Best Pilot Aloft
In a city built on and by daring airship pirates is it any wonder that that one of the most important cultural events is a competition of the skills and innovation of those same airship crews.
The Best Pilot Aloft is a race through narrow and treacherous mountain passes, fighting vicious crosswinds and often each other, the first airship to complete the course earns themselves great acclaim, a plaque on the monument in the cities central square, prize money and of course many a free drink in the cities taverns.
The Race starts at 1pm with the firing of the cities defensive guns, those crew not already on their ships then race to them and cast off as quickly as they can.
Once the race is under way the action is relayed to the crowd by radios on the observation ships. Radios being rare the city radio is piped to large speakers in the central square and the docks where the crowds gather and cheer on their favoured ships. The entire event resembles a great open air festival.
Airships of any design can enter, there was even a biplane entered one year which while fast proved too fragile for the conditions. The most common ship style to win the race, are the small sloops with their efficient sail plan and lightweight hull they easily out manoeuvre their larger cousins.
While lethal weapons are banned from the race the pirate definition of nonlethal is somewhat broad and so ship will be seen firing all manner of contraptions at each other, from chain to foul sails to lighting guns turned down to just shy of lethal. Even with all the shooting it is actually the weather that claims the most victims with many a ship blown into cliff sides or hit by actual lighting.
Each year an average of 25 ships and their crews compete and each year an average of 7 of those ships will be lost with all hands, many of the others will lose a crew member or two.
As their discussion got louder they drew attention, people started placing bets on the winner. The first race was a success, the Landlord of the Rusty Sailor made a lot of money that day so he got to thinking, what if he advertised this as a regular event, it would boost his business in hard times.
The first official Best pilot aloft was held some months later and gathered quite a bit of attention, High Tortuga was quite young back then and people welcomed the fun and distraction from the news of the Conquest of the rest of north America.
The race grew in popularity over the next few years until, it was still quite local however, that is until the 2066 race which was a disaster, airships had become better armed in the last years and pirate crews more prevalent, the race devolved into a full blown airship battle just yards out of the dock, many missed cannon shots struck the city and one burning airship crashed into a dockside warehouse. The Great Pirate captains who ran high Tortuga stepped in, they had each competed in the race in the past and were reluctant to ban it so they took control introducing actual rules and official recognition, lethal weapons were banned on the assumption that there is only so much damage you can do with something that can’t kill people. (this may have made sense at the time but technology advances and pirate innovation have increasingly made this less true, until something major happens no one is interested in changing things)
The next year saw the introduction of the monument in the city square where the names of famous ships crews from races past are recorded. As the years passed many a Skyloft youngster would see the names on their plaques and dream of their own name among the famous pirates.
Race Day
The race is always held at the end of September, people come from all corner to watch and compete, the city is strung with flags and bunting, the ships, crews and spectators gather at the docks often hours before the race is to start. Bets are made, ale drunk and rivalries between crews often result in punch-ups. (Many a crew find themselves unable to compete due to pre race festivities)The Race starts at 1pm with the firing of the cities defensive guns, those crew not already on their ships then race to them and cast off as quickly as they can.
Once the race is under way the action is relayed to the crowd by radios on the observation ships. Radios being rare the city radio is piped to large speakers in the central square and the docks where the crowds gather and cheer on their favoured ships. The entire event resembles a great open air festival.
To all of you listening out there this is Mad Rankin of High Tortuga with the Best Pilot Aloft.
We’ve got a big crowd here in Tortuga today the crews have been performing their pre race rituals, with the crews of Jenny’s Revenge and Distant thunder already out of the race due to a truly spectacular Tavern brawl.
And with the sound of the city guns their off, Storm God is the first away from the pier followed closely by Burning Damnation and Privateers Gold, it looks like the crew of Fortune King have had one too many pre race pints, they’ve left half the crew passed out on dockside.
Heading for the first post and Privateers Gold has lit up Buccaneers Curse with a lighting gun, you can see the crew jerking about on deck, this looks to be a great race folks.
The Race
The Race its self consists of a 240 mile course winding through narrow mountain passes, the course is different each year, the waypoints are marked with large metal rods with numbers on the top, these are only set out a few days before the race to help prevent interference with the race.Airships of any design can enter, there was even a biplane entered one year which while fast proved too fragile for the conditions. The most common ship style to win the race, are the small sloops with their efficient sail plan and lightweight hull they easily out manoeuvre their larger cousins.
While lethal weapons are banned from the race the pirate definition of nonlethal is somewhat broad and so ship will be seen firing all manner of contraptions at each other, from chain to foul sails to lighting guns turned down to just shy of lethal. Even with all the shooting it is actually the weather that claims the most victims with many a ship blown into cliff sides or hit by actual lighting.
Each year an average of 25 ships and their crews compete and each year an average of 7 of those ships will be lost with all hands, many of the others will lose a crew member or two.
It’s dangerous enough piloting an airship in high winds near mountains, but doing it with every stitch of canvas on and another ship off your stern shooting who knows what at you, No Thanks.
History
In the early days of the skyloft cities the first race started as a drunken bet between several airship crews as to who’s ship was faster, they decided to race for it, not happy with a straight line race, each crew attempted to one up the other by adding conditions, (first to circle the city 3 times, “nah too easy”, first to get to Helios, “nah that would take too long”, “I know lets race through the mountain passes”)As their discussion got louder they drew attention, people started placing bets on the winner. The first race was a success, the Landlord of the Rusty Sailor made a lot of money that day so he got to thinking, what if he advertised this as a regular event, it would boost his business in hard times.
The first official Best pilot aloft was held some months later and gathered quite a bit of attention, High Tortuga was quite young back then and people welcomed the fun and distraction from the news of the Conquest of the rest of north America.
The race grew in popularity over the next few years until, it was still quite local however, that is until the 2066 race which was a disaster, airships had become better armed in the last years and pirate crews more prevalent, the race devolved into a full blown airship battle just yards out of the dock, many missed cannon shots struck the city and one burning airship crashed into a dockside warehouse. The Great Pirate captains who ran high Tortuga stepped in, they had each competed in the race in the past and were reluctant to ban it so they took control introducing actual rules and official recognition, lethal weapons were banned on the assumption that there is only so much damage you can do with something that can’t kill people. (this may have made sense at the time but technology advances and pirate innovation have increasingly made this less true, until something major happens no one is interested in changing things)
The next year saw the introduction of the monument in the city square where the names of famous ships crews from races past are recorded. As the years passed many a Skyloft youngster would see the names on their plaques and dream of their own name among the famous pirates.
The Rules
The rules are simple and sparse.- Any ship and crew may enter provided they register in time.
- You must pass between all the marker posts in order.
- Any ship that flies above the observation ships is deemed to be abandoning the race.
- No lethal weapons may be fired at another competitor.
- No Atomic, Biological or Chemical weapons. (Yes this apparently needed its own rule. Pirates)
- No competitors may bet on themselves to lose. (Not that any smart person would take that bet)
Angry Princess
Crimson Galley
I'm intrigued! I'm curious: What about it is so great about the reward that people are willing to die for it? Is the acclaim so high or is it just the nature of the captains? What sort of variations are there in the course since it's different every time, and what is the geography of the mountain range itself like?
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Hi thanks for the interest. It's about bragging rights, money made, rivals upstaged and the airship crews that would compete are the sort where no risk would be boring, most are pirate crews.