Mexico. But, I had just started a new job after a few years of unemployment and our cash reserves were running low. How could we scrape this together?

Then there was John (“Jongagé) & Susan Williams. John is the engagé for the Chesapeake Table and we were anxious to have him experience the Brotherhood outside the sphere of our local table. But Susan is in Real Estate and business has been bad. That is to say, their cash reserves were also running low.

June, determined to make this happen, started considering all the possibilities. Bernie & Margie had held one of their rooms for us but had given it up afer we had initially determined that we couldn’t make the trip this year. We called down to the Marathon brothers and found that El Chino still had no one staying in their guest apartment below their house. June booked the room and we formulated a plan for a kamikaze “land cruise” to the keys.

The week of the Zaf rolled around. John & Susan picked us up at our house and we left for lower Florida at 8:30 PM on Wednesday evening. We ran driving shifts through the night and into the next day while those off-shift got a limited amount of shut-eye in the back of the car. With about two hours of collective breaks, we made it to Marathon by 2:30 PM on Thursday. During the last part of our drive, we contacted the Cruz and Ann who were in Key West on Orza. (Capt.) Rocket Boy and Sherry were there with them. Excited to see them, we quickly showered and, refreshed, got back into the car for the hour ride south to Key West. It was still light when we got there but Sheila (Jongagé’s Australian speaking GPS) sent us to the wrong end of Front Street and we were having trouble navigating to the correct marina. With a number of calls, we found our way and reconnected with our other brothers.

As we were walking out to Orza we passed some trashy looking woman who, upon closer examination, turned out to be Ann & Sherry! They were in disguise having purchased wigs earlier in the day. Sherry was sporting a red, shoulder length wig which perfectly matched her skin color. She was HOT! Ann was a blond and, with her blue eyes, looked like Doris Day’s younger sister. They took us the rest of the way to Orza where we reconnected with Cruz and Rocket Boy.

Everyone was hungry so we quickly left for Pepe’s Restaurant, the oldest bar and restaurant in Key West. A faded exterior and sign that is the front of the establishment belayed it’s internal charm. Everyone was relaxed either from road fatigue or all-day drinking. The waitress, Amanda, was struggling to get us to focus on ordering with some consternation. We got through it, enjoyed the evening’s meal, and headed back to Marathon for some much needed rest.

Stay tuned for Part 2...

On a cold winter's evening...

[nota bene: this entry was written by Blue Stache and posted by Upwind]

After a couple week’s recuperation from the start of a New Year, the call came out from Brother Boats that it was indeed time for the brothers and sooks of the Chesapeake Bay Table to gather in celebration of our fraternity.

On Sunday, January 20, 2008, the first Tip-A-Few of the new year convened at the Flagship restaurant on the waterfront of Portsmouth’s Scotts Creek – it was another tremendous turnout. Limey & Holly were not able to attend – as they were continuing their exploration of the southern climes, AJ was missing in action, Piper was off protecting the citizenry from fire (but Maria represented him well), and Brise-Galets was traveling in France. Brother Cruz flew in from Ft. Lauderdale – leaving Ann & Jack to mind ORZA until his return – to join the festivities.

The company was superb as our little group of 19 initiated a new server (she did a great job) with plentiful orders of both food and drink. It is always a special time when sharing the company of our brothers and celebrating the uniqueness of the Brotherhood of the Coast.

February will find time for the Table to reconvene – many at the Keys Table President’s Day Zaf (with at least three on their own bottoms) and the rest of us somewhere locally. And as always, getting together to share in our good fortunes as Brothers will be highly anticipated.