World Record reports

Jeff's full Monday morning report with tons of pictures & video

From my side, I'd like to pay a special tribute to (15 yr old) computer whiz David, who set up and managed to keep the live video feed running against all odds, so people from all over the world (me included) could watch, and - lots of fun too - chat. Family of several players as well as petanque enthusiasts.



Suddenly Adrian from Aoyama Petanque in Japan "walked in":



Very early Sunday I called my friend Jac of Boulistenaute.com, who posted it immediately, and there came a wave of French visitors:



The chat room turned into a worldwide "Petanque Sports Bar", minus the booze.
Thanks David!

Boule busters

For several years French boules makers have been pointing out that the "no name" boules on the market (made in China as we all know) are filled with sand & rubbish.
Obut f.ex. has a comparison on their website with photos. One could merely dismiss it as "sour grapes" for not being able to compete with Chinese prices. And whether they're recyclable or not is rather irrelevant.

BUT they are absolutely right that a ball full of sand and stones is a far cry from a hollow boule, which is what they should be: hollow, and consisting of metal only, i.e steel, bronze or any other alloy.

I wanted to break one open myself and see with my own eyes what the story is. Without the right tools that's not an easy task. But a friend of a friend here in NC did have the solution:



Fast & easy, for a good shot at least, which he was!



Some of the filling flew out on impact, but below you see the result close-up: sand, stones, pieces of wood, rubbish indeed. You also see how thin the wall is, as compared to a genuine, hollow boule. About half the thickness.


(click on the image for details)

So if you ever wondered why those "no name" boules don't roll straight, now you now know why!

Petanque on Mars?

After the exciting events in Rochester, MI -- we now return to regular programming.

NASA's spacecraft Phoenix has just landed on Mars, and from the first photographs it looks like a perfect surface to play pétanque! Who knows, one day we'll see:
First Intergalactic Petanque Tournament - Mars - April 1, 2112. (BYOB)
Am I the only lunatic (hey, another "ball"!) who sees dirt and thinks petanque??



More on Nasa.gov

Live video from Detroit

And they continued until 5:20pm and reached the target of 48hrs!!
Congratulations to all participants and organizers.
In the first place Joe & Jeff who have spent months to make it happen. Good night(s) to all!!
------
They did it, at 9:10 am!
40hrs 10min. Now on to the 48hrs

Even if there is no signal - the "chat" function works. That's where we all talk. Please join in!

Aux spectateurs depuis la France: laissez un petit mot d'encouragement pour les joueurs dans le "Chat" !

Europe is watching!

Visitors at 7:00AM ---->

To break the existing record they need to play till at least Sunday May 25 - 9:10 am.
Detroit, MI time is GMT -5.

Also watch David's updated photo album.

Read more about the World Record attempt below.

World Record - Detroit

If you're in the Detroit area, make sure to go to Rochester this weekend where players from all over the country will try to play petanque non-stop for 48 hrs.
40 1/2 hrs is sufficient to break the previous Guinness Record.

World Record website



Taking place during the Heritage Festival with plenty of activities for the family:




Good luck guys & gals, hoping that on Sunday we can all delete the word "attempt" and replace it with "Guinness"!

Carolina Open (2)

It was a success from all angles: the setting, the weather, the excellent organization by Gary (with the usual solid support from Shirley and friends) and most important a bunch of wonderful people.
Twelve players from out of state (some drove for 4, 6, even 8 hours) and 24 from all over North Carolina. A lot of phone numbers were exchanged. And plans for more petanque get togethers are already in the making.

But there's nothing that says it better than pictures:

Carolina Open slideshow & video (7 min. with sound)
If you have a choice of browsers, use IE - it loads faster.
To get out of the slideshow, just move your mouse and click X.
All pics are hi-res, and you are welcome to copy them.

More pics are coming in so the slideshow keeps changing. Already many thanks to Francois & Shirley.

Carolina Open (1)

The first Carolina Open tournament was a big success.
18 teams plus family & friends came, from all over the place, for a day of fun, fierce competition, and new friendships.
Slideshows take longer to make than uploading a video, so let's start with this clip to already give you an idea of the setting and the atmosphere.

Petanque vanity plates

Now that "Petanque" is taken in North Carolina, Gary came up with a brilliant alternative, which he unveiled at the kick-off party for the Carolina Open Friday night!
You'll read more about Gary's creative spirit later on.

