I had a great opportunity today to meet the skippers, members and ships of the Pacific Model Warship Club in Central California. Today was their monthly pond get together in Lincoln, California, just north of Sacramento. It was also my first experience with 1/72 scale R/C Combat Warships. First I want to give a shout out to Deryk Haole, Gary Powell and especially John Kort who loaned me his most excellent B-110 which allowed me to take part in three victorious combat sorties. You guys were AWESOME!! Sorry for the few holes I couldn't avoid John, but I did give out much more than I took in.....wink-wink, even through I was a VERY rusty skipper after my two decade break I think I did OK for an old fart. In addition a special thanks goes to Don Perez who was gracious enough to both invite me to and provide transportation to the carnage! I HAD A BALL! I have to say I was having flash backs to the heydays of my first club the South Coast Battle Group, back when J.C. White and Dean McWilliams and I were club officers in the beginning....WHAT A BLAST!! This is a great group of folks, friendly, easy to get along with and lots and lots and lots and did I say, LOTS OF FUN!! I really appreciate a group of folks who's first priority is to have fun with friends. I think that is the most important part of this hobby/sport. I also have to say...WOW! Those were some great looking boats. Lots of detail, Very well built and I can't say it enough...LOTS OF FUN!! Another great thing about today was the reunion with several of the guys that I had battled with and against back in the day when I was with the SCBG and our club would journey north once or twice a year to battle with the Western Warship Club. We had some grand times to be sure. I am happy to say that the Pacific Model Warship Club embodies the ideal of FUN and CAMARADERIE! That is best of what I remember about SCBG. And I am very happy to say that PMWC has a new member just waiting to get back on the water and smell the balsa in the morning! THANKS GUYS FOR A GREAT TIME!! Now all I have to do is fill the shell of that Fletcher Destroyer I picked up today and get ready to meet you on the pond....soon....but not soon enough! THANKS IRONBEARD
Today was an unbelievable event! After a good rain the previous night, the weather was absolutely perfect! You could not ask for more perfect weather. It was really nice catching up with "Ironbeard" again after something like 25 years since the last joint WWCC/South Coast event we had in Fresno, CA in the early 90's. I sure do miss those days! It was also nice getting together with two other former WWCC members, and past club officers from the same time period. I want to thank Steve, Frank and Dave for participating today and making it a really special event. Our first sortie of the day was "Rookies" and new ships only. We had 8 ships battling it out with a one point difference between the winners and the losers. I was only able to get a picture showing six of the eight ships, which are shown below. (From Left to Right: HMS Onslow, USS Edsall, RM Sciracco, DKM Campbelltown, USS McCall and HMwMS Stockholm) Another sortie later in the day, we were able to field 14 "combat" ships on the water at one time, out of the over 20 that made it to the event. Before the day was over everyone was able to see two of the three club leaders ships sitting on the bottom of the pond, and the third was not far away from joining them (I got real, real lucky). I also want to thank the several members that drove in from the SF Bay Area and Jim for once again coming down from Portland. He's also planning to drive down again next month for our Memorial Day weekend event. Gary PMWC Executive Board
Any time Ironbeard, that was a fun event on and below the water. You played well for an old fart and I cant wait to put holes in your boat.
Run run as fast as you can....you can't catch me I'm the Ironbeard man!! I had such a great time and can't wait till I'm back on the water again with you guys. THANKS!! P.S. I actually do feel bad that I'm not fixing the "FEW" holes I did receive in the "loaner boat", but I did give out more than I received so that is a good thing at least for the owner of the loaner boat. However remember that us old farts are not to be ignored.....cause we're sneaky and don't fight fair!
