A long way from home . . . .

First time in many years that I joined a raft up on my own bottom, and it was quite a long way from my slip in the marina. all of 0.66 nautical miles !
I tied up alongside CatNap around 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. At first, it felt like Christmas. Francine was giving shirts around and I got exactly what I wanted ! I think that from now on, I won't be wearing anything else on casual dress events.
Then, it was our Captain for Life handing pins in preparation for the next world Zaf where trading pins is one of the favorites traditions.
Then, to add to Orza, CatNap, Ti Moun and Casual Class sailed in Talisman, Shanty and Maraj to complete a raft up of seven boats.
The festivities could begin . . . .
The highlight of the evening was the induction of brother "Boats", also known as Red Davis, with firing of the canons from Orza, Casual Class and CatNap, and as always, with the help of that liquor from Mr. Barbancourt.
After the induction, several of us chose to go meditate before resuming the evening on Orza.
The night could have been quiet, had it not been for one of the police boats on the water that sailed around us, sirens blasting and generating a big wake that caused some damage on Maraj and almost landed Ti Moun on the deck of Talisman ! Obviously, this policeman was well aware of the boredom caused by a calm sea and the need to shake up things a little bit to liven up the week-end.
Except for the early clean up going on aboard Orza (made necessary in part by Brise-Galets and the casqueronis brought by him from Texas for the induction and creating a bit of a mess on the after deck of Orza !) the Sunday morning started quietly around 9:00 a.m. to bloom into a huge breakfast and Bloody Marys at 9:30 a.m. There is quite a nice competition going on between Blue Stache (the chef aboard Casual Class), El Maestro (which translates as well into Chef !), Ann, Francine, June, and I probably forget other talents in the table and I don't think you could get quite a similar breakfast anywhere in town. Hats off to all those who prepared it.
After a short meeting to confirm our commitment to organize a National Zaf to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, it was time to sail to other adventures.
Having to go all of 0.66 miles, Ti Moun was the first to cast off and head back to Rebel Marine. Orza, the slowest of the bunch (she only cruises at speed not published but known to exceed 25 knots ) was the last one seen on the site of the raft up.
That was another very successful event for the table, with 100 % participation of those in town (Rocket Boy was out of town, and Limey out of the country altogether and our new engage Eric was taking delivery of his new boat and sailing down the bay).
And again, a big welcome to Boats into our table and into the brotherhood !
As usual, there are more photos about this event that you can look at in my library.

The 2006 Texas Trailer Trash party

I never anticipated that I was going to have so much fun ! What a week-end. I should have known, having had a taste of what the Texas brothers can do at the San Antonio Zaf.
It started early on Friday to catch a flight at 8:00 am for San Antonio where we got around noon.
Oso, a.k.a. charlie, Marquis de Sade a.k.a. Craig and Cheryl were at the airport to meet us and took us straight away to a Mexican restaurant, owned by Lebanese, with very nice decoration and great food.
Then, it was on the first step of working the credit card, this time at the "Mercado" downtown. This is why you always have more stuff coming back than going out....
We then got back to Craig and Cheryl's house where Rumline a.k.a. Larry and his captive Jean, as well as Graywater, a.k.a. David and his captive Barbara were staying.
In the evening, margaritas were flowing non-stop out of a machine while Tricky Dick a.k.a. Dick was preparing the food. Obviously, there was more than margaritas and my strict bicyclist diet went out the window.
Very early next morning, a quick cup of coffee and then preparation of the Brotherhood float for the Fiesta parade. Monty Python a.k.a. Monty and Audrey had done a fantastic job building it and we merely had to hook it up to Craig's SUV and drive to the parade line up. It did not start until all tanks were filled up with tacos and bloody marys. The atmosphere is that of a carnival, great crowd, more than 70 floats, and lots and lots of fun. Big Dog was working the crowd, beads and coins were flowing out of the coffers, and for a little more than one hour everybody was thoroughly enjoying the moment.
After the parade, everybody went their own way to spend a pleasant afternoon, and I took time to take my captive to the Riverwalk and the Alamo. Then Rumline and Jean picked us up to take us to Sheplers (Western Country store) where Natacha did some more damage to the plastic.
Almost as soon as we were back to Craig's house, it was out again with Jean and Larry, this time on a treasure hunt to find the Trailer Trash location (Rumline does not have a GPS in his car !). After a nice tour of the countryside, we arrive at the Trailer in time for more drinks while brother Jofes a.k.a. Josef was attending the goose, the pork chops, the beans and the rice, the chickens, and more . . . .
With the sun setting and a camp fire going, there was live entertainment and dancing, and some more fun well into the night.
Fortunately, we could sleep next morning as the traditional breakfast and more bloody marys at Monty's house did not start until around 10:00 am.
From there, Craig, cheryl, Natacha and myself went for a Riverwalk cruise and some italian sweets and wine before getting to the airport for our flight back to Norfolk.
Only New York, with brother Rascal, and the Chesapeake Bay, with your Brise-Galets were the out of state participants. But the three Texas tables were well represented and I am sure that when the word goes out stronger than before of how much fun this event is, next year will see more brothers from other tables.
Mark your calendars, for next year around spring break. You will not want to miss it.
And as always, there are more photos to be looked at in my library.
Congratulations to the San Antonio table for a wonderful and well organized event.
Orza !

