clanspiel

So. I had a ridiculous amount of fun yesterday. I was curling. No, seriously. Heaving heavy things in the vicinity of my dad, and not once was I tempted to heave them in anything more than the vicinity.

My dad and Sue are members of the Huntley Curling Club, which had a clanspiel yesterday. The idea of the clanspiel is that you field a team whose members are all related (only 3 have to actually be related, and you can adopt-an-aunt/uncle for the fourth, which we did), and the object is to have a little fun. I had fun. I was surprised.

We all played two games, and there were 16 teams participating. Don’t ask me how they figured out who won, because I’m really not sure. We got smoked in the first game, and made it close in the second, but still lost. I have to say, I didn’t really care how we played, as I was having a pretty darn good time.

Curling is a social game, as you chat with everyone around you between shots. It’s also a civilised game, in that the bar extends into the playing area (provided you use plastic cups, and don’t do something foolish like bring your bevvie onto the ice). I met a whole bunch of super-nice people, along with some folks I knew of in high school, but never really knew, and now I’m kinda sorry I didn’t, but I do now, so that’s something… right?

Long story short, I did all right. I only hogged twice, both the opening shots of the game, and I was lead both times. I think I put three through the house, and the rest were either in the house or taking out others. Sue and Ann worked with me for a little bit before the game, and showed me the mechanics of the whole thing. Halfway through the game, they explained that the first time the broom was tapped to the ice the skip was showing where they wanted the rock to go, and the second was the aiming point. My accuracy got a hell of a lot better after that 🙂

Spending time with Dad and Sue was great, and I’m really happy they invited me along. I think they were a little surprised when I said “ok”, but we all had a great time. The folks at Huntley are awesome, and if I manage to be here in Ottawa as much as I’d like to, I just may play in the social league next year. It was that much fun.

Serious props to Fern Boyd, who at 80 years of age is still playing, and has a broom with a hollow handle from which she dispenses drams on the occasion of a well-placed shot. If I have half the energy she does at 80, I’ll be pretty impressed.

In any event, if I can’t play on a regular basis next year, I’ll definitely be clanning it up. Ideally, by that time, I’ll be able to understand how the scoring system on the board works. 🙂