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Captain’s Log: Paintball Fights Are Good, Clean Fun
The two gunslingers pulled their hats down low and slowly strode toward each other, with eyes locked and trigger fingers twitching and tapping holsters.
They stopped 10 yards apart and slowly began to circle. Hard but expressionless gazes mirrored their intensity as they took the measure of each other and watched for signs of weakness or indecision. Seconds ticked and felt like minutes. One fighter pulled a toothpick from a parched mouth with an idle hand and flicked it away. As it hit the ground on one end and bounced, gun hands slapped leather and weapons blazed.
Paint splattered Bill’s chest, while Kate’s shirt stayed clean. She won that round, fair and square.
There are two kinds of paintball fights, in my way of thinking. Bill is a master of the hunt and a guerrilla-battle style of fighting. Kate was teaching him a lesson about the steel-nerve style of stand-up shootouts. Both styles are a kick and a half.
Bill’s hunt-and-attack style brings out the warrior in a person. It can be great fun to employ stealth tactics to approach a target. C’mon, fess up. How long has it been since you’ve sneaked up on an enemy in a play fight, jumped out and plastered the dickens out of the varmint?
A fun alternative tactic can be to set up an ambush in perfect cover. When your target approaches, your ingenuity becomes obvious. The beauty of this is that if your opponent heads away from your ambush rather than into it, you can just sneak off and try again. If you have a number of players and paint guns, you can break into armies and stage classic battles or engage in guerrilla tactics.
Kate’s stand-up gunfighter style has always been my own favorite. I like that look-you-in-the-eye style of battle where steady nerves, speed and skill win the day. The mental side of the game is a battle of will as much as a battle of wits. The skills are important, too. Quickness counts, but only when matched with precision action and true aim. Get it wrong, and you’ll not only have your opponent’s paint on your chest, but perhaps your own paint on your foot!
Have some fun, buy some paint guns and play. I don’t care if you’re 80 or a fraction of that age, it’s all just good, clean fun. Clean? Yes, the paint is nontoxic and washes off easily.
— Capt. David Bacon operates WaveWalker Charters and is president of SOFTIN Inc., a nonprofit organization providing seafaring opportunities for those in need. Visit softininc.blogspot.com to learn more about the organization and how you can help.
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» on 12.05.09 @ 08:34 AM
Where do you go to do that? It does sound like fun.
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