The Wendorf Bonspiel & the CanAmeriKiwis

Although our dear Potomac Curling Club back home is just making ice and getting ready for a season of curling, our year of curling just came to a close.  With our friends Kathy and Nigel, we put together a team for the Dunedin Curling Club's Wendorf Bonspiel.  We called our team The CanAmeriKiwis in honor of our international team of one Canadian (Kathy), two Americans, and one Kiwi (Nigel).  I created a logo on the computer and then traced it on the back of 'high vis' (that's the Kiwi word for florescent) vests, our team uniform.  We were definitely had the best team name and were hard to miss out there on the ice.

This was a much different bonspiel than any we've played in before.  Only 8 teams were in the bonspiel, and each team played 6 other teams in a round robin.  For the final game, the team with the best record played the team with the second best record and so on down the line.  Each team played 7 games over the weekend which is WAY more than our bonspiels where you are only guaranteed 3 games.  You might play more if you win enough to make it to the final events.  Our games were only 6 end games instead of the normal 8 ends, but even with 6 end games, playing 3 games a day for two days is exhausting!

So how did we do?  Well, we lost our first 6 games, but we gave each team a run for their money that they were not expecting.  Going into this bonspiel, we knew we were going to be facing some very tough teams.  Two of the teams each had two members of the current New Zealand national teams and two other teams had former NZ Olympians on them!  Our goal was to have fun and play our best, and we did!  I think some teams were surprised (as were we) that they weren't romping us.  Todd was our skip, and the rest of us rotated through positions until we found a line up that worked.  After three games of rotating, Skippy Todd said he had a crazy idea - Kathy at lead, Nigel at third, and Laura playing vice but throwing second.  GENIUS!!  I was doing the hitting and was a good person for Todd to bounce strategy ideas off of while Kathy was throwing great lead stones and Nigel was clearly channeling some crazy accurate drawing-to-the-button karma.  We kept that lineup for the last four games, and I think each of us got even better in our position.

The most hilarious thing about this whole bonspiel was that after our first game on Friday, each team went up for auction.  Other teams or individuals could 'buy' team.  All the money collected would then be divided by four and awarded to the person who had purchased the winner of the 1v2 game, the 3v4 game, the 5v6 game, and the 7v8 game.  Ultimately, all that mattered in that side contest was the very last game!  As a team no one really knew, we went cheap on Friday night.  Charlie's team (another team from our club so one we knew well) was kind enough to buy us for $50 when most teams went for between $80-$95.  Throughout the weekend, whenever Charlie's team was finished, they would head to the warm team and check out how we were doing, 'watching their investment' one might say.

In our final game, we were (shockingly) the last placed team.  We played the seventh ranked team who had also lost all their games except their first one which was against us! Luckily, that team was made up of people from our Wednesday night league, so we knew them well and fun playing them twice.  Believe it or not, we pulled it out and beat them in a close, close game.  We ended up with matching records, 1-6, which was fine with us.  And guess who the happiest person of all was?  Charlie!  Having bought the cheapest team, he made the most money on the payout!

Prizes were there for every team, and Todd and I walked away with a bottle of wine each.  What we didn't walk away with was any of my curling stuff.  The shipping to New Zealand is a killer, and with the same size feet, Kathy offered to purchase all my stuff - SOLD!  In addition to her prize bottle of wine, she went home with my shoes, my broom, our curling bag, an extra gripper, an extra broom head, and a broom brush. We've got some takers for Todd's shoes and broom, so we'll shortly be equipment-less.  In addition to the money we'll save in extra baggage, we'll hit the end of the year curling sales next March for our new brooms and try on some new shoes at Potomac's 2011 Inaugural Bonspiel when the Goldline rep appears with his awesome little trailer of curling goodies.

Thanks for a great season, Dunedin, and good curling in your upcoming season, Potomac!  We'll see you for the 2011-2012 season!