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BATTLE REPORTS - The Tangler at Engler - May 2010
The Tangler
by Steve Reichenbach
Battlers from Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Missouri met over the Memorial Day weekend at Engler Park in Farmington, Missouri for one of the best regional events of the year! It was a great time to meet up with old friends, and make some new friends, as dozens of ships hit the cocoa colored water under sunshine and cool breezes as the captains stood on the shore, or preferrably under a nice big shade tree by the pond.
The first boat on the water on Saturday morning was Brian Lamb's destroyer, which promptly came up with the first catch of the day... a fishing line wrapped around the starboard prop along with a 3-pronged hook and a bit of moss. First decision of the day, yes the captains agreed, there WILL be a moss rule. Fortunately the moss was only an occassional nuisance and not a major factor during the event. Chris Au also brought out a destroyer, a Russian boat rumored to be named the "trashcan", and painted with smurf's blood.
One of the fun parts of getting together with old friends is seeing the kids grow up. During the event Kevin Bray had a library of ships battled by his two sons, Bryan and Jason. Jason had quite an event, sinking a North Carolina and a West Virginia in battle! Bryan was also caught with excessive smiling on more than one occassion!
Not everyone had to travel far for the fun. Kevin Hovis drove from his place about 30 minutes away, to bring his Mighty Missouri to battle! Rick Witsell made the drive over from Kansas City with his cruiser, the Salt Lake City!
Tom Palmer made it up for the event, and had one of the most popular boats, the West Virginia! The "wee vee" is fun to battle, as it takes a lickin, and keeps on tickin. Tom's reliable boat made it into every battle I saw.
Mike Gregson made the Tangler his first battle event. Mike is building a cruiser, the Little Rock. During the event Mike battled with the DesMoines and got to "ride the bike", running the Minneapolis. Mike's the one with the little hat!
A couple of sticks were put into the water 100 feet apart, and before long everyone had their boats on the water running time trials, and began filling CO2 bottles to tweak guns.
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