11th April 2004

I got my first soaker in 1999. It happened to be an SC 500. I remember my brother got an SC 400, and my mum got a XP 270. We moved to our current home, and the 270 was lost forever. However, I still had the SC 500 with me, and my brother still had his SC 400. For about 3 years, I forgot all about them. Then in the winter of 2003, I got interested in rubber band guns. My cousin had one and it was tons of fun. So I began to search on the internet for rubber band gun wars. I came across a small site called Jeff’s Page, which had a few pages dedicated to rubber band guns. Most of the site was all about Lego, but 3 or 4 pages were about water guns.

I had never really given any thought to organised water warfare, but the idea sounded fun. The site had about three reviews, and some tips, tactics, and other information. I remembered my SC 500, and dug around in my basement for awhile before I found it. I also found the SC 400. I read everything on Jeff’s site, but that was not enough to satisfy my growing curiosity. So I searched the web for super soakers. The first page I came across was the defence page of Water Wars, run by General RAK. Little did I know that I was viewing one page in one of the greatest water warfare sites. Unfortunately, I figured that that was the only page of the site and passed it up. I eventually ran into the Aqua Nexus, and read everything on that site before moving on. I next ran into iSoaker.com, and then I couldn’t get enough of it. I instantly went out and bought a CPS 2700, and a MD 6000.

I began to organise a team, and figured I didn’t have enough soakers, so I bought two Max-D 3000s, and an XP 215. I also got two XP 240s. I began to memorise soaker classes and types. I posted a few times on the Aqua Nexus board, but everyone pointed me in the direction of Water War.Net. I was hesitant to join at first (I had never joined an online community before), but once I did, I was extremely happy. I learned that one of my friends owned a CPS 2100. BAM! He was instantly part of our team. I then bought a CPS 1200 from General RAK. My brother got one soon after, and we began to have one on one battles.

My brother got a Secret Strike and a MD 2000. MY 2700’s pump broke, and I was devastated. Having no real repair experience, I foolishly threw it out. I began to build a reputation on WWN, and bought a CPS 4100. It broke soon, and I couldn’t fix it. I lost too many parts, but was smart enough not to throw it out. I bought an XP Triple Play, as well as a ARM XL 4000. My team has grown since than to six members. My 1200 broke, but I will be getting a replacement soon. I have grown an interest in modifying as well. In late 2003, I started a website named after our team, the Aqua Warriors. After a while, I was unsatisfied with the performance of the site, and bought a few books.

I became proficient at HTML, and the site name changed to Downpour. Though website building is fun, getting out there and soaking someone will always be my true passion.