3rd June 2004

My first soaker was indeed an SS 60, perhaps a reissue. In fact, I remember seeing them on the shelves, they were going fast! As I recall I was 6 years old at the time, so I thought the 60 was the coolest thing ever. That was back in 1996. The next year I asked my parents to give me a really good soaker for my 7th birthday. That soaker was the CPS 2000 mk.1.

I had the biggest soaker of the time, and man was it heavy! Despite that fact I had to lug it around I was able to defeat all my friends in the small wars we had. That was when I began to really love water wars. After that the only soakers I bought up to the year 2000 were 2 XP 20s and an XXP 175. They served me well in their time, although I didn’t do as much with them as I did with my 2000. Sadly, my CPS 2000 got old and broke down (due to my foolish lack of care) so I was in need of a new good soaker. In 2000 I bought a SC Big Trouble, and in search of other good soakers and more information I turned to the internet.

The first website that that came up was Aqua Nexus. It gave me my first real glimpse at the amount of soakers and soaker fans out there. I signed the guestbook and that was about it. As I continued on, I found iSoaker.com, which I still believe to be the best and most informative review and tactic site out there. I remember reading the entire Zen of Soaking page, not to mention the Elite Tactics pages. I would have joined Aquatica and H20 Commandos at the time, but I did not have a decent email address. I did, however post on the forums at Budgie’s Aquazone back when they were active. On returning to Aqua Nexus and iSoaker.com, I came upon submitted war stories. I was amazed and envious of the people who took part in those battles, it sounded like so much fun! After reading those stories I was motivated to form a team.

In 2002 I received a much-loved Monster X, which I had picked out as the best soaker for me. This was when my friends looked at it and became, like me, serious about water warfare. We had had battles and had trained before that point, but that was when we got organized. That year I also bought a water balloon slingshot capable of shooting water balloons at 70 mph over 100 feet. Although my team has come under a new name, the Rain Dancers, we were also known as the Hydro Force.

Our first battle against another team was when some of our neighbours got together and decided to attack us. We had at the time only my Monster X, 2 XP 240s, a CPS Splashzooka and my SC Big Trouble. We wasted their XP guns easily even though we had fewer people, although we had to run when they started breaking the rules and throwing ice. That was probably when I started to renovate my old clubhouse, which displayed weaknesses as a base during that battle. It is now leak-proof, has its own lighting and large water tanks that can keep my team running for quite a while. 2002 was also the year I invented my water shields, which you can read about in the iSoaker Underground.

In 2003 I expanded my armoury by adding a CPS 3200, CPS 2100 and CPS 1000. Though I was completely disappointed by the 2004 line I did buy a Helix, which serves as a decent sidearm. In October of 2003 I submitted my Individual Info to the iSoaker Network, and a friend and I submitted our Group Info. That same month I joined the WaterWar.net forums where I am currently moderator for the Workshop. I also joined the SSCentral forums where I occasionally post.

That’s basically my saga. If you live near Redmond, Bellevue or Seattle WA and have a soaker team, go ahead and email me. I hope for better soaking in the future. Soak on warriors!