Tentative plans for a third 2008 Treaty battle in Nova Scotia have been scuttled by the early arrival of unpleasant winter weather. Yesterday there was an unexpected blizzard in parts of the province and the main highway to the rest of Canada was blocked. (NS sticks out into the Atlantic like a huge peninsula.) Cars were stranded for more than 12 hours overnight due to crashes where the highway crosses a range of steep hills known for bad weather. Here in Halifax we had a mix of freezing rain and wet snow driven by high winds so everything is caked with ice and hard snow this morning. Sub-freezing temps are to continue so the lakes will soon be frozen. This ends a year of club reorganization and resumption of RCNC battling in NS, an improvement on no battling in 2007. There are now two clubs in NS (NABS and the NATCF) battling under Treaty and IRCWCC rules, and a new club in New Brunswick that may be using IRCWCC rules or Curt Stoke's proposed 'Combat X' rules. NABS held a large battle in NB in mid-September, simultaneous with the first Canadian Treaty Combat battle in NS, and the NATCF had a second battle, also attended by a few NABS members, in October. Great fun was had and we're looking forward to the start of another and more active year of RCNC! Bob
Was this early for the year, I thought you guys normally started around this time of year? Its a chilly 68 here in Orlando, but will get back up in the mid 70's just in time for this weekends battle.
David, We have snow flurries but often no snow accumulation on the ground until late December. The winter weather in New England is usually worse than ours, probably due to NS sticking out into the ocean and having the warm Gulf Stream a hundred or so miles offshore. It's unusual to get a storm like yesterday's this early, though last winter was an exceptionally bad one and started as early. This area may get worse (colder) winter weather as global warming worsens and affects ocean circulation. No one fancies wading into near freezing lakes to recover ships from the bottom, though I've seen it happen. The first R/C combat battle I saw was on this date (Nov. 20) in 1995. The loser, wearing only his underwear, had to completely immerse himself in a local lake to recover his Invincible (sunk by Stokomoto's Bismarck). He emerged into subzero weather with water vapour steaming off him and was so excited he proceeded to count damage without getting dressed! My wife to be commented "These guys are crazy." Another winter incident saw Stokomoto arriving at my home in mid-December (1997?) asking to borrow my wetsuit. A Northampton had gone down in about 15' of water in the same lake and could be clearly seen on the bottom. Curt and I are of quite different sizes so the wetsuit could not be completely zippered shut. Gutsy Stokomoto made a valiant but unsuccessful attempt to reach the bottom and emerged with teeth chattering. The model was recovered by a scuba diver after a few days on the bottom. I think it's safe to conclude there will be no more battles in NS until April or May. Bob
And I was complaining the water was cold here last Sunday when I recovered the PE that was lost for the last couple of months.
David do not take this the wrong way, but living in Florida has spoiled you guys down there. I am glad for the cooler weather up here we get as it makes good for refit time and build time for me, but I think me and Tim may try and have a one on one in December at a place mear his and my dads. Now me living in Atlanta and having colder weather than Florida still is not me saying that you guys in the great white north have it easy. Actually my last visit to my Grandfather in Kansas in January told me Georgia is mild in comparison. It is great to know even our Norther friends get out and Battle in the cold.
Tell me about it. Its a balmy 23 degrees normally at 6 in the morning for me, so yea, you guys have it easy. we've only had flurries, real light, no accumulation though. Its nice though, to have snow on christmas, but then again, who wants to get up early on christmas to shovel? Thats right, didnt think so.
here in so cal we go all year but the ships get tore-up so you need a 2nd ship. so you can fix the 1st 1
My teeth still chatters when I think of that Bob... what was I thinking???Oye! I remember how much colder the water is the deeper you go. If I had a weight belt I could have made it to the bottom with less effort but hypthermia was setting in as I found myself feeling very relaxed in the water after a while. The model was upright on the bottom but a little stuck in the mud. 3 days later my friend a professional diver had a sub zero dry suit and was able to retrieve the model within minutes however he had to break the thin ice first to get into the water. The whole pond was frozen. The model worked fine afterward though. No damage to it.
Well we have another winter storm on the way, I was hoping to get out on Sunday for a bit but it may be like the North Atlantic so we'll see. If we get the 30 cm (12 inches for our Southern friends), it will be hard to get to the water let alone get in with a boat. J
My 18th battle got cancelled due to rain but one week later, my pond is frozen solid. No ice battle this year...
oh darn! oh well, i guess it means that its only build sessions from here on out. Oh, and it was a beautiful 16 degrees this morning. beat that!
If there was any doubt that Nova Scotian captains were done battling for 2008 the blizzard we had over the last 24 hours (the second in 3 days) has buried the lakes under tons of dense snow, the kind that sticks to shovels like glue! It took Kim and me over an hour to dig out the cars and clear a path to the street, and me another 2 hours to shovel 120' of sidewalk and clear the foot of snow that buried the entire 24' x 8' front veranda despite it being roofed. Crazy weather for November! It was a relief to get back inside and resume work on HMCS Uganda. Bob
