Field Report: Cruising with the Battle Blast Hammerhead

Cliff (left) and Pat show off their Battle Blast Hammerheads.

(Credit: Caroline McCarthy/CNET Networks)

Why are these two pasty shirtless dudes showing off inflatable sharks? Well, I'll tell you...you'll just have to read on.

Pat shows off his discovery in Wal-Mart

(Credit: Caroline McCarthy/CNET Networks)

Last week, amid some very very hot New York weather, I decided to take a couple of vacation days and headed back to my idyllic home turf for some lazy fun. One of my (brilliant) friends had the idea to go tubing on our local slow-moving river, so a posse of us headed to Wal-Mart to buy the wackiest tubes and rafts we could find.

That in and of itself is awesome, but not particularly Craveworthy. Then, however, we spotted the Battle Blast Hammerhead, complete with scary shark face drawn on the front, in the water toys aisle. As regular readers of Crave may know, I love pool toys and I love sharks. My friends Pat and Cliff (yes, that Cliff) share my dual appreciation for aquatic gadgets and large carnivorous fish, so they jumped at the chance to own these (for slightly under $15--a bargain!) Then, we all proceeded to spend the afternoon floating down the river and getting too much sun. Awesome!

Success! Cliff exits the water with a still-intact shark.

(Credit: Caroline McCarthy/CNET Networks)

The verdict on the quality of the hammerheads? Miraculously, both shark floats stayed intact for the entire five-hour tubing excursion, though Cliff's was starting to lose a little bit of air. That, however, may be due to the fact that it's designed for, well, small children.

The water guns, while a bit weak, were still potent enough for both of them to keep the rest of us thoroughly annoyed with their squirting antics. And since part of the water gun stays underwater, there's no need to reload it since it's constantly refilling itself. So it's perfect for lazy people like us.