The battling this weekend was a blast. The weather was great (for November). Upper 50s, with just a short sprinkle of rain. We had 5 boats battling. And three new skippers. First battle. Eric ran his Markgraf. I ran the Ohio. Matt ran his Hindenburg (H-39). Phill ran the Utah. Jerry (Matt's dad) ran the P-cruiser. The teams were. Axis fleet. Hindenburg and Markgraf. Allied fleet. Ohio, Utah, and the P-cruiser. In the first sortie, I was wanting to go after the Markgraf, and try to sink her, but the Hindenburg came looking for some attention, and wouldn't leave me alone, so I tried to concentrate my attack on the Markgraf, while fending off the Hindenburg. But early in the sortie it was becomming clear that if I didn't deal with the Hindenburg, I would probably get sunk. And it seemed that Eric, and Phill seemed content to go around in little circles trying to get shots on each other and leave the larger boats to ourselves. The P-cruiser was doing a fine job of chewing on both of the axis ships from medium range, and for the most part staying away from their guns. At the end of the first sortie, everyone was pumping to some extent, with the Hindenburg and Ohio pumping the most, and carrying the most damage. But nobody seemed in real trouble. I was able to get the Ohio turned around in short order, and found myself with some extra time to do one of the things that I feel is needed between sorties, if time permits. I removed as many of the little balsa bits from inside the hull, and lifted out the pump to clean the screen. In the second sortie, I decided to concentrate on the threat (to me), and go after the Hindenburg, and try to help the Utah out with the Markgraf when I found the chance. Utah was going after the Markgraf again, and the P-cruiser was free to roam about, and shoot at targets of opportunity. At the very opening of the sortie, the Hindenburg and Ohio closed and engaged in a dual-sidemount slugging fest. It was not pretty. And to be honest, I think the Ohio was getting the worst of the exchange. I noticed that the Ohio was slightly down by the head, and had a slight list to port, and was pumping hard. She was starting to roll slightly in the turns. It was starting to not look so good for the allies. And then I took a long look at the Hindenburg in order to decide what course of action I should take. The big German was down in the stern, and he was rolling badly in his turn, and the pump stream was weak. He was having pump problems of some sort. And I decided to step up the pressure, and see what happened. After just a minute or so of chasing him around, it was obvious that he was sinking, and he headed for the shoreline, and went down. The allies had a huge lead, and I decided that I had pushed things as far as was prudent, and called my five minutes and left the scene of the action. As it turned out the Markgraf gave chase, and as I was not able to stay on the move due to the amount of damage that I was carrying, the Markgraf was able to catch me in a corner trying to pump out. I was in trouble big time. That is when Jerry and his P-cruiser tore into the Markgraf like there was no tomorrow. It was awesome. The Markgraf was able to get several more hits on the Ohio as we passed in opposite directions, and the P-cruiser and Markgraf exchanged some hits as well. But the Ohio was able to get some sea room, and get enough of a head start on the Markgraf to be able to stay away from her and survive the five minutes. As it turned out the Markgraf also had a ram penalty against her on the Utah. So the allies pulled off a huge victory. Go allies! Mikey
Nikki No worries. Drop in when you can. If you don't have a boat of your own, you can run one of mine. It was a small meet, but we all had lots of fun. That is what counts the most. Mikey
Matthew and Blair were able to drop in for the second fleet battle, so bad Matt (the older one) let good Matt (the new one), (haha), run his DKM Hindenburg. And Blair ran the USS Ohio. So the teams were. Axis fleet. DKM Hindenburg, and SMS Markgraf. Allied fleet. USS Ohio, USS Utah, and the P-cruiser. In the first sortie, the Markgraf and Utah went after each other, and the P-cruiser went after targets of opportunity again. The Ohio mixed it up with both of the axis ships. But the Hindenburg seemed attracted to the Ohio, and spent quite a lot of time both behind, and beside the big American battlewagon. All of the ships took and received some damage, and late in the sortie the P-cruiser went dead in the water, and sank as she was gently pushed to the shoreline. It appeared that her battery had died. So at the end of sortie one, the axis were ahead. We got the boats turned around in short order, and as we were launching them Matthew mentioned that he thought that he and his pops should switch boats, but as his Hindenburg was pumping pretty good, and had a fair amount of damage, Blair would have none of that. Haha. With age, comes wisdom. And perhaps patience. So in the second sortie the Markgraf and Utah did their thing again. The P-cruiser did her thing again, as she was allowed to re-enter the battle. But now it was the Ohio that was chasing around the Hindenburg. The hunter had become the hunted to some extent. The big ships occasionally passed through the small ship action, and shots were exchanged. The P-cruiser went dead in the water late in the sortie, with battery trouble again, and made it into the shallows before sinking. So now the axis had a huge lead. But the Hindenburg's speed was just enough to keep her out in front of the Ohio, and the Markgraf was able to carry her damage well. So the sortie ended in an axis victory. Mikey
So although we didn't have a very big turn-out at this event, we made sure that everyone had a good time. It was great fun running, and seeing some more new boats. We saw some new faces. And we spent the day talking up the boats, past battles, the fleet make-up for next year, and all of the things that make this hobby fun. We got some phone calls from some of the folks that were not able to attend expressing their support as well. Sorry to those that had to leave messages. I try to take them all if I can, just to keep everyone up-dated. All in all, it was a great time, spent with great friends, that share an interest in the boats. Thanks to all that made the event all that it could be. Special thanks to Tom and Sue for allowing us to invade their space again. I was never sure that I was up to attending this event so late in the year. But I am glad I did drop in. And I enjoyed the comraderie most of all. I did miss having the kids there this time around. But they were tied up with other fun things with their friends elsewhere. So perhaps next time. Mikey
