IKV Melota Bat'leth Tournament 2006

November 3-5,2006 saw Lt Cmdr Ri'Par and Lt K'Allen travelling to Canton,TX for the ship's 3rd appearance in the IKV Melota's bat'leth tournament.This was the first year that we have attended that wasn't at K'bubble's home.This year the tourney was held at Purvis Creek State Park.There was much room and the camps were very spread out.We arrived earlier than we thought we would and set up camp.The temperature was very cold so we all sat around Dragen's fire while the others arrived.Klingons have a lower tolerance for cold than humans and I certainly felt it the first night.Saturday brought the fighting.The ring was half a volleyball court with some pretty deep sand that led to more daring moves from some competitors,myself diving under a few blades and into the soft sand.Dallas Morning news showed up and filmed the entire day! Bat'leth was first up.I did better than usual this year,coming in a close second to Gizmo of the Melota.Next up was mekleth.Both Bayou Serpent members held their own but were beaten out.D'k tahg came next.I won this event last year but made a poor showing because I had to go up against my shipmate K'Allen who is wicked with the small blade.He came in a close second to KartoQ who also won mekleth.We had a bite to eat then it was off to the non-combatant games.First up was a game in which you had to toss a dummy "Klingon Captain" through and airlock.Whoever got the most appendages through the airlock won.This game was won by RotoQ and myself.Next up was the paddle boat race.We all went to the lake and attempted to paddle our boats containing 3 warriors each out to a concrete contraption and back.Several of the boats were defective which we did not realize.My poor lung capacity got the best of me and put me out of the events until the ceremonies.Many of the other non-combat games I was not around for but there was a targ pinata filled with goodies,a targ hunt,a tribble hunt and a obstacle type course.Once the ceremonies began I felt better.sQueezinart was FINALLY promoted to Lt Cmdr,the death howl was done for Amanda Grayson and a few others,Dragen gave out the "Order of Kamin" award to Salek and sQueezinart,and trophies were handed out.Gizmo took bat'leth while KartoQ took both mekleth and d'k tahg.I did score well enough to get 3rd overall in points and got a beautiful trophy for it.Event pins were also handed out for both combat and non-combat games.This was also my first tournament to judge in which is harder than it looks,especially in double weapon matches.Thanks to Dr Gizmo for the chance to do something new and thanks to the 2 pretty binars who would always repeat my scoring in perfect harmony. It never got old!I got to meet Melota members that I havent had the pleasure of meeting yet and missed a few I had hoped to see that couldnt attend for various reasons. Thanks to the entire Melota crew for inviting us and showing us a great time! Thanks to Salek for the fire rock and firewine (yes,I drank it with a straight face.Guess I have a duranium stomach). Thanks to sQueeze and Gizmet for the great planning and prizes. You all know I'll be back next year!