May 20 WCC Battle at Bonney Lake

This battle was the first one I've participated in since moving to Seattle. It was organized by the Washington Cascade Column (WCC), which uses the IR/CWCC rules for battling. Contrary to the larger weekend-long battles I am used to back East, the WCC prefers smaller one-day events that occur with greater frequency. This particular battle took place literally in the back yard of Kelly McCliman, who lives on Debra Jane Lake (Bonney Lake is actually the name of the town!). His home has a fairly good set up for boat battling, as it has a low brick retaining wall  and water that is about 18" deep at the shore line.  We had around 5-6 ships on the lake at any one time, and got a total of 3 sorties in. Since I didn't have room to bring my own boat Phill Lowe was nice enough to let me run one of his ships, the Westfalen. She is a model of German Nassau-class battleship that, aside from being slightly slower and more maneuverable, is actually very similar to my own ship in terms of armament and overall size.  The day of the battle, it rained off and on (heavily at times), but it didn't dampen our spirits as we had a couple of large tents set up to battle from under.  Overall, it was a really fun time, and I look forward to my next WCC event!

Here is an overall shot of the McCliman's back yard, showing the battle site.

Here is a shot of the pit area. In the foreground is Kelly's Nagato, while an Invincible receives some attention in the background.

This Warspite belongs to Phill's father. I had the "honor" of recovering her from about 12' of water!

Here is a nice shot of Phill's Richelieu, which is the first ship of this type I've ever seen on the water.

Here is another first for me, a Nassau. This is the boat Phill lent me for the battle, the Westfalen.

For a little fun, Kelly brought out this pirate ship that he bought ready to sail for $300.

This action shot shows how close the boats could get to shore with no fear of grounding, even for the larger ships like the Richelieu. Notice also the rain spatters on the water!

Air Raid! This family of ducks wandered into the battle area a couple of times.

Andy Rucker