Combined forces of Galloway and Niedfelt residences triumphed over Simpson Residence in Cravats and Bluestockings’ Naval Battle on Oct. 8.
Only one competitor was injured, and no one went to the hospital, after the Regency-inspired club implemented new rules for its annual event. Participation on both teams, however, dropped compared to previous years, with only about 60 in all showing up to fight.
“The new rules worked really well,” Cravats and Bluestockings Co-Minister of Events senior Margaret Handel said. “We reduced injuries by 80 percent and visits to the hospital by 100 percent.”
Simpson freshman Peter Malaker sustained a bloody nose, spraying the pavement near the beach with drops of blood, when a Niedfelt warrior hit him in the face with a duct-tape-covered pool noodle. He was the only competitor injured.
After two students were hospitalized and several others injured at last year’s event, Cravats and Bluestockings tightened the rules of the Naval Battle, posting them on bulletin boards throughout campus prior to the event. It outlawed all weapons except pool noodles and required participants to wear shoes.
“It made it more safe and was in no way less fun due to the new rules,” Simpson warrior sophomore Mike Whitman said.
Although the restrictions may not have hampered the warriors in the lake, they did deter Simpson men from taking part in the battle, Simpson Head Resident Assistant senior Hank Prim said. The dorm’s participation dropped from roughly 80 men to around 40, he said.
“I think it might have been a little over-regulated,” Prim said. “We tried to hype it as best we could, but guys aren’t stupid. They see the massive rule addendum poster next to the big poster for Naval Battle, and that turns some guys off.”
But Galloway Head Resident Assistant senior Chris Pudenz said the opposite. The new rules actually encouraged participation, he said, attributing the drop in interest to last years’ injuries.
“Participation was a little down compared to last year, primarily because stories of injuries from last year made it hard to convince people to participate when stories of people getting hit on the head with a PVC pipe were still floating around,” he said.
“I don’t think the rules deterred anyone from participating,” Pudenz said. “If anything, the rules convinced people who otherwise wouldn’t have participated into participating because of the safety precautions.”
During the competition, each team receives a beach ball, or “flag,” which it must carry on a homemade boat into Lake Baw Beese. The boat with the flag on it must travel around a kayak floating about 10 yards offshore and onto the enemy’s designated shoreline.
Pudenz deflated Galloway’s ball “completely within the confines of the rules,” he said. That made it harder for Simpson to steal the flag and prevented it from blowing into the middle of the lake, as it had last year, Pudenz said.
“The ball had to leave the shore in a ship — that happened,” he said. “The ball had to go around the buoy on a ship — that happened. And the ball had to make it to the opponents’ shore on a ship — that happened.”
Naysayers in Simpson, however, decried the strategy, arguing it took advantage of regulatory loopholes and undermined the spirit of fair play, Prim said.
Handel agreed that unforeseen loopholes in the rules negatively affected the spirit of battle.
“We realized after the fact that there were a couple loopholes in the rules that we will need to address next year,” she said.
Although the victor of the Naval Battle usually has to win two of three rounds, this year, Cravats and Bluestockings crowned Galloway and Niedfelt, after only play one.
“I was okay with it,” Pudenz said. “It was very cold. I was sick, and I ended up being more sick after spending 10 minutes in the water.”
“As Winston Churchill says,” he said, “‘If you have to fight a war, get it over as quickly as possible.’”
