The IRCWCC Nationals is in Oakboro, NC July 18-22! Just a couple of weeks 'til Nats, information is on the IRC web site, www.ircwcc.org . Look under schedule for hotel info etc.
I'm one of those types that likes to play with numbers. Luckily, a Nats gives LOTS of numbers to play with. Here are a few numbers from this year's IRCWCC Nats ... Final Score Allied: 99050 Axis: 117980 Overall, only around an 18K difference in scores. From what I understand, the Allies actually had the Axis lead as low as 4K'ish at one point, though that could be a rumour. Hit Percentage (based on total number of available BBs vs # of counted holes) Allied: 17.2% Axis: 33.0% By the hit percentage, the Axis fleet did an incredible 33% average compared to the Allied 17.2% average. Not that 17.2% is bad either compared to the average 13% - 15% traditionally seen in past Nats. Yet 33% is amazing for a week of battling. The Axis fleet also managed to shoot 39.9% in the Monday AM battle whereas the Allies only managed a 21.7% during the Tuesday AM battle. The percentage was derived by taking the total number of BBs available to each fleet for each battle and dividing that figure by the total number of holes counted. Of course, these are raw numbers due to the fact that not all ships shot all of their BBs before calling 5 or before sinking. Additionally, ships with half unit pumps may cause a small variation in the final percentage. Above/On/Belows: Allied: 3538/464/1034 Axis: 1615/419/1144 Woah. The Axis did twice the number of aboves that the Allies did. That is 1923 more aboves for 19230 points. Add in the 45 more ons for 1125 points and that would account for the 33% hit percentage. The Allies outshot the Axis in belows however with 110 more overall for 5500 points. The Allies average 182.1 belows on the Axis while the Axis average 155.6 on the Allies per battle. The night battle skews the numbers somewhat towards the Axis with the singular lopsided 2 to 1 belows advantage by the Axis fleet. Sinks (#/Points) Allied: 18/16700 Axis: 13/11900 The Allies had 5 more sinks worth 4800 points more than the Axis. Not bad, but raw sink numbers are not very accurate when it comes to preventable sinks, i.e. sinks from mechanical failures vs damage. I browsed the sink list and looked at the damage ships took. One can reasonably assume that a ship that sank with low damage had a mechanical problem of some sort. Note that this is highly subjective, especially since I do not remember or may not know if a person sank due to mechanical problems. I can assume though that a class 2 - 3 ship shouldn’t sink with less than 5 belows, a class 4 - 5 ship shouldn’t sink with 10 or less belows, or a class 6 - 7 ship with less than 20 belows. Possible Preventable Sinks Allied: 14 Axis : 3 Wow. Based on the criteria above, the Allies could have had as much as 14 preventable sinks out of 18 sinks total. Meanwhile, the Axis had 3 possibe preventable sinks out of 13. That is a significant difference! And definately shows that the Axis had the more reliable ships ... for this year at least.
Another thing to consider when addressing the amount of Belows in relationship to sink is the quantity in a small area. Example: I took the Alien award with 57 belows in the Tirpitz because the holes where spread evenly down the length of the hull. But, at the same time, I sunk Thursday AM with 25 belows when the Allies "culled" me from the herd and enveloped me with the ID's on either side. Because I couldn't move, their shot placement was in a tight grouping with each side suffering a nickel size hole. (Thanks Don & Tim) LOL
Wow now I don't feel like I wasted my bbs when I was shooting high. You counted Nagato as preventable right? I'm not sure the Iboat sink was preventable, running the bow up on shore and tipping over in your first battle while lining up a shot could happen to any big gun captain unfamiliar with the raw power and acceleration of fast gun ships. Certainly it was not as awesome as the sudden demise of Don's Massachucetts when it wrapped up a piece of surveyor's twine in the prop and winched itself under at full speed. inch: Shows how recently the Oakboro lake was built. I have pictures of both but the software I was using to resize photos timed out. I may post them later when I get them resized. Ron Hunt
Sounds like a tight event that could have went either way. Hope everyone had a great time. Look forward to reading the battle reports!
Ron: Yup, counted the Nagato as a preventable yet unforeseen sink. Heh. Don's winching sink wasn't counted as a sink, so therefore is not counted here as a sink.
Don's winching sink was even cooler looking than him going down with all guns blazing on Friday. IMHO. Did it make it on your video? I only had time to get one picture as it happened and a couple of the aftermath.
Oh Don is not having much luck at Nats these last few years. What with him slipping and falling in backwards with his TX in his hands nearly landing on a ship and now the winch sink.
THe Go Pro on the Nagato was cool. It seemed as if the ship was much lower in the water than the NC that were chasing it.
The Nagato is much lower in the water than the NCs that were chasing it. The step deck submerges every time I make a tight turn. And on to the pictures: First is Don's winching (wenching?) sink. This was so sudden I almost didn't get a picture. He had to cut it lose with a knife. Don went back and retreived the rest of the surveyors twine. I think it was probably left from when the lake was constructed. Ron Hunt
Wooowwwwww. My heart stopped just briefly looking at that. I remember my Bismarck in Nova Scotia getting caught on a line and ended up winching itself to a buoy marker used by the sailboat models. I had to paddle out lying on a queen size air mattress and with a very small pocket knife cut the Bismarck loose. I had to grab the model by the stern and have my friend tow me in by the Bismarck. One of my most embarrasing moments.
Poor Don. Reminds me of the live fish on an old broken fishing line that I caught with my first Hood. It didn't end well at all. Well. Except for the fish. Mikey
