PIRATE SAIL
PIRATES NEVER SAY "DIE"
But they do say Yarrr!
Our Flagship event - the Annual Pirate Sail takes place over the weekend closest to "Talk Like a Pirate Day" (September 19th).
For those new to this event: Every year on or near “Talk Like a Pirate Day” (September 19th) The Honey Badger Yacht Club organizes a group of “Pirates” to sail the Hudson River together. There is only one requirement, and that is: to be dressed like a pirate.
We chase each other around with water guns, and we do scavenger hunts, but most importantly, this event is designed to unite everyone on the water. We do this as a rogue or “pirate” event so that anyone from any club can play. Hell, you don’t even need to be in a club at all, we welcome all! Each year, we host around 15 pirate vessels of various make and size.
One thing to note: we continue to focus efforts of awareness on cleaning up the seas and waterways and promoting a clean earth. Our primary charity is Team Rubicon who helps to repair and rebuild communities in the aftermath of hurricanes and other natural disasters. While we’re out “pirating” we ask all participants to help keep the Hudson river clean and pollutant free.
PIRATE SAIL:
COLORFUL, ECCENTRIC, AND WILD
September 21, 2019
If you think pirates in the golden age of piracy weren’t as colorful, eccentric and wild as the stories suggest: you’d be dead wrong!
See, when young men and women chose the life of piracy, they were deliberately choosing an exciting lifestyle. They knew that there would be riches, rum, and free-spiritedness. Imagine getting to sail around and see the world, take from those who didn’t seem worthy, and basically do as you’d please. That’s what pirates did.
They did so knowing that they’d live a short but exciting life.
So, in a way, the annual Pirate Sail on the Hudson is taking a brief moment and sailing around carefree as a pirate would knowing that life itself is short.
The 2019 Honey Badger Yacht Club Pirate Sail was indeed a showcase of the colorful, eccentric, and wild!
As in pirate lore, a lot of stories are based off of the same characters… well, we had our “usual suspects” along for the ride in addition to some newbies as well.
For those new to this event: Every year on or near “Talk Like a Pirate Day” (September 19th) The Honey Badger Yacht Club organizes a group of “Pirates” to sail the Hudson River together. There is only one requirement, and that is: to be dressed like a pirate.
We chase each other around with water guns, and we do scavenger hunts, but most importantly, this event is designed to unite everyone on the water. We do this as a rogue or “pirate” event so that anyone from any club can play. Hell, you don’t even need to be in a club at all, we welcome all! This year, we hosted around 15 pirate vessels of various make and size.
Now onto the pirate organizers:
Cap’ One-Eye’d Gimp and his band of freewheelin’ freebooters who dangle a skeleton from their bow were once-again in full-force! As a matter of fact, two of his crew-mates learned well from their captain and won prizes for best-dressed male and best-dressed female pirate at the end of the night.
Cap’ Barbara “The Formidable Frenchie” and crew took a lesson from the past years and won BEST DECORATED pirate ship. They also put together a courageous scavenger hunt. “TREASURE!!!”
Cap’ Jolly Nitzan and crew of Veronica took to the seas which were to be taken. Alas, one of their crew members hit the deck pretty hard in the heat of battle and so we wish them well.
Cap’ Daggerboard Deborah – representing the pirates of the “North” a bit of a sea devil you might say! Brought two boats down the Hudson in search of booty.
Cap’ Caren Cutthroat Fitz fearlessly lead a group of privateers out of Hoboken this year. Bird in hat and all. They were a fresh group, but salty enough to hold their own!
Cap’ Saberin’ Spence – brought out a crew of young guns on his vessel Synergy always in pursuit of Liberty.
Senior Officer, Joel (ranking OF-5) of the Royal British Navy sought to police the waterways of the rest of the pirates, but alas, turned to the dark side by the end of the night and ended up pirating some rum with his crew after all.
And yours truly, Cap’ Daft-Daddy Duber brought Pirate Ship Gitana (1936) along with his first mate Ann-Anastacia Bonney into the parade. Along with a crew of Dutch Pirates, we smuggled an 8-year old gunner who graduated to helmsman in one fleeting afternoon.
I will say, watching an 8-year old shooting a water canon off of a boat to attack an enemy vessel is one of the joys of pirate life.
At the end of the night, the Pirate Con folks met up with us at our rendezvous point, Pier A.
Awards were awarded, and the grog was sponged up.
‘Til next year mateys!
- Cap' Daft-Daddy Dubarrrgh ☠
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MORE PIRATE PHOTOS and TALES BELOW!...
And if any of the above sounds like fun to you, we'd encourage you to check out some of our annual trips. The Honey Badger Yacht Club is a sailing collective of pirates and scalawags who sail the globe in search of adventure, merriment, and boat drinks.
A little about The Annual Pirate SaiL . .
Photo by Todd Neville
So what the bloody hell is this "Pirate Sail" business anyway?
If ye be a landlubber - we may just make ye walk th' plank! We kid! Say's Cap'n Kidd.
The annual Pirate Sail on the Hudson started a few years back...
