Seattle

Granite Curling Club

January 21^st and 22^nd

3 games Guaranteed

Entry fee $200 per team

We’re trying something different this year and we hope you like it.  Typically this spiel is 25 years or less combined curling experience.

We’ve “tweaked” the idea and come up with our own game plan.  For those that have curled 20+ years, we will consider that as 20.  Why, so that an experienced curler can play and help out some of the more novice players J

To enter, please click on the following link ( Sign up ) to register your team online.  To have a successful spiel we need a minimum of 12 teams to sign up.  So come join the fun!

Questions should be sent to

bonspiels@curlingseattle.org Bonspiel Info

Good Curling Everyone!

ECC is accepting registration for the Pacific International Cup (PIC) to be held April 18-22, 2012.

Men and women teams interested in representing ECC must Register by November 15th, 2011. The PIC is held at the Richmond Curling Club in Vancouver, BC. Each team is guaranteed a minimum of seven games.

Playdowns
If multiple teams express interest, then a playdown of ECC teams will be scheduled in January or February. Any ice rental fees for the Lloyd Center will be borne by the participating teams.

PIC representatives will need to finance their own travel costs and registration fees. The entry fee is $450 (Canadian). A stipend of $400 per team might be available if the stipend was NOT distributed to teams participating in the Club Nationals in Mankato, MN.

The PIC organizers have stated that:

Priority will be given to those associations that enter both a men’s and a women’s team and to those associations that hold club team playoffs to declare their representatives. Additionally, all participants must meet PIC eligibility requirements.

Individual ECC members interested in curling in the PIC may also contact us, and we will put you in contact with other members, so that you can form a team.

Registrations, as well as questions, should be sent to

ECC is accepting registrations from men’s and women’s teams interested in representing the Club at the MoPac Playdowns, to be held January 13-15, 2012, in Kearns, UT, near Salt Lake City. Teams advancing from the Playdowns will represent MoPac at the USCA Club Nationals, to be held March 3-10, 2012, in Mankato, Minnesota.

Registrations must be received by October 24th, 2011. If multiple teams express interest, and MoPac limits us to one team entry per gender, then a playdown of ECC teams would be scheduled. Any ice rental fees for the Lloyd Center will be borne by the participating teams.

Teams registering must commit to competing in the Playdowns in Salt Lake City and the Club Nationals in Mankato. All participants must meet MoPac, USCA and Club National eligibility requirements. The USCA requires that ‘all team members must be dues-paying, league-playing members of the same USCA club.’ As a result, any ECC team members must participate in at least one ECC league during the curling season.

Teams will need to finance their travel costs and registration fees. The tentative registration fee is $490. A stipend of $400 per team is available for ECC teams participating in the Club Nationals in Mankato.

Interested individuals may also contact us, and we will attempt to put you in contact with others interested, so that you may form teams.

Registrations, as well as questions, should be sent to  Art Placek at gwaycpmd@msn.com

For More Information – Signup!

November 19th & 20th, 2011

Granite Curling Club 1440 N 128th St. Seattle, WA 98133

Sept 30 thru Oct 2

24 Teams
Raffle
3 Game Guarantee
Saturday Night Banquet
Commemorative Gift Awards
Ceremony

Team Entry – $360

Team Entry Form

Manchester Ice and Event Centre
Located at 200 E. Lake St. McCall, Idaho

To Register : Email to mccallcurlingclub@gmail.com or mail to P.O. Box 2575, McCall, ID, 83638

For further info call Holly Apley 208-634-5008 or Rick VanNoy 208-325-8975

Information on Accommodations and Directions can be obtained at www.mccallchamber.org or www.mccall.id.us

If you choose to use InIdaho.com for accommodations a portion of their profits will be donated to the club.

Bonspiel committee Chairperson(s)

Jan Van Noy 208-325-8975
Shellie Heath 208-841-3550

Visit our Website http://www.mccallcurling.com/bonspiel.html

Proceeds benefit the McCall Curling Club Junior Program

CurlWenatchee

DESERT ROCKS BONSPIEL
An Earlybird Invitational Bonspiel
September 16th,17th, & 18th, 2011

Sponsored by:
THE WENATCHEE CURLING CLUB

Each Team should expect to play a minimum of “4” games, but they will be guaranteed “3” games!
Come see our Central Washington home of scenic fruit & wine country located at the confluence of the Wenatchee & Columbia rivers!
Cost is $280.00 per Team or $70.00 per Individual Player!
For More Bonspiel Information Please Contact:

Mike McRae, Bonspiel Registrar

mamcrae@frontier.com
Home Phone: 509-664-065

http://www.wenatcheecurlingclub.com/

Curl by Jonathan Coulton

http://youtu.be/2iIOU-0wsEc

Enjoy!!!

The DIY thermometer jumped up a little this week to $161,000 thanks to proceeds from the Big Dipper bonspiel on May 14-15 at Granite CC in Seattle.   Thanks to Eleanor Robertson (signups), Doug Schaak (draw sheet), Jeff and Sue Tomlinson (on site coordination, icemaking and food), and everybody else who put together this bonspiel on short notice.   Thanks to Granite CC for providing the venue, especially Benj Guzman, coordinator of bonspiels at Granite.

Jeff told me that the competition varied from the very strong to the very fun, and it attracted such notables as Richard Maskel and Mark Swandby, a couple of curlers from Wisconsin who have served U.S. curling well over the years including stints as USCA officials.

Everybody had a good time while helping Evergreen achieve dedicated ice.

