Monkeys love kittens

This has nothing to do with piracy or even sailing, unless you totally stretch things and say that sailors and pirates used to have monkeys as pets just like they did parrots.  But parrots do not adopt kittens.

Logan, by the way, loves both monkeys and kittens.  So forgive me the distraction and just go "Awwwww."  OK?

Congratulations are in order

Huzzah for the "Purple Pirates" for winning the "Float the Fleet" contest in support of the Lady Washington and the Hawaiian Chieftain.  We gave it our best, but to the winners go the spoils, aye?  More importantly, here's to the tall ships we love.  May your timbers be strong and your sails full.

Lake Union Wooden Boat Festival 2011

Sails are ready

Day One, Saturday, 7/2:  Get In The Groove.  As usual, the arrangement of the Festival is completely different from the year before.  There seems to be more space for vendors in the new Lake Union Park, but there seem to be less boats.  Lavengro, Zodiac, and Adventuress represent for the tall ships.  Logan does what he does--fascinate some, frighten others.  I am pleasantly surprised to be joined by old pirate buddies the Carlsens, who find me at a table behind the boat house.  They join me as the beer garden opens, which this year has been expanded because it is now being run by nearby Jillian's but has lost any sense of character, with big Redhook and Budweiser banners and out of place music like Huey Lewis and Elton John.  I storm the Model Boat Tent and the pond--with flintlock and megaphone!--and progress to the Arthur Foss.  My Pirate Pied Piper routine pulls in a young boy named Matthew, who sits next to me and watches for the British Navy with my brass telescope as I get down to Story Time.

Blue Lou Logan, LIVE at the Center for Wooden Boats this weekend!

This be the Journal of Blue Lou Logan

It is time once again for the CWB's annual Lake Union Wooden Boat Festival, this year Saturday, July 2nd, through Monday, July 4th.  I will be doing Pirate Story Time each day at 2:00, entertaining and educating on the likes of Teach, Bonny and Reade, Lafitte, and even how piracy played a part in the U.S. Revolution!  If you don't find me there aboard the tugboat Arthur Foss, I may be on the dock, on the lake crewing one of the many FREE public sails, or--of course--at the pub.  Have a good time, get salty, and come see the show!

Somalia update: Yemen, the next pirate coast?

In my discussions of Somali piracy, I have not infrequently mentioned that the problem is not a Somali problem alone.  My very first post on modern piracy noted that both Somalis and Yemenis were taken from the now-famous M/V Quest, and in my post on the "Jeffersonian past" I proposed that Yemen may become a new center of pirate activity.  The map of pirate attacks up to 2010 clearly shows a high concentration of reported incidents immediately off of Yemen.  The cultures and governments of Yemen and Somalia have had a long, close relationship; Yemen has unconditionally accepted Somali refugees.  But does this really mean that Yemen plays or could play the same role as Somalia as a pirate haven?  I decided to look closer at history and recent events.