Any interest in a West Coast North American tourney?

[chiang]

Hey to all you polo folks...I just returned from Vancouver Island, BC where they hosted a really fun mini-tournament over the past weekend. And I thought that it might be fun to have something here in the Seattle Area for all the west Coast since the BC people could easily get here.

I wanted to know if there might be any interest before I go looking for pool space. I looked onto Southwest.com and it seems that roundtrip flights from Oakland could be as low as $150 to about $300. I suspect that the flights from LA would be comparable.

If you played the cards right, people could actually fly into Seattle from Austin for as low as $250 round trip. The Canadians could drive from BC...only took me 2.5 hours last night to get home from downtown Vancouver. I don't know about Edmonton or other Canadian clubs though.

Seattle and Gig Harbor are in the develomental stages and would really benefit from other clubs experience. So I am thinking about trying to make this work if possible.

Please post comments or email me if there is interest:

tc2berkeley@gmail.com

Cheers,
--TC

PS I want to give a hearty shout out to Scot of Sooke, BC for hosting a really fun tournament this past weekend and all the locals as well.

[tyler]

if it's doable in a weekend(ish), I'm in. as long as it's kept fairly cheep and I can find a ride down. I've never been to Seattle...

[Monica]

When are you looking for this tournament to take place? If there are actually flights for that cheap coming out of TX, you might get some of us up there, seeing as how we aren't having to pay for flights to Nats this year.

Mon

[chiang]

Depending on the interest, I was thinking right around the new year. End of January. I was thinking that since alot of people take time off to go to Edmonton for the Cup of the North, this could be a practice run. Southwest flies from both Austin and Dallas, so if you find the deals, $250 is not out of the question. Otherwise, timewise is flexible since I still have to see who is interested and find a pool.

Cheers,
--TC

When are you looking for this tournament to take place? If there are actually flights for that cheap coming out of TX, you might get some of us up there, seeing as how we aren't having to pay for flights to Nats this year.

Mon

[Patrick]

Depending on the interest, I was thinking right around the new year. End of January. I was thinking that since alot of people take time off to go to Edmonton for the Cup of the North, this could be a practice run. Southwest flies from both Austin and Dallas, so if you find the deals, $250 is not out of the question. Otherwise, timewise is flexible since I still have to see who is interested and find a pool.

Cheers,
--TC

You also probably won't get the So Cal folks since we in L.A. are now hosting an annual tourney on Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday weekend.

[chiang]

This is not set in stone, I just wanted to gauge some responses as to whether people are amenable to travel to Seattle at all. There are folks here who I think I can talk into billeting as well.

TC

You also probably won't get the So Cal folks since we in L.A. are now hosting an annual tourney on Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday weekend.

[JW Lester]

Keep in mind that historically Southwest Airlines will only fly kayaks as cargo ($$$) - not as checked luggage. That said, mainline carriers often match Southwest's fares - when you check fares, make sure you look at fares that match Southwest's (or America Wests, or Alaska's) exact airports - those will have the best chance of low fares.:thumbup:

Good luck organizing the tournament and with the polo in general up there in Seattle.

Cheers,
John

[chiang]

There are a few pools outside of Seattle that might work for a weekend tournament. The pool that the Gig Harbor club uses is 25 m long but a little narrow for a full pitch game (though it can be done). The great thing about this pool is that they are willing to work with the club for a weekend rental as low as $400 USD and we get the pool from 11AM - 6PM both days (they usually rent at $55 hour), so this is almost half the cost of the hourly charge.

I could look for some larger pools, but that would increase costs. At this point, if we can get at least 20 people to join us, we are looking at $20USD for the weekend. Not to bad for a first time tourney in my humble opinion.

As an aside, I found out that the Aquatic Center in Federal Way is available for rent as well...this is the pool that was used for the Good Will Games a few years back so it is a full sized Olympic pool. I think that if the Seattle Area can ever host the US Nationals or the Continental Cup (or in some crazy messed up universe, the World Cup), this would probably be an ideal venue. It would be very expensive, but we would get a state of the art aquatic center to use.

Anyhow, the pools usually get booked for winter well in advanced, so I am considering making some reservations. Let me know if there is still any real interest.

Cheers from Seattle,
--TC

[Saskatoon Rich]

I would drive up from Portland to play in a Seattle weekend tournament.

I don't know of anyone else in Portland who plays canoe polo with a paddle, but as for me I have my own boat, paddle and experience from playing up in Canada.

Please let me know if you go ahead with it.

rich_feucht@yahoo.com

[chiang]

I will get in touch via email. Cool I did not know there was anyone in Portland who played. You should recruit some WW paddlers during pool sessions and get them hooked!

TC

I would drive up from Portland to play in a Seattle weekend tournament.

