2013 A Year in Port Polar Bear
Saturday
May 11, 2013
We Battled
today. It was windy and cold, 55 degrees and 25mph winds. It even hailed for a
few minutes fairly lightly. Why do we live in Minnesota?
Tyler (Nagato) and Peter (Kaiser) were the first ones to the pond. Kim
(Washington) and Matt (Indianapolis) were there next. A bit later Aimes (Arizona) and Grant (incomplete Priz
Eugen) came down, Grant used the Sister of the Bike. Not sure if Mike was going
to come but missed out or if he wasn't planning to come all along. A few very
short sorties were completed. Overall the wind and waves coming out of the
north (we battle on the south side of the pond) were too much. The SOB was
swamped several times. With a few holes so was the Kaiser and the Arizona. Kim
had a pump clog and it didn't take too many holes in addition to the constant
waves washing over the decks.
Near the end Peter and Tyler, and later Ames with the SOB threw the boats into
the channel on the other side of the path where there is almost no wind and
shot each other up. That stream is about 20 feet wide and we only used about a
50 foot length. It was pretty fun but probably is a little hard on the hull
skin.
Lots of issues were needing to be worked out. Overall Matt had issues with
feedback (probably from his motors) that he needs to work out. Peter needs a
new skin and to work out a minor electrical glitch with a dead pump switch and
funky firing board in A turret. Kim needs to clean out his boat next time so
the winter saw dust doesn’t find its way to the pump. Aimes
had a radio box leak and still may end up replacing his ESC yet again. Tyler
needs to clean the solder out of his haymaker so he actually can use one of the
best guns on his ship.
It was a fairly good shake down battle, lots of little things to work on. By
the time summer is in full swing we are going to have some great battles with a
good group of new guys.
Tyler
Sunday
June 9, 2013
Weather 3 PPB
0
Maybe we should call yesterday a tie. We did manage to battle, the rain was not
heavy enough to stop us, but it was a pain. The wind was strong, but out of the
east and blocked by the trees. Saturday would have been a perfect day to
battle. Or we could have waited until 4pm Sunday to start.
Down at the pond Matt (Indianpolis) & Mike
(Washington) brought their new ships for battle. Peter brought the Kiaser and Nerdy for a pre NATS test. Kim had the
Washington and his DD. The DD was not ready to battle, looks like it will be
soon. Zach had The Bike and Bob brought out the Warspite.
Dr. Helland showed up after his shift with the Nagato.
We did four sorties, in a battle until you sink then patch style.
Before Tyler got there we split up in fleets Bob, Zach & Kim vs Peter,
Matt, Mike. Peter & Bob slugged next to shore. Bob ripped open a big hole
in the Kiaser and she sank.
For battle #2 Peter changed to the Nerdy. The Nerdy's
micro pump (In line for an upgrade) was not enough and Nerdy sank. Testing
before NATS is a great idea. The sunk ship floated bow up, looking like a
shark as it drove to shore.
Battle #3 Tyler joined in on Peter's fleet. Peter patched up the Kaiser and
took her out. Tyler/Peter sank Bob. Peter sank too. I think Mike sank in this
one. Matt's new battery failed him, he lost control and pulled his CA out of
the battle. I counted 40 below on one side, didn't count the other side.
Battle #4 Bob & Mike patched. Peter left for yoga and chicken. About the
time he left it stopped raining, maybe there's a connection there... Tyler
& Bob sank each other and kept dumping out the water and shooting some more
until the bbs were gone. Tyler said he has 100+ above
and 40+ below.
Bob H
Sunday
August 11, 2013
Port Polar
Bear battle today. Great weather, very still pond, a bit warm at times. No
battle in the past 2 months meant that the weeds had overgrown the battle spot
so we had to chop them out for the about 1/2hr or so with the hedge trimmer. We
had a small turn out, a few guys couldn't make it. Tyler (Nagato), Hudson
(Kongo), Peter (Kaiser), Matt (SoDak). Battle till
you need to patch. First 3 sorties were Tyler/Hudson vs Peter/Matt. Peter sank
in sorties 1 and 3, Matt sank in sortie 3 (52 below). Every time Peter (in the
slow 28 second Kaiser) felt left out of the party he would say "I feel
like the fat chick at a dance." Sorties 4 and 5 we changed partners and
went Tyler/Matt vs Hudson/Peter. Tyler sank in sortie 5 after not patching all
day. There were tons of holes everywhere, I counted 76 discrete belows and 3 very large gashes on the water line, one that
had been there since the first sortie. After adding another battle on to the nats skin, that thing is all patch in the front 12 inches,
and there are plenty of other parts that are shot up too. Overall I had a lot
of fun, I was worried that I would have a hard time getting motivated after nats but that wasn't the case at all. I can't speak for
Peter but I am assuming he had a bit more fun being CD of our battle today than
he did at Nats this year. 2v2 was a really fun
format, lots of chances to work on the finer points of working with a team
mate.
Next battle
is the Ice Breaker on Sept 21 and 22. Right now there are 11 ships signed up
and we may squeeze a few more out of the woodwork between now and then.
Tyler
Saturday/Sunday
September 21/22, 2019, Ice Breaker
A big thanks to all the guys who managed to make it to the
Ice Breaker. If work & school didn't get in the way we would have had three
more both days and four more on Sunday.
We did manage to get 6 sorties in on Saturday and
5 on Sunday. We did not count the last three sortie battle. If you get around
to counting let me know the scores you had.
The fire in Kim’s car was an interesting way to
end the weekend. So was trying to get my van out of the parking spot with a car
parked right behind, again.
My Best 5 was A) Sinking Palmer,
B) The pass on Kim that chewed on a panle.
My Worst 5 was A) Trying new motors and not liking them B) the bowsidemount on Ziryini not
working so Zach could not use a sidemount.
Scores attached.
Bob H
Here is my battle report.
Washington missed her first battle with the
new brushless system. I couldn’t get the voltage cutoff, turned off on
the pump. Didn’t find this problem till I got to the pond and filled her
with water and tried the drives. It would work till I hit full throttle
and then the pump esc would shut down. Also it would go into program
mode. Will have to figure this one out. Ended up putting the brushed
pump in. Thanks Bob for letting me do that. After that she ran
great.
Got sunk by Bob this
morning. I got pinned against shore and Bob put at least 19 in a area about the size of half dollar. Yes, it
was below the waterline. I did pay him back by putting his NC under in
the last sortie.
Tom was running like a scared
little school girl.
Just to try to be like Lou.
I had a battery pack short out while I had everything loaded for the trip
home. I was backing out and smelled burning electronics. Opened up
my trunk and saw smoke pouring from my Nimh
case. One of the packs shorted out and slagged
at least 3 of the cells. Threw that pack in the garbage.
Thanks Bob for hosting the Ice
Breaker. It was a blast running with everyone and the new guys. My
Wichita was going all weekend with 3 different captains that are building or
will be building their own boat. Erik even offered to pay for the
bb’s. I refused because I was just happy to get him on the water.
And like Peter said we are like crack dealers. First hit is free.
Thanks Guys
Kim