Sharing one of my favorite stories from years past. I wrote it after a particularly fun event. Not sure if I’ve ever shared this story with you, but it is worthy of enjoying again, if I did.
Two gunslingers pulled their hats down low and strode deliberately 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 evidenced their intensity as they took the measure of one another and looked 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 and bounced, gun hands slapped leather and weapons blazed.
Paint splattered Furman’s chest, while Mona’s shirt stayed clean. She won that round, fair and square. There are two kinds of paint ball fights, in my way of thinking. Furman is the master of the hunt and guerilla battle style of fighting. Mona was teaching him a lesson about the steel nerve style of standup shootouts. Both styles are a kick and a half.
So tell me, how long has it been since you’ve snuck up on an enemy in a playfight, jumped out and plastered the dickens out of the varmint? Furman’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.
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 rethink it 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 guerilla tactics.
Mona’s standup gunfighter style has always been my own favorite and matches my style perfectly. 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 with true aim. Get it wrong and you’ll not only have your opponent’s paint on your chest, but your own paint on your foot.
Have some fun, buy some paint guns and play. I don’t care if you are 80 or a fraction of that age. It is all just good clean fun. Clean? Yes, the paint is non-toxic 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. Click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.