Tip a Few - April 2006

Once again, a delightful get together of most of the members of the table. It took place at Mark's, who lives by the water although he is right in the middle of town. What a lovely secret little oasis of calm.
Almost everybody was there, again plenty of food, "gratin dauphinois", weight watcher chocolate sweets, not so weight watcher chocolate cake, plenty of drinks and enough munition from the Barbancourt distillery.
This was needed as we accepted in our table our new engage, Eric Matherne, who was presented with his "engage" T-Shirt, the Grrreat Dictionary and a copy of the Guide.
This was spring, the weather was fully cooperating and romance was not far away . . . .
More photos available as usual on my library.
We can't wait for the next one.
Orza !

Serious business

Another brother's only meeting. And another meeting with 100 % participation with the late arrival of El Maestro. We started the meeting with nice sky and temperature in the 70s. It ended with showers, wind and temperature in the 50's. That is Tidewater weather for you. . . .
Thanks to brother Piper, there was a nice warm chowder waiting for us, as well as chicken wings, steamed shrimps, pizza, brownies, and some liquid (I won't specify) to wash it down. We needed all that to go through all the very serious business awaiting for us.
Preparation for the upcoming World Zaf in Argentina, talks about the next table meetings, exploration of the 2007 event (hush, hush), and so many other items that I can't quote all of it here.
At least the few pictures will allow our Sooks to verify how busy and serious we are when we have those "brothers only meetings" !
And if you see a few red eyes, be assured that it has only to do with the photographic flash light !
And as usual, the other photos are on my library.

The Keys Zaf

I'll say one thing. It was worth the 35 hours drive to and fro. My captain says that it was an alcohol free event, and since I have become a bicycle freak, this is why I went there. Actuallly, I did not do the "bar walk" on Saturday, so I don't have pictures about that one, but I went to the Hurricane in the evening, where there were some nice ladies on the wall.
It all started as usual with a very serious meeting where as we always do, we took a lot of very important decisions. And with the help of modern technology !
Later that day, brother "Sparky" was inducted in proper fashion, and I believe that this is when the alcohol free event took an exception.
On Saturday, there was golfing, fishing, bar walking, home tour, and even swimming by at least one brother, me... I did not remember how cold the ocean can be, even that close to the Gulf Stream.
Saturday night was a big affair, with the traditional "fish fry", some dancing and a lot of friendship. I don't know how many brothers did attend the Zaf, but it sure was a big number, probably exceeding the 70 mark.
I am waiting for reports from the other attendees.
As usual, you can get some more pictures by going to my photo library on the set "Keys Zaf 2006"

Visit to the table of Normandie

The brothers of Normandie know how to live well. They had organized their boucan on Jan 21 in an old Inn in a small village in Normandie with sophisticated food in a gorgeous dining room. I had my back to the fire place and did not feel the cold outside at all.
The three course menu matched the decor.
Attending the boucan were brothers from Belgium and Holland as well as a few brothers from other parts of France. After dinner, during which I presented the table of Normandie with our traditional brass crab, brother "Ventre Jaune" (Yellow Belly) made a presentation, with the help of a slide show, of his trip from Mar del Plata to Ushuaia in Argentina. He did this on a 54 foot boot captained by Christophe Auguin, who has won many ocean races, including around the world single handed. Wonderful pictures of the wild life in the south of Argentina. Unfortunately, I do not have those pictures, but there are a few more pictures of the boucan on my photo library under the set "BOC foreign".
Great boucan ! The brotherhood is alive and well wherever you go.

