2006 Summer Blast July 7-9

[j2fast]

As perfect a match as can ever be found ! Big, challenging, and fast with stages that had dozens of options. Could not have been better, by any measure. If they can run a premier event with 10 stages cycling hundreds of shooters through in a half day format, why are we killing ourselves with all-day format major matches everywhere else that become more of a physcial endurance challenge than a skills test?? Seriously, this should be the prototype match for the future of our sport. Hats off to Larry, Linda, Howard, and everyone else who makes this match as good as it is.

BamBam's comments sum up my experience as well. This was my first Summer Blast and the overall experience was fantastic.

For anyone that wondered, yes, a mag with 3 or 4 rounds left in it will set off the foot activator on stage 8...... Thanks to starting my reload late I dropped my #$%@ mag right on the activator setting off the clam shells. During the insuing panic that set in after seeing my mag laying on the activator I put two nice holes in the N/S on the right clam.

.....but fun was definitely had, thanks to all involved it was an excellent match.

[BigHamp]

HOOAH!!!! ARMY DOMINATION!!!!

[sbmd]

Finally caught up on everything. Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who attended this year. This was by far the largest Summer Blast ever, 297 shooters.

With that said, I would also like to take a moment to say thank you to all the match staff for their hard work and dedication, without them the match would not have been possible.

A preliminary congratulations to all the winners. We are leaving the prelims up to ensure that everyone has had a chance to check scores and verify due to the crash of easy win score.

We have submitted a proposal to the BOD of USPSA for consideration to make the Summer Blast a World Shoot Team Qualifier match. Please take a moment and email your area director and let them know if you want the Summer Blast as a qualifier match.

Considering the date of July 12-15, 2007 for the next Summer Blast with the theme of "Welcome to the Farm".

I will be asking for stage designs for 2007, so if you have something in mind please send it my way.

Once again thank you for your continued support.

Larry Houck

Tournament Director

Summer Blast

[EricBudd]

Summer Blast was quite literally a blast to shoot! Larry and his crew did a great job of setting up and running a fantastic match. It is a tribute to all the guys (and gals) who ran the match that everything went off without a hitch. 10 long stages in under 6 hours, you can't beat that.

I'm kinda new to this game and this was my first Summer Blast, but I will be back next year.

Thanks again everyone!

Sincerely,

Eric Budd

[prh]

Larry thanks for such a great match. Linda and Henry you guys are awesome, I

have never seen stats gets done so quick. Howard, Lew and all the IWLA folks that

helped with set up and run the stages GREAT JOB! A special thanks to Mike, Augie,

Frank, and Chris, the RO's for stage 9 – you guys are real good – made my job easy.

Jeff and Gary you make being an RM look easy – Fantastic Job – (pretty impressive

on the weak hand steel calibration). Thanks to all the shooters, without you we would

not be needed. – Hope you had fun match.

To Mike, Augie, and my friends from Michigan – See you in a few weeks at Targeting

Ed. I look forward to working with you again.

prh – CRO Stage 9

[Steve Moneypenny]

Boo, leaving the range turn right... drive strait until you see a sign with 3 ft leters BEER & PIZZA (just before the stop light) Great food great service.

Awesome match to all! Great stages, ran smooth, efficiently and politely. Didn't seem like Range Master Gary Stevens had a hard job at all.. (many matches i see the RM worked to death fixing problems calibrating steel etc) so this is a plus for range staff.

Stats having results by end of day is awesome! Linda runs a heck of a stats bay..... we need to get her running a stats school!!!!!!

[Flexmoney]

results by end of day is awesome! Linda runs a heck of a stats bay..... we need to get her running a stats school!!!!!!

It sure would be nice to have her start a thread with her tips of the trade.

[Gary Stevens]

I have to add my 2 cents in this conversation. This was about as smooth an operation as I have been involved with. As one of the RM's I was glad to say I caught up on quiet a bit of sleep as I had absolutely nothing to do for most of the time

Larry put out some very interesting courses that had so many ways to do most of them that it was a pleasure to shoot.