I don't know of anyone else in Portland who plays canoe polo with a paddle, but as for me I have my own boat, paddle and experience from playing up in Canada.

Please let me know if you go ahead with it.

rich_feucht@yahoo.com

[sp_edey]

There are a few pools outside of Seattle that might work for a weekend tournament. The pool that the Gig Harbor club uses is 25 m long but a little narrow for a full pitch game (though it can be done). The great thing about this pool is that they are willing to work with the club for a weekend rental as low as $400 USD and we get the pool from 11AM - 6PM both days (they usually rent at $55 hour), so this is almost half the cost of the hourly charge.
As far as having a full pitch game in a 25m pool, I wouldn't consider it. It's crowded with eight players on the water even.

As an aside, I found out that the Aquatic Center in Federal Way is available for rent as well...this is the pool that was used for the Good Will Games a few years back so it is a full sized Olympic pool. I think that if the Seattle Area can ever host the US Nationals or the Continental Cup (or in some crazy messed up universe, the World Cup), this would probably be an ideal venue. It would be very expensive, but we would get a state of the art aquatic center to use.
If you could get the bigger pool I know a lot of Canadian players who would love to run down through Washington, myself included.

Clinton

[chiang]

I think I could reserve the Federal Way pool if I booked well in advance; but would you guys be willing to spend $$$ for it? I would probably also have to put a huge deposit, so would you guys be willing to put some money up front as well? It is a very possible scenario, so long as people can committ to play and to pay. That is the bottom line for me, since worst comes to worst I can eat $400 and paddle in a pool by myself for a weekend, but probably would not want to eat what it would cost for the olympic pool.

Cheers,
--TC

[sp_edey]

Umm... yea. I don't think money is an issue for me too much, I'll have to see what other ppl think about it up here. I've heard some interest in it though from a couple of the guys.

[chiang]

I will find out about the large pool and keep y'all posted if you keep me posted on the interest level of your club. I know that Vancouver, BC would probably bring, maybe, 10 players...including the possibility of a Australian National team player if we could schedule it before he goes back to Australia (and if he does not already have some weekend plans), and locally we could probably field 10 people. I spoke with John O'D in SF and with the possibility of some high intensity games, we could get some California people. Food for thought.

Cheers,
--TC

[Monica]

So it looks like with the interest level, you should go see how much the pool is going to cost and the available dates. I have some free cash with United I have to use up soon, and I don't know really what the Austin team is doing, but if you actually start shouting out some dates and prices here, you might get a better response/committment level. :)
How would you be doing billiting? Or are there any cheap places to stay around the venue? I could just bring my bike up there and you and I could peddle to the pitch in the mornings...
Let us know about dates and costs.
Mon.

[chiang]

http://www.federalway.org/aquatic/

now i need to see about availability.....and cost!!!

TC

[chiang]

So I found a pool in Kirkland/Redmond that is 50m x 20m and it is very nice. It is located at the Juanita High School and I can get it for the weekend of Jan 22/23. The cost is a bit more than the $20 USD that I had hoped for with the smaller pool. It will be $64 USD/hour. We can get the pool for 6 hours each day from 11AM - 5PM for that rate (we can actually rent the pool longer if we wanted). If we get around 25 people, we are looking at about $30 for the weekend (a bit more if we want the pool for longer). I am hoping to scare up some folks from California, Texas and Colorado....the more people we get the more time we can get for the pool and still pay around $30.

I told the administrator that I would get back to her within 10 days as she penciled me in as a tentative reservation (which is cool since she is not requiring a downpayment for this). I just need some confirmation from the people who are interested on this post for that weekend.

BTW Kirkland/Redmond is 20 minutes east of Seattle.

Cheers,
--TC

I will check on local hotels and hostels and B&B's and such and post those as well.

[Patrick]

I can get it for the weekend of Jan 22/23...I am hoping to scare up some folks from California, Texas and Colorado....
Tony,

I think it would be difficult to scare up California folks since we here in L.A. are hosting our 2nd Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Tournament the weekend before (Jan 15-17). This may also serve as a training weekend for the developing West Region Men's Squad.

[chiang]

Since I am planning on travelling down to LA the previous weekend, I know that travel is not to bad. From Oakland to Seattle, the flight is 1.5 hours and around $150 for a round trip ticket. I think that from LA to Seattle is < 2.5 hours and about $180 round trip.

I understand that alot of people will be put off to travel two weekends in a row from California, but there might be some people who are interested. This could serve as another training weekend (perhaps) and if the Canadians down come down, there will be some relatively competitive games to be played.

In the reality, with the schedule as is, there is not going to be any month where California people won't be travelling for either a tournament or a training camp. This is one weekend where I can schedule the entire weekend for polo at the pool (indoor and heated), so I am hoping that from the three cities in California, we can get at least 5-7 people to come to Seattle.

