A new broom sweeps clean they say but the new management in charge of the Cayman Island’s National Festival Pirates Week has swept off all what was exciting and good about the Saturday Landing and Float Parade.

It wasn’t exactly spectacular last year but even that was twice as good as the lame effort that was watched with many adverse remarks from the spectators who were expecting a lot better last Saturday afternoon.

After the morning rain threatened to upset the event it might have been welcome. To stand there a long time in the heat from the sun to watch a very tired looking bunch of pirates stroll off a beautiful galleon to ‘fight’ amongst themselves (just a few) whilst surrounded by the Governor’s soldiers with muskets was boring for all of us and ridiculous and I am being kind. That the soldiers with muskets were then overpowered by these tired pirates with just cutlasses just added to the absurdity of the so called ‘spectacular’.

Unfortunately, the float parade wasn’t very much better. There were very few that you could tell some effort and imagination had been spent. Why no one gives instructions to the people on the floats to actually ‘do something’ when the float stops is beyond my comprehension. Just to look disinterested at the spectators or ignore them by talking to their companions on the float is not what we, as spectators, want to see.

There has been budget cuts to the Festival but the observations I have made don’t cost any money. Just some direction.

There were better dressed pirates in the crowd that were not part of the event and some of these really did get into the pirate feel and interact.

The one bright ‘spark’ was the music and I thank goodness for that.

It is very hard and disappointing for me to say this about the National festival that has been such a large part of my life.

The mistakes I made when I started with the festival were made all over again on Saturday and I regret to say were worse.

At no time did I ever allow pirates to stroll off a galleon and not run and attack as a mass body.

That is the spectacle. It is colourful and exciting to watch. And plenty of shouts and screams and loud bangs to go with it. That cost almost nothing. Put some smoke with it and sea explosions with perhaps some colour and everybody watching will clap. Blow up something big on the little island with some fire all at the same time. None of that is difficult. Add some gorgeous girls into the mix.

Didn’t the people in charge watch what has gone before?

Over the last few years I have watched how the Trial of the Pirates has changed to a “let’s get it over quickly” pirates sentencing and quite frankly it isn’t even worth doing now. To waste the talented actors is a great shame. If you can’t give it the 30mins it deserves then scrap it.

I was shocked to see CITN/Cayman27 did not cover the event live this year. Perhaps they knew in advance what the sorry affair was going to be?