War Shots: 2002 IR/CWCC Northeast Fall Regionals

The 2002 NE Fall Regionals were held early this year, on August 24-25, again at Greenbrier State Park in Hagerstown, MD. 16+ captains showed up despite the threat (or for the drought-stricken NE, hope) of rain, but the rain stayed away and we had two days of mostly sunny skies. The drought made the lake shallower than usual, and we noticed a difference between the level now and just a month ago at the 2002 NATS. The shallow water made the moss situation worse than normal, but it did cause some pretty sinks. As they went down the stern would hit bottom quickly but the ship would then sit bow up for a few seconds as the air escaped. A shallow area out in the middle of the battling area, never a problem before, became shoal water for the large boats, especially Carl Camurati's Yamato.

Several rookies showed up, including Steve Sumpter with a beautiful Arizona he built, while Dan Sumpter brought Tim Filemyer's old Derfflinger and Pat Morrissey arrived with a Brooklyn light cruiser. The sides were pretty even and allowed us to battle in traditional Axis/Allied format. We only counted scores for the first battle, with the Axis winning by a score of 11,205 to 3,935. After that we just battled for fun, and I think we succeeded. At the end of Sunday's battle the last three ships on the water (Matt Moury's von der Tann, Cameron Moury's Nassau, and my Hindenburg) decided to see who would sink first if we cut off our pumps. It took several minutes but they went down in the above order within 10-15 seconds of each other.

Ronnie Hunt surprised us all by showing up and took some photos while we battled and he has kindly allowed me to post them. I've got some photos as well and will post them as soon as I get them back from the developer and scan them in. Enjoy.

Battle Photos (by Me)
Battle Photos (by Ronnie Hunt)
Battle Photos (by Paul Henry)