When we have a prospect building that seems to meet our basic criteria for price, size, location and zoning we put together a small team and go tour the building.   Usually Jon Rubey, our real estate agent, sets up the tour with the agent who is listing the building for lease, and usually the listing agent shows up at the site for the tour to make sure that all of our questions are answered.

During the tour we try to evaluate a few basic things, such as:

• are there any changes from the floorplan?   We bring a copy of the floorplan and mark any major deviations.
• are there any measurements that are not clear from the floorplan?   Jon usually brings a measuring wheel and he will walk off any measurement we care about so that we can be confident that the length and width of the space are right for curling.
• precisely where is the plumbing?   moving plumbing and sewer lines around as part of buildout can be expensive, so we like to identify this sort of issue right away.
• is the space accessible?   many industrial spaces seem to have no way for wheelchairs to enter the building, and this will need to be fixed with a ramp or other means of entry like they did at Columbus CC.    We can demand that a landlord improve a space to make it wheelchair accessible, but in general we would rather find a space that has taken care of this already.
• can the existingrestrooms be used?   often light industrial spaces have few people working in them, so the restrooms can be  small and sparse.   Often those restrooms are not ADA compliant.   This won’t do for a recreational use such as curling, and constructing new ADA compliant restrooms to satisfy use requirements for a recreational facility can be a big cost, either for us or for the building owner.
• can any of the existing office space be used?   does it need to be modified for curling use?
• we look at the lighting.   will it be enough lighting for curling, and is it in the right place for where we plan to put the sheets of ice?   is it at the right height?   or would we need to lower it?   is the existing lighting compatible with a cold (e.g., 40 degree F) environment?   Some types of fluorescent lights do not perform well in colder temperatures.
• we look at the sprinkler systems.   Depending on the height of the existing sprinklers and our plans for a low-E ceiling we might need to alter the configuration of the existing sprinklers.   Again, this can be costly, so we would prefer to find a space with sprinklers that do not need to be altered.
• where would we put the chiller?   Ideally we will place our chiller outside or in an isolated room to separate its noise, heat and vibrations.   However, not all buildings have a convenient space outside to place a chiller.   If we place it outside we will need to enclose it within a fence and secure it like they did at Columbus.   Every once in awhile somebody suggests placing the chiller “on the roof”.   However chillers tend to be heavy, and probably most buildings can’t support a heavy chiller on the roof.
• how far would the chiller be from the headers?   The piping from the chiller to the headers must be insulated and can be expensive, so we would like to minimize the run from the chiller to the headers.
• are there any hidden surprises?   we bring flashlights and poke around the hidden corners and the roof if possible looking for problems, evidence of leaks, broken items, etc.
• we look at the electrical panel and see if we can determine the actual amount of power supplied to the space.   Often light industrial warehouses have minimal power needs, and the spaces therefore don’t have enough supply to run a chiller.    Upgrades can be expensive.   If the immediate space does not have enough, then we look elsewhere nearby to try to estimate where more power would need to come from.    This distance will affect the cost of the required electrical upgrade.
• what is the real parking situation?   is there street parking?   would extra parking be available nearby in the off hours typically used for curling?   how many parking spots would be allocated to the curling club?    are there designated handicap parking spaces?
• will the building and area be safe at night?   is the parking area well lit?   are all of the security lights working?
• is the building conveniently served by public transportation?

Yesterday we toured a prospect building in Hillsboro and found:

• the floor plan is reasonably accurate.   the building has a swimming pool (it was formerly a health club), and the decking around the swimming pool creates an uneven floor.   We would need to remove this aggregate decking as well as fill in the pool with concrete to make the space usable.
• all of the plumbing and sewer lines are near the back of the build which happens to be relatively convenient for our use.
• the entries are all on grade level, the space is all on a single floor, there is at least one wide entry door, and in general the building seems to be accessible.
• the restrooms were a mess.   probably nothing in them can be reused, but perhaps we can get away with minimal plumbing and sewer modifications.   too early to tell.
• none of the existing office space looked to be usable.   probably we would need to remove most if not all of it.   as Greg Agamalian says, we just need some sledge hammers, a dumpster and a keg of beer.   Bruce Joncas upgraded this plan to “3 guys and a Bobcat to mop it all out of here”.
• probably we would remove all of the existing lighting because the fixtures are older, not very efficient and would not perform well in a chilled environment.
• if we leave the existing drop-ceiling in place we might be able to keep the existing sprinkler system as is.    more investigation needed.
• a chiller could be placed nearly anywhere we like along three sides of the building.   we should be able to place it where it can be secured and kept relatively close to the ice mat headers for efficiency.
• we found some evidence of water damage in one location near the back of the building.   it could have been due to a sprinkler system leak or a roof leak, more investigation needed.   the building owner would certainly take care of a problem like this, and if it is an isolated problem then no big deal.   but if it will become a common problem, then it could be a disaster for curling and no amount of building owner diligence will help.    so far it seems to be an isolated problem, but we will need to check the roof to investigate further.
• The entire front side of the building consists of inefficient single-pane glass.   We would need to cover, insulate and/or replace this side of the building to be able to maintain quality curling ice within it.
• oodles of electricity flows into this building
• lots (literally) of parking.   handicap accessible parking too.   the parking lot appears to be safe and well lit.
• the building is well served by a bus line, and a light rail train station is about 15 minutes walking distance.

We found no major red flags with this building.   This is good!   Next step is to sketch out a new curling floorplan based on this space and then begin the work of predicting buildout costs.