I only had one real issue all week end and it involved a rubber chicken. Don't ask

Gary

[Carl Provan]

I only had one real issue all week end and it involved a rubber chicken. Don't ask

Gary

Gary

You know that since you mentioned it, you now have to explain it.

Carl

[Nik Habicht]

I have to add my 2 cents in this conversation. This was about as smooth an operation as I have been involved with. As one of the RM's I was glad to say I caught up on quiet a bit of sleep as I had absolutely nothing to do for most of the time

Larry put out some very interesting courses that had so many ways to do most of them that it was a pleasure to shoot.

I only had one real issue all week end and it involved a rubber chicken. Don't ask

Gary

Did someone shoot the chicken?

[MTrout40]

Great match! Thanks for all the hard work and effort the directors and staff put into it. Like I say every year...the Summer Blast is ALWAYS on the to do list. Great job!

[kamakiri]

I'd just like to add my voice to the chorus of those who had a great time and would like to compliment Larry Houck, Linda Chico, and the rest of those involved with putting on a really first class match. Friendly folks, speedy stats, outstanding stages (even the speed shoots could be shot multiple ways!), and general smooth operation. Bravo! I'd also like to thank Jeff and Eric, the RO's who worked with my early bird squad Friday morning, for being helpful, efficient and just generally nice guys.

It was also a really interesting match competition-wise, with a lot of close back-and-forth in each division. (For me, alas, it was mostly back, as my old friend "Mike" kept butting in.) The Michel/Balsley matchup in Open and the Tomasie/Jarrett contest in Limited were about as close as they come, while the Production match saw several guys stepping up for fine stage performances, with Todd Sindelar (Turtle) ultimately showing us all the importance of consistency. I'll definitely plan on returning next year!

A big thanks to all involved.

Elye Alexander

[Navy87Guy]

Waah...waah...waah! I missed this year and it looks like I'll be underway next year if it falls on the weekend of 15 July. It's just not fair!!! (Unless Larry wants to make it June 29 - July 1 next year.....)

*sigh*

Jim

[Nemo]

I only had one real issue all week end and it involved a rubber chicken. Don't ask

Gary

Gary

You know that since you mentioned it, you now have to explain it.

Carl

Let's just say next time we have a starting position like that instead of rubber chickens we'll have FAKE TOFU. Is that about right Mr. Stevens?

Larry, Linda and all match staff,

Thank you very much for a great match and the schooling of how a match should run! Look forward to be there next year shooting my revolver again.

Cheers,

[MichiganShootist]

I didn't think the match would be worth the 27 hour round trip drive----But I was wrong!!!!! It was great.

A big thanks to all who made it happen

Now about those chickens

[Jim Norman]

To all that worked the Summer Blast.

Thank You!

It was well run, the stages were good, there were choices! the officiating was good, there were no Range Nazis present!

Sign us up for next year. 8 on a squad, we will fill one or more!

Jim Norman

PS, Larry, I found the phone.

[Carmoney]

When I saw the stages posted online I had absolutely no idea that shooters were required to start with a live struggling chicken in each hand. Let me tell you it was quite a distraction, with all the feathers and clucking noise. By the time I shot the stage (late on Sunday morning), the chickens had quieted down a little, but it was still quite an experience.

Hats off to Larry and company for dreaming up this unique match feature.

[jrguar]

Great match, great facility, great wheather, great staff, great people...

Thanks Larry & Crew....

Tell Howard I won't be broken hearted if I never see that downhill/partial target/slider again

The chickens were harmless....

[Jack Suber]

Great match! The stages were a "Blast" (ha ha).

Thanks to everyone who made it happen:

*Larry keep up the good work;

*Linda, as usual, thanks for keeping everything running smoothly;

*to all the RO's - y'all were great! If any of you want to help at the 2007 South Carolina Sectional, we'd love to have ya! Linda will be doing the stats and I'll be the MD.

