Views of Sequim, the Olympic Peninsula. . .and beyond
After the parade of Kinetic Skulptures at the Kinetic Skulpture Race last Saturday in Port Townsend along came the “Art Parade.” It included the float, above, and a few other art pieces along with an assortment of costumed participants.
The Unexpected Brass Band provided live music.
Compass Rose sported a dress made from paper navigational maps.
Some of the costumes were pretty amazing.
Some costumes and people, like Bad Crab, were just fun.
Here is a unique entrant in last Saturday’s 37th Annual Port Townsend Kinetic Skulpture Race, Lobsert Pot Family Man. You’ll see his progress throughout this post. But first, here he is completing his vanity drive at the parade.
After the parade, all of the entrants had to pass a brake test, one by one driving down a Port Townsend hill and pulling to a stop at the signal of the man in the middle of this shot.
Next comes a launch into Port Townsend Bay. Here you see Lobster Pot taking the plunge. Entrants were required to carry on their unit everything they would need for each part of the competition. Some made adjustments such as shifting around floatation.
Lobster Pot surprised many of us. He landed in the water and quickly seemed to capsize onto his side.
But he pulled out a paddle and launched his improvised vessel. The inflated lobster that had topped his unit became part of the flotation, as did foam blocks. He looks like a proud mariner here, doesn’t he?
Lobster Pot completed the water course and returned to the launching ramp, facing the return up an incline of 5-6 degrees, the surface coated with a typical combination of sand and seaweed. But first he had to regain land worthy apparatus.
Lobster Pot’s tray table is locked back in the upright position. The wheels at the back were returned to ground, its rider climbed back in and managed to drive the Pot back out of the water onto dry land.
The challenges of the Kinetic Skulpture Race are issued in a spirit of fun. Spelling is phonetic, rules reflect irreverence. The Kinetic Kops, crowd monitors and assistants, have a Kode of Conduct, including “Kinetic Kops tell no lies, but we don’t have to tell the truth” and “Bribes may be taken to overlook infractions.” The top “prize” is the Mediocrity Award for the entrant that finished dead middle in the races. Lobster Pot, incidentally, won the Mediocrity award for 2019.
Fun event? Heck yes! A perfect antidote for the rest of life’s craziness these days. I’ll be showing you other photos of the event
Last weekend was the 37th Annual Great Port Townsend Bay Kinetic Skulpture Race, a great opportunity to have the kind of goofy fun that seems suited to a community that’s home to a good many artists, builders, creatives, and tinkerers. The Skulpture Race draws on many of these talents. Say hello to Barnacle Babes, above.
This is a fun, anti-competitive, and completely whimsical series of events that celebrate the creation of unique, uhm, vehicles that are designed to conquer a series of obstacles which no sane single unit should be expected to endure. Here you see Precarious Aquarius.
But first, as with any self-respecting event, there’s a parade. The competing teams drove along Port Townsend’s Water Street to cheering crowds, showing off their creations. Above is the Naval Oranges team.
Take a look at Screws Loose, above. The white rectangles at the back of the vehicle are for flotation. The orange panels on the wheels? Paddles. There are four people in this unit, all of whom have pedals that they are using for propulsion. Have a look at the other teams I’ve shown you here. You will likely see various forms of flotation and propulsion.
The Skulpture Race is a series of challenges designed to test out the homegrown engineering of these inventions. After parading through the street, their brakes are tested on a nearby hill. Next they plunge into the waters of Port Townsend Bay where, all hope, they move across the water to a nearby pier, return, and then propel themselves back out of the water using only their vehicle’s propulsion mechanisms.
Those are the events we witnessed on Saturday. On Sunday the teams took on further challenges, racing to a course through sand and then traveling to and through a mud course. We only took in Saturday’s events. Tomorrow I’ll show you some of what we saw.
We had eight separate workshops at last Saturday’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training event. We trained with our walkie talkie radios, learned about helicopter ambulance services, discussed squad tactics and much more. And then there was a cribbing exercise that tested technical skills and squad organization dynamics. This included a several hundred pound propane tank partly filled with water that had rolled onto our dummy victim. We had to use blocks and pry bars — cribbing — to raise the tank sufficiently to safely pull our 200 pound victim out.
Cribbing is a means of creating a strong temporary structure to stabilize and raise a heavy object. Click the link above to get a better visual idea of how it works.
We managed to crib, raise the tank, and pull out our victim. But I’m really glad it was just a drill. I won’t admit everything I did wrong but it didn’t support domestic harmony with my DH coworker who also caught himself out. I think we need more drills.
Remembering a big disaster this day, September 11, 2001, that wasn’t a drill and claimed the lives of so many, including the emergency workers who ran directly into harm’s way.
We didn’t get to ride on a fire truck at last Saturday’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training but we did get the next best thing: a chance to get up close and personal. We were introduced to this truck and its role fire emergencies. It is a pumper truck. It carries water to fires and has the ability to suck up and pump water from other water sources. Although some parts of central Sequim are served by traditional water hydrants, most of our outlying community — my home included — relies on this sort of “imported” water to fight fires.
Our squad members also had a chance to get the feel of a fire hose. Ester here demonstrates technique with backup from a pro.
Clallam County Fire District 3, the umbrella organization for our CERT teams, has their own maintenance department to keep equipment in good shape, money well spent. This unit new costs about $500,000 out the door.
We went to a special training event on Saturday for our Sequim Community Emergency Response Training (CERT) group. CERT is our community effort to prepare for large scale disasters such as a major earthquake. Saturday’s program was an all-day event designed to enhance our monthly training meetings. It included a visit by a helicopter and crew from Life Flight Network, a new local emergency transport service. CERT members had training sessions designed to facilitate landing and loading of emergency helicopters.
Minutes matter in an emergency and the first hour can mean life or death. Although we have a local hospital, as I showed you yesterday, it is not equipped to handle serious injuries. Serious trauma, or level 1 emergencies, require specialized intervention such as orthopedic or neurosurgery, and high level critical care. In these cases patients are referred to larger hospitals in Seattle, a road trip that could take a couple of hours plus a ferry trip. That’s where this helicopter comes in. Its pilot is shown above.
Life Flights provides an air ambulance by helicopter that includes two skilled nurses to transport patients to a Seattle trauma center in as little as 10 minutes. They base a helicopter at an airport in Port Angeles for fast local response.
This is a small, nimble craft designed to get the job done. But it doesn’t come cheap. A trip in one of these babies can cost from $10,000 to $25,000 a flight. It may or may not be covered by health insurance. Life Flight offers yearly family memberships at a reasonable cost. It looks like a good idea for locals who want to cover all the “just in case” bases.
This Mustang at the Sequim Prairie Nights show last Saturday prompted lots of car related memories. Like most boys of his generation — ones who learned enough to rebuild and maintain cars — DH (my Dear Husband) had and loved a long procession of 1950s and 1960s cars, most of which he acquired for less than $100.
He had his favorites. And now he has his fantasies. If he were to win the lottery he wouldn’t buy a fancy new car. It would be one of several golden oldies. “What car would you have if you could?” he asks me. A 1966 Mustang comes to mind.
I know this 1966 Mustang. Over many years I’ve seen it in various stages of rejuvenation as my friend Marilyn’s husband has restored it. This was the first time I’ve seen it out and on show since it’s gotten finishing touches.
But I don’t think it would be for sale if we won the lottery. This is a love child, pure and simple.