Hey, folks! The Western Warship Combat Club is having a VERY special club recruiting opportunity this year. We've been invited to hold our MAY battle for this year at the annual California Bay Area Maker Faire. The Maker Faire is basically a get-together party for all the inventors, mad scientists, and engineers in the area to show off what they do. Basically, people like us who haven't discovered the hobby yet [:D] One of our members showed off his boat last year, and got so many visitors that the event organizers asked us to have one of our battles as a major part of the faire. This year, we've been given an arena in which we can completely control the traffic and spectator areas, and we've come up with a way to build a 60' x 30' pond with a 4' high, transparent shield on 3 sides, with a materials cost of less than $1,500 - all reusable (with the possible exception of the plastic liner).
We tested the shield power at point blank range with an over-pressurized shore battery, and found it to be bullet proof. We assembled all of this in a stiff wind, also, and had no troubles. We can build the pool with safety shields installed in a day. Filling it will take a while (maybe 2 days with a garden-variety hose), and some rounds are going to escape through ricochet, but all spectators will be in bleachers, and all will be wearing safety glasses. Small children, or anyone not comfortable with thepossibility of getting stung, can stand in one of two screened gazebos which our club already has available for this purpose. Plus, everyone signs a waiver before entering (Yes, I know, it's only a psychological nudge, but it apparently makes people more aware of the danger.), and we can keep everyone out of the battle area with gates.
At any rate, we are on our way to bringing our sport in all its glory to the masses.
The event is on May 3 and 4, at the San Mateo County fairgrounds. We will hold two honest-to-goodness fight-em-all sink-em-all battles per day, along with smaller one-on-one battles and demonstrations the rest of the time. Anyone who is in the area is invited to come.
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