Tony

Tony,

I think it would be difficult to scare up California folks since we here in L.A. are hosting our 2nd Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Tournament the weekend before (Jan 15-17). This may also serve as a training weekend for the developing West Region Men's Squad.

[chiang]

I called the pool again and they verified that it is actually 40m x 20m, not 50m.

Still a good sized pool; sorry about the mess...hope this doesn't kill the mood for anyone so to speak.

TC

[Monica]

Hey Tony. While the price sounds right, I am not so sure that you are going to be getting a big TX crowd. That is 2 weekends away from Cup of the North, and the prices to Canada are steep from way down here. Making a similar trip all the way to Seattle that close to the comp. is going to be tight. Since I can't give you a commitment, don't consider me in this. However, I will have to play it by ear and look at my finances closer to the dates. Good luck with all of this!

Mon.

So I found a pool in Kirkland/Redmond that is 50m x 20m and it is very nice. It is located at the Juanita High School and I can get it for the weekend of Jan 22/23. The cost is a bit more than the $20 USD that I had hoped for with the smaller pool. It will be $64 USD/hour. We can get the pool for 6 hours each day from 11AM - 5PM for that rate (we can actually rent the pool longer if we wanted). If we get around 25 people, we are looking at about $30 for the weekend (a bit more if we want the pool for longer). I am hoping to scare up some folks from California, Texas and Colorado....the more people we get the more time we can get for the pool and still pay around $30.

I told the administrator that I would get back to her within 10 days as she penciled me in as a tentative reservation (which is cool since she is not requiring a downpayment for this). I just need some confirmation from the people who are interested on this post for that weekend.

BTW Kirkland/Redmond is 20 minutes east of Seattle.

Cheers,
--TC

I will check on local hotels and hostels and B&B's and such and post those as well.

[chiang]

Got the word from Sam that BC and Sooke will come down with at least one team if not two. I am working on the locals to field at least two teams. Got some emails from other Canadians and Americans, but don't have any for sure confirmations...so please respond to me via this thread so others can see the interest.

Looks like this might work. I am working an trying to find a hotel that might give group rates for people travelling. I can billet up to about 7-8 at my house and would rather do so for students and/or those coming from way out of town who need to spend $$ for travel. Will ask others about billeting as well.

Cheers,
--TC

[sp_edey]

I'm really interested in this. I have some friends that I would like to visit on the way down there, so I would drive. I'm just not sure if that'd be the most ideal time for most ppl though. Hope it can work though. Work is to damn busy too.:mad: Clinton

[dts]

I'll be in the Seattle/Vancouver area around New Years, probably from the 28th to mid-January. I was actually just getting ready to post to see if I could join the Vancouver guys for a couple of sessions. I would definitely want to get in the tournament if I can get on a team. I might be able to convince two or three of the guys from the team I was on at Nationals to come up, since I can drive boats...

Let me know what the status is. And if anybody needs another team member, email me.


David Schelly
(Mountain Kayak Polo)
dschelly@cnr.colostate.edu

[chiang]

I am terribly sorry for being so bad about keeping people informed. Here is the latest scoop: American Canoe Association has lost its capabilities to insure these sorts of events; USA Canoe and Kayak is giving such a run around that I have given up on them. I am working through a local kayak/outdoors guides to get insurance through them. We will be having a meeting either Monday or Tuesday morning and I will post a final answer then. Everything else has been finalized. Pool, goals, etc.

I am also looking at local Inns and Hotels that can give discount rates. I will be able to billet around 8 people myself, but none of the other locals here are into billeting since they are unsure of taking in strangers. It is different since the locals players have rarely travelled and been accustomed to billeting. I would rather billet those flying into Settle to defray their cost.

I spoke with the O'Briens at the Pacific Coast Championships and they might make it down here as well. This might turn out to be more of a Canadian tournament rather than an American one =)

People who are interested:
2 Teams from Vancounver, BC
5-6 people from Alberta
3-4 people from California
1-2 people from Texas
1-3 people from Colorado
5-8 local Washingtonians

Thank you everyone for your patience. Good News or Bad, I will post by Wednesday, latest. This should give one month to find tix for those flying.

Cheers,
--TC

[Monica]

Hey Tony. I am not in working order anymore for this competition. I am hoping to still make it to CTN though, so I will see you there.


Mon.

[chiang]

The date for the tournament will have to be postponed. I could not get anyone to cover the for insurance. I am very sorry about this.

Tony

[benwickland]

The date for the tournament will have to be postponed. I could not get anyone to cover the for insurance. I am very sorry about this.

Tony
Thanks for trying.