(2012) while sailing with MYC, Skipper Clifton Yen and I, Cap' Hornswoggle McDuber, thought it would be a blast to celebrate "Talk Like a Pirate Day", by dressing up like pirates and going out for an afternoon sail. We got a few friends interested as well and we went out and "pirated" the Hudson River.
Everyone came in full pirate garb! We sailed, laughed, swashbuckled, and then afterwards celebrated with the local grog. The following year we did it again. This time it was an MYC sponsored club event! Participation had tripled and legend was born.
The Pirate Sail has been going strong new and growing each year (see photos and stories below).
This is an open event! We encourage all folks of all ages to come out and for one-day, dress up like a pirate and sail the Hudson River.
The goal: We want to sail with other pirates! Plain and simple.
The more the merrier.
This event was originally orchestrated to bring all of our friends together for a fun day, and we're keeping it in that spirit.
That said, since this has become such a big event, we would like focus on a mission, and that mission is: clean waterways.
We'd like to use this event to draw awareness to the environment. So please, as you pirate along with us: be mindful of the waterways. Let's respect our rivers, lakes, and oceans.
DO NOT POLLUTE!
If this sounds like fun and you'd like to join us - please do! Grab a boat and meet us in the Hudson. If you don't have immediate access to a boat, drop me a line with your info and we'll see if we can pair you up with someone who can get you on the water.
For media inquiries, please reach out as well.
-Captain Duber
Oh, and yes, there will be prizes at the after party for "Best Dressed Pirate", "Best Pirate Ship"... Etc.
WANT TO JOIN IN?
Want to join in but need a boat or crew? Drop us a line and we'll see if we can pair you up with a Pirate Captain!
Last Year's Tale of Plunderin'
(LAST YEAR): Saturday, September 15th, 2018 - Anyone who dared to venture near the Hudson River would have heard a reverberation of contagious laughter, mixed with a chorus of raucous “Yarrrr”s parroting across the water.
Those were the sounds of the Annual Honey Badger Pirate Sail in full force in lower Manhattan.
The Honey Badger Yacht Club (our name-only, for-fun, group) continues the tradition of the Pirate Sail designed to bring sailors in the NYC area together on the water for a cross-club flotilla.
The only requirement: to be dressed like a pirate!
The event coincides with ‘Pirate Con’ and this year we invited the Pirate Con folks to play along a bit as well.
At the end of the day, those sporting jolly rogers on their vessels would certainly need to dry-off — fellow pirates brought their A-game in the water-cannon department and the pirate attacks ensued! Aye this is a multi-club event, but pirate vessels are simply privateers on the high seas — it’s every boat for themselves. So it was a scream to watch this multifarious group of boats and their eye-patched crews as they chased each other up and down the Hudson squirting each other with water cannons in good-natured, pirate fashion.
Photo by Anastacia
A vessel captained by BAM hosted us for post-sail drinks aboard in the North Cove Marina where awards were given out for best pirate costume and best decorated pirate vessel.
The best dressed male Pirate was Todd, nicknamed “Cap’n Buttons”, after the nautical buttons on his pirate coat. Regina won for best dressed female pirate. And “Cap’ One-Eyed Gimp” and crew won for best decorated pirate vessel.
The black bunting and skeleton that dangles from the bow of Cap’ Gimp’s boat is a fantastic sight every year.
Captain Nitzan and crew from Sailors NYC had a good show of force with S/V Veronica and they celebrated post-sail with BBQ on the docks. They truly embraced the pirate spirit.
S/V Gitana, our flagship, made her voyage down the East River as well as she hails out of New Rochelle. Gitana is a 1936 wooden yawl. Truly pirate in nature.
Giving thanks and shout outs to all of the pirate participants we’ll undoubtedly miss someone here - so please advise if we do.
But thanks to Sailors NYC’s boats:
“At Last” - Captained by Mark Goldsmith and
“Veronica” - Captained by Nitzan
It was nice to see some new boats and faces on the water including: Cap’ Mike Jasmine's with his sweet new operation “Hudson Cat”. Thanks for joining in!
Andrew Licata with his vessel Dulcinea.
Joel Hoag with North Cove.
David Spence and crew aboard the J105 "Synergy".
Spence and Cap Mark both brought along with them their future generation of pirates.
Thanks to Manhattan Yacht Club Captains & Mates including: Patricia Ensworth with mates - Abominable Alex, Capitalist Chris, and Renegade Randy. Other MYC Folks: Jon Gimpel, RRrrrregina Williamson, Bob Finkelstein, Donna S, and Captain Glen “Veggie” Burger.
Also thanks to Clifton “Cap'n Reaper” for continuing to help organize.
This year we had about 90 participants, (including some youngsters this time around) so it’s great to see the Pirate Sail continue to grow - and as she continues to grow, we’re looking in to making this a charity event to help raise awareness of our waterways and promote clean water.
We hope to continue to share our love of sailing and pirating with the community of New York and her surrounding ports.
- Captain John Hornswoggle McDuber
PIRATE GALLERY 1
Photos by Todd Neville