BTW - My squad had the "most" fun Woohoo!

See y'all next year.

Edited July 11, 2006 by Jack Suber

[redmist10]

When I saw the stages posted online I had absolutely no idea that shooters were required to start with a live struggling chicken in each hand.

That absolutely has to be on the back of the T-Shirt next year, too funny.

[Scout454]

I'd like to thank the crew who worked with me in Bay 3 for Stages 3 and 4. Doug Gilbert, Nick Sparozic, Claudette Stevens and Paul Nowortarski. Keeping everything moving with a two string standards and a speed shoot back-to-back wasn't easy but the worst backup was a squad and a half - a little over 30 minutes - and then only late in the day.

[Turtle]

A while ago someone posted a thread about all of these match comments being just a love fest and not being very constructive in nature. I thought very long and hard so as to come up with some constructive criticism, but alas I'm at a loss.

Great Match and a job well done. To all involved in making this happen, thank you very much! A special thanks to Helmie at i-SHOT and the other sponsors as well. I really enjoyed myself, sadly not because of the shooting, but because of all the great people at the match. I didn't make any requests but It was nice to see that I got squaded with a great group too.

OK, I just thought of something; Maybe you could avoid a multi-string stage next year as they do tend to be a little slower than most other classifiers...not that I'm complaining.

See you next time,

Todd

Edited July 12, 2006 by Turtle

[LChico]

OK, I just thought of something; Maybe you could avoid a multi-string stage next year as they do tend to be a little slower than most other classifiers...not that I'm complaining.

See you next time,

Todd

Okay -- I'll complain. Stats HATES multi-string stages. But they were a minor annoyance compared to the major glitch in the scoring program. I finally had to re-create the match, register everyone again, re-enter the scores and re-verify all the scores.

They are now posted on USPSA's web site. Now I'm going to put an ice pack on my right wrist and take a break

For anyone interested in the details of the computer malfunction, I will post that on the thread devoted to EzWinScore questions on this forum.

Linda Chico (L-2035)

2006 Summer Blast Statistician

Edited July 12, 2006 by LChico

[LChico]

I appreciate all the kind comments, but have to share the credit with the people who help make stats an efficient and friendly place:

1st - Henry Swartout. Can't say enough good things about Henry. We have worked together in stats since the mid 1990's. He finishes my sentences, He reminds me what we need to do next & he puts up with the temper tantrums that the shooters never get to see. And after all that, he returns for the next match. We are a good team.

2nd - Ann Sutton. Ann joined us in stats this year & I could not have asked for better help. She handled all the very tedious chores (chrono bags, scoresheet labels, verifying data entry, etc). She jumped in where ever she was needed and I will welcome her back anytime.

3rd - Mary Hughes. Mary was our stats runner. And she literally ran herself to exhaustion. The scores only come out fast if we get them fast. Thank you Mary. Also, thanks to junior shooter John Moore, who came off Stage 1 staff duties to help Mary on Sunday.

4th - We had two junior volunteers (both have helped me in the past) -- Aaron Zauderer and John Suber. Aaron was with us most of Friday. John helped on Friday afternoon & Saturday afternoon. They helped with collecting and sorting scoresheets, verification, setting up chrono bags, and both worked registration without assistance. They are both intelligent, polite, detail oriented and welcome in stats anytime they see me.

5th - Jeff Keeney, Lew Walker, Jeff Hoge, Gary Stevens, Larry and Sandy Houck. . . the best administrative staff in the business. If we needed it in stats, they saw to it we got it.

6th - All the staff on the stages. . . too numerous to mention. We can only be fast in stats if we get good input. Legible, correctly filled out scoresheets make our job easier. Thank you all & I hope you come back next year!

Linda Chico (L-2035)

2006 Summer Blast Statistician

[Turtle]

That's just insane. Take all the hard work you guys put in to make the stats run so efficiently, then double it because of the scoring glitch. Insane...

Thanks again, you're the best.