My Year as Captain Kidd

My year as Captain Kidd of the Seafair Pirates officially started at the Pirates landing at Shilshoe. It really started much earlier with the planning that a "Captain Elect" must do for his crew. Each Captain selects the color of the "I've been had" pin of his year. Many Captains have chosen their high school or college colors. I tried to have a pin that was exactly like no other in the 44 years of the Pirates.

Their are two potential problems that concern every Captain Kidd. Have you heard the expression, "Don't rain on my parade?" Well, that's the first worry. That the Torchlight Parade will turn the spiffy Pirates into drowned rats. We all try to wear our finest Pirate costumes for that event. We call it the "Show."

The second concern of the Captain and all the Pirates is the Moby Duck. It is 50 years old this year. And we know that at any time it can sputter and die on us in the middle of an event. We have several fine mechanics that work miracles and keep our beloved ship afloat.

The Captain will always be in a red coat and three cornered hat with feathers. This tells the public and the press who is our leader. It is also easy for the Pirates to spot and follow his fine red coat. Whenever Captains get together at our annual Captain's banquet, it's fun to see their various outfits.

I am especially proud of some of the "Honorary Seafair Pirates" I've knighted during my year. This is an honor only given to a few lucky Pirate supporters. Noted Honorariums have been Cindi Rinehart of KOM0 TV., The Honorable Governor Gore of the Cayman Islands, Christopher of Christopher's photography, Glen Blue of Olympic Press, Tom Oakley of Overlake Photo,, John Stofflet of KING TV, Dusin Rath, Mad Dog Adams the famous comedian, and Brian Bonus. The greatest joy for any Captain is seeing his crew give back to the community that we call home. The Pirates raised $2,000 for the Tux and Tails auction for the Humane Society by granting Doug Lindal a ride on Moby Duck for the Torchlight Parade. This will be something he will never forget! And with the help of the owners of BZ's Pub, and caring people like Lola Rankin and Dorothy Sherwood we raised money for the Boyer Children's Clinic. Pirates John Armstrong and John Ogden planned our annual "Leisure Man's Lunch." We thank Kettell's Restaurant for their help with this project for the past nine years!

But now it's time to go back to being The Spider Man and turn over the red coat and feathers to Bob Odman. He is our new Captain and he will make a good one. A Pirate can only be Captain Kidd one time, for one year. I hope it doesn't go as fast for Bob as it went for me. I thank my crew for a great year of Pirate memories!


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