Petanque vanity plates

King of the Mountains at Oakhurst

Oakhurst did it again! With thanks to Jan Claire for his report:

May 17, 2008.

Petanque played strictly for laughs as the King penalizes any team which is walking away with the game score. Be winning at 12 to 1 and you can expect a visit from King Ingólfur “Tenaya” Arnarsson, 47th generation descendant of the original King Arnarsson who discovered Iceland in 874!

The King imposes such penalties as having to play with a magnetic cochonnet, tossing boules only with a three-person slingshot (bungee cords held by two players, the third pulling back to launch the boule), cubical-shaped boules, and such impediments as Carreau penalty cards (replace any of the opponent’s boules with one of your own), Backward Glance – one game must be shot by the offending team by facing AWAY from the cochonnet.

This is an annual event at Oakhurst which has proven as popular as some of the serious championships we host, and brings people closer together in enjoying that petanque can have its own sense of humor. The King is a benevolent king, consequently wide point margins are the antithesis of what he’s all about.

In reality – and this part is true - our “King” is the west-coast-famous Steve Bush of the Los Angeles Petanque Club who, with his wife Dolores, and Max and Gisele Legrand, visited Oakhurst and taught the locals how to play the game back in June of 1999. To honor that occurrence, and the fact that Oakhurst is now nine years old, the club named Steve Bush by his original name, King Ingólfur “Tenaya” Arnarsson.

Members of the club, and the King imposing a penalty on Oakhurst team captain Larry Adams:

CarolinaPetanque Open in Winston - Salem

Sat & Sun May 17 & 18

Tournament program and details

Miller Park on Google Maps

See y'all there for a lot of petanque, and a lot of fun!!

Press Release (PDF)


Update Thu May 15:

We're at about 16 confirmed teams. Including two of the top players in the country: Khalid from Charlotte, and Mamary from Philadelphia. Serious business! As both are also excellent teachers, we will all learn a lot over the weekend.

The courts:

An afternoon in Lafayette

Lamorinda Pétanque in Lafayette, California (just east of San Francisco) has been around for 16 years, but in 2007 they moved to a brand new location on St Mary's road in what truly looks like a Mediterranean garden.
Free shaped, surrounded by plants and trees, and bordered by large rocks. Large open spaces, but also cozy shady corners, always wide enough for one game. A dream, to play, and just to be.
I got there early, but surprise guests Ken, Christine, Ellen & Roberto of La Pétanque Marinière drove in from San Rafael to keep me company -- with lunch!
Then came a group of students of St Mary's college with language professor - and pétanque coach - Claude. "You sound just like the guy who sold me my boules!" he said. "What are you doing here??". Small world!!
We all started to play, more club members arrived, and we ended the afternoon with a delicious potluck dinner. The after dinner game got cut short due to chilly temperatures, but the ambiance was as warm as ever.

Slideshow (with music) - 2:00 min

Petanque in Brooklyn

If you live in Brooklyn, there is ample opportunity to play!


Brooklyn Boule plays in McCarren Park on Wednesday nights at 8pm (with lights!) and on Sundays at 3pm.
Tristram is always out there, with extra boules, to welcome new players.


Brooklyn Boule Blog






And Brooklyn Petanque holds tournaments on the courts at Pit Stop Restaurant on Columbia St every other Saturday at 11:30am.
They just posted this seasons schedule.

Brooklyn Pétanque





In other words, you can find folks to play with at least two, sometimes three times a week. And train for the Bar Tabac tournament in Brooklyn on July 13!

Petanque in the vineyard

Last weekend I had the good fortune to witness the Season Opener party of the Big Boules of Dry Creek club in Healdsburg, CA.
Jerry & Susie were the gracious hosts this time and had lined the driveway with witty mini petanque billboards.
All the right ingredients were there: brilliant weather, excellent food, exquisite wine in more than adequate quantities (several members have vineyards), an idyllic setting, and - above all - more than 60 delightful pétanque devotees.

As usual, I ended up on the boules terrain, put my camera on the side, and pétanque took precedence over pictures. But the few I made should put you in the right atmosphere, and encourage you to move to that part of the world tomorrow, if not tonight.

Slideshow (1:35 min) - with music

Jerry's scoreboard is a simple wooden plank, with 26 holes and - surprise! - 2 corks: a blue and a red one.

