So, how was it in Marin, will you certainly ask? In a single word, it was cold! It was so cold (to me) that the polar bears would’ve begged for a blanket.
I elected to not play… or rather, I didn’t feel like playing. My superbly engineered machine works optimally only under clement conditions, and so, I abstained from this event. My Siberian-born mate, on the other hand, stated that rain or shine she would play, and she did.
Armed with long johns and five layers of clothing, I didn’t show up on the field until 10:00 am while the contest was already underway. The temperature was still hovering around 55 degrees and I was gratified to see that most everybody was wearing solid winter clothes… no shorts or sandals!
Twenty-four people showed up to compete including a few individuals from Sonoma and even Sacramento.
Three timed games were played in the morning, and Concours and Consolante were played in the afternoon. The weather was gloomy most of the day with a small shower around noon which prompted me to retreat home. But after seeing a gleam of sunshine I returned around 2:00 PM to watch the completion of the event.
To be true to my profession as a war photographer, I tried to cover every situation and every foxhole. I am not sure that I succeeded, but I tried.
The interesting part of the contest took place in the afternoon when finalists played in the Concours and Consolante.
In the Concours, Kevin Evoy faced a young lad called Dylan Maringolo and it proved to be a very interesting match. Dylan is a fluid, natural shooter, and given his past effortless and accurate shooting, I would have placed my money on him. But wily old Kevin didn’t let this happen.
He took his time and pondered every shot, while young Dylan was more impulsive and opted to shoot almost every time instead of occasionally pointing. It is the true mark of a champion, but unfortunately, he missed a few crucial shots and fell behind.
By the way, the field was still wet, and the game consisted almost entirely of shooting and plumbing maneuvers, a discipline that both players accomplished very well.
Eventually, Kevin won this very interesting match by a score of 13 to 6. Congratulations fearless fisherman!
Concours:
1st place: Kevin Evoy $80.00
2nd place: Dylan Maringolo $67.00
3rd place: Hastings Adair $52.00
Consolante:
1st place: Bleys Rose $39.00
2nd place: Ron Rohlfes $26.00
And that was the way it was.
Alain
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