Boucan at Brutti's

We had not seen each other for at least 48 hours, so when it transpired that brother Marco Polo from the Houston table was in town, word was quickly put out that we were going to have an "impromtu" boucan to welcome him.
This took place in the form of a "brunch" at Brutti's on Court Street in Portsmouth.
Unfortunately, brother Marco Polo was held up at the time, but he send a delegation of captive Meridee, daughter Christie and soon to be son in law Jason.
Attending from the Cheapeake Bay table were six brothers, five sooks, one engage with his soon to be sook and one "pasajero".
Once the Bloody Mary and the great food had revived everybody, our Captain promoted Marco Polo's captive Meridee to the rank of Honorary Sook !
Orza !

Brothers only meeting

The spirit of the Chesapeake Bay table has struck again! 100 % participation of brothers in town at the time of the meeting. First arrived was our Captain for Life who became recently a road survivor after a bad crash early this month. He is happy to report that for the first time after three years, he now has car payments after his 200,000 miles old truck was totalled by a sleepy and uninsured lady driver who herself almost lost her passenger/husband in the process. Blue Stache is now driving a beautiful black SUV ! And he only suffered a few bruises not mentionning the new dent in his budget.
As this was a brothers only meeting, hush, hush ! Since I do not have a Chief of Staff, here is the disclaimer : any eventual leaks about this meeting won't be originating from this office.
However, I can disclose that there was a first in the proceedings. The use of the blue balls, light blue and dark blue (our captain said purple). The picture here will let you decide. There is a possibility that the procedure will be improved by the use of consumable M&M instead of beads to ensure that there will be only one vote per session.
This also was the occasion to test (or taste) a new mexican restaurant in the neighborhood. Since there was nothing left of the food at the end of the meeting, the conclusion must be that is was not bad. . . .

New Year's Eve at Waterside Marina

Many of the younger participants kept asking me about the Brotherhood and its reputation to party hard and long. What could I say ! There was evidence that our captain and our host were both hard at work to make sure we had a lively party.
Indeed we had. Although I was late arriving, I was told that food kept coming in waves starting around 2 p.m. and was not washed down with water but with fine wines and of course our favorite Rhum Barbancourt.
Not everybody saw the New Year in. Our Captain for life called it a day with less than an hour to spare, and our host Cruz went for a final push in his preparation for tomorrow. This left Upwind, Pilot and Brise-Galets, together with many guests and their relatives to welcome 2006 on behalf of the table.


As always, if you want to see more of the pictures that were taken that evening, go an visit the library where all those pictures, and some more are kept.

Boxing day at the Ripley's

What a joyful evening ! Is there a better occasion to start this blog ? Surely not. As usual, there was plenty of food and drink. And if that food was only leftovers, I don't mind visiting the trash cans of those guys. There was too much of it as always, and it was delicious. Almost all the brothers were attending, with their sooks, not to forget our engage, Red (with Tricia) and a few guests that we already know such as Mitch, unfortunately about to leave us for California and Eric.
The awarding of the gifts was as much fun as can be had. Hard to pick the most valuable into all those supposedly most useless items.
After the gifts, our captain for life presented everybody with a baked crab, and there were also presents from Holly and Rob and from Scott and Ann.
If you want to have a look at all the pictures that were taken by Brise-Galets, go to my photos library and enjoy. You can download whatever you want. No copyright !
This was the second "Boxing Day" party and I hope it will become a tradition. There is fun, there is brotherhood, there is plenty of food and drinks, what else do we need ?
Feel free to comment or add your own post. This is only the beginning. Remember that only brothers of the Chesapeake Bay table can comment or post on this blog and that this blog cannot be found through a search engine. However, anybody with the address of the blog can have a look at it.
Orza !

What this blog is for ?

I intend this blog to be a space where the brothers of the Chesapeake Bay table can discuss matters of common interest, share pictures and ideas, files or anything else that comes to mind. I am aware of course that not everybody likes to go on the computer, so this will not replace other means of communication that we already have but rather supplement them. We will see as we go along if this is a good or lousy idea.
Orza !
Brise-Galets