Petanque in Provence

Thousands of miles away, in entirely different surroundings, yet strikingly similar:
a local TV report on a typical long (4-day) weekend tournament in Salon de Provence. The month of May is famous for its 3-day work weeks.
77 doubles teams, with a purse of 350 Euros ($ 550). And announcing another one for next week, with 50 ladies triples teams. All of this on the parking lot in front of Café de Bel Air, with the church in the background.
Watch the size of the stones!! Some of them look like an inch big. That's why they love soft boules.

Boulodr' homes (1)

Wine country inspired me to coin a new term for 'home courts': a mix of 'boulodrome' - the usual French term for a boules terrain in the village (as in hippodrome, vélodrome & aérodrome), and 'home'. Makes sense?

Let's start with Peggy & Davids', built on what was once a useless slope in their backyard. Useless no more!

They also have a beautiful collection of old "boules cloutées". Whenever I see those, I realize that the old custom of putting big numbers on them was actually quite convenient. If you knew how many times a day I need to explain what the "2" means in e.g. 74 / 700 / 2!



We're inviting everyone with a boulodr'home to send us some high resolution pictures. So one day we can make a coffee table book called "Boulodr'homes in America".

Petanque in Lithuania

Their league started in 2006, became a member of the Int'l Federation in 2007, and they are on a roll.
A lot of young people, guys ànd gals, quite different from the traditional image.
Great website too. "Plieniniai Rutuliai" means "steel balls"

Ready, set, action: (good - but loud - music warning)

Traveling with boules

Lots of players are asking me how I manage flying around all the time with boules in my carry-on luggage.
Here's my advice:

1) take the boules out and put them separately, clearly visible in one of those plastic baskets.

2) tell the TSA inspector, if possible before the basket goes through the machine, that you have 3 ( 6, 9, whatever..) "bocce" balls with you.
If I see the word "bocce" doesn't register, I usually make a quick bowling movement as well.
Once or twice the inspector called in a supervisor, but so far I haven't had a problem.
In the US that is.
In France boules are NOT allowed in carry-on...

Sonoma - NW Regionals

Sunday May 4th:
Here's the last, perfect shot by PJ that clinched the final for Peter Mathis, Michael Cooper & PJ Mallette vs Eric Thiebault, Antonia Chavez & Holly Sammons.
Beautiful day, great atmosphere, great games. More pics to follow soon.



For better quality, go to Youtube and click on "watch in high quality".

Petanque TV online

Petanque Passion is a brand new website that will offer complete championship reports online. Rates are 9.90 Euro per month, or 95.04 Euro per year.

For starters you can watch the 1/4, 1/2 and finals of the 21st International Festival Cannes La Bocca (April 24) for free. Hours of top pétanque, round per round, point per point.

Petanque Passion
(click on the images to see the videos)

Another petanque map

Good to see other countries are following our example.

Here's "Petanque in the UK".



To further develop our USA map we now enclose this leaflet in every order that goes out:

The boules juggler

Arsène (see previous post) is a well known juggler, magician or - simply put - "court jester". In between his numerous and popular appearances at Renaissance Festivals, he also juggles with ... boules.

Lakeway, Texas tournament

Here's a full report from Geo of Lakeway Petanque Players:

The annual Parkfest Petanque tournament in Lakeway City Park was held on Saturday, April 26. Thanks to our resident magician, Monsieur Magikhana, Arsene Dupin, we had 6 doubles teams appear, direct from Paris, France (there is a Paris, Texas but no one cares). In addition 2 teams from Austin appeared and 2 from the Dallas petanque group blasted away on our courts. Competition was fierce. Christophe Chambers of NYC was our official arbiter and was able to keep the bickering and general discord to a minimum. Rules are meant to be arbitrated, right? Well, we managed to finish the tournament with plenty of daylight remaining which left us free to enjoy the music and festivities in the park.
In third place, accepting the bronze medals were Thierry and Guillermo. Arsene and Christophe came away wearing the silver medals. The premier team taking away the gold medals and trophies were Bill Baker of Dallas and Geo Durell of Lakeway. Congratulations to all who won and a heartfelt thanks to all who participated.

Thanks to Geo & Christophe for the pictures!

Update: Christophe also posted a 10 min. video on Youtube . Nice shots!
(pick the high quality version)