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November 2, 2008 - Bridgeville, DE.
PumpkinHammer once again ended up in 2nd
place at the World Championships. The most talked about Whipper
in the Trebuchet world didn't disappoint though, throwing a
whopping 1,700 feet.
Only the 4 time world champion and
goliath, Yankee Siege threw farther, breaking their own
world record with a throw of 1,897 feet. Of the final "Big 3"
trebs, Merlin finished third with a throw of 1,589 feet.
Rounding out the Adult Treb division, in
order of place were: 4th - Hokey Hurler, 5th - Great Gourd
Experiment, 6th - First in Fright, 7th - Medieval Postal
Service, 8th - Morgana, 9th - Fred the Treb, 10th - Shenenigans,
11th - Bellum, 12th - War Hammer, 13th - Tree Bucket, and 14th -
Shock & Awe.
Development
This year, team PumpkinHammer had the to make the transition
back to a Whipper after last years last minute change to a super
propped trebuchet. Last year, the whipper broke again about a
week before the competition and we had to convert it to a
traditional trebuchet.
Work began in June, with the goals of
converting to a whipper design, adding a dampening system, and
finally adding an automated jacking system. The team worked
through many hot and wet weekends. Our hope was to have the
Whipper ready for testing in early August.
Testing
On August 2nd, we had our first Whipper throw. We saw great
whipper action and the possibility of the power with only 450
lbs of counterweight. One thing that we all noticed was the
dampening system worked perfectly. In the past, our problem was
that the machine would go wild after the throw, and many remind
us of our first attempted whipper throw at the 2006
championships...
While the speed, power and dampening
worked great, our throws were going 9,000 MPH directly in front
of us. The craters created were immense. After playing with
counterweights and finger angles, we finally moved to extending
the sling length.
"The week before the chunk curse..."
Being an original member of Team PumpkinHammer, I can tell
you that this team has one consistent - a terrible curse that
occurs exactly one week before each world championship. Every
year we have broke something major exactly one week before the
competition. From countless arms, to headers, to last year where
at one point, we thought we would not be able to compete.
However, this year, was different - well
almost... On the day we were were going to test the increased
sling length, strange things began to occur. First, our
generator wouldn't start. Then our faithful hydraulic winch
failed. That put us a week behind and closing in on the dreaded
week before the chunk curse.
After working on a new winch, we tested
the Whipper. And man did it fly. Actually, it went further and
higher than anyone thought it would. It is true that we
practiced near an airport, and yes the pumpkin exceeded the
height of the incoming airplanes. Also, there was a housing
development that must have been built after satellite pictures
were taken Google. The bottom-line was that we weren't going to
do anymore testing. Our motto became - "It is what it was..."
Thursday arrival and setup
We arrived on Thursday morning to set up the machine. As
usual, Yankee Siege was already set up from the day before. In
the old days of PumpkinHammer, many remember us working well
into the night trying to set up the old wood laminated beam
structure. Sometimes it would take all 7 of us up to 12 hours to
complete the work. Believe me, it was not fun. Especially when
King Arthur would pull up at 4:30 in the afternoon, put it
together in 30 minutes and drive off.
These days, PumpkinHammer is a dream to
set up. Literally, two people could set it up in two hours.
Also, we are not carrying 8,000 lbs of lead like the old days.
We max out at 1,200 lbs and the lead is cut into manageable 1
foot squares. Yes, sir, this PumpkinHammer is a breeze to set
up.
Where's Merlin...
People often ask me why do do pumpkin Chunking? Besides the
fun of competition, we really do enjoy seeing the friends we
have made in this sport. Quite frankly, they are all very bright
and friendly people.
As we were setting up, we started to run
into our friends - Yankee Siege, Morgana, War Hammer, Hokey
Hurler, Chucky, Onager, Roman Revenge, Fibonachi, Troop 6,
etc... However, there was someone missing - Where was Merlin?
We had everything set up by noon, we were
inspected, had lunch, and shot a few test throws. We were ready
to leave the grounds by 5:00 PM, and to our amazement, there was
no sign of Merlin. Where were they?
If King Arthur was the easiest treb to
set up, Merlin was now the most difficult to erect. Some of us
had a bet if they were actually going to show up. Speculation
was that they may have had too many problems and decided not to
attend. Others thought they developed the "one push of the
button" method that Chris always talked about.
As it turned out, one of their trucks
lost a wheel, which forced them to arrive very late. To their
credit, they worked threw the night, and actually had a great
first throw.
Day 1 - PumpkinHammer takes the early
lead
The funny thing about Punkin Phunkin are the testing
stories. There is one general rule - DON'T BELIEVE ANYTHING YOU
HEAR!!! The over and under statements are dramatic.
Yankee
Siege for example uses the demoralizing tactic. We were hearing
testing distances of 2,400 feet and sending shots into the
campgrounds. After hearing this, most teams would just shake
their heads, pack-up and go home.
Merlin on the hand always understates
their throws. We were told that they were having major problems
with the machine, and they'd be lucky to reach 1,000 feet. As
you can figure out, they tend to fib...
As for us, we have two major problems in
giving anyone our test distances. First, we really never have
enough time to test and more importantly measure our throws. And
the biggest problem, our test site is mostly woods. Therefore,
we couldn't give anyone an accurate measurement. All we can tell
anyone is that it went high and far.
After we threw our test throws at the
championships, Yankee Siege came over to estimate the distances
using laser binoculars. All we could tell is that we went
significantly past a drainage area, which was about 1,000 feet
away.
The first day of competition was
dreadfully slow. There are 130 machines, we were in pit 84, and
we finally threw about 4:00 PM. In the first round, Yankee Siege
misfired and had a first day throw of 0 feet. Merlin threw a
whopping 1,589 with Chris and gang grinning ear to ear. Next we
threw 1,596 feet, surpassing Merlin by 7 feet. Morgana was
in third with a throw of 666 feet.
Day 2 - Yankee Siege back on top...
When it released, you knew it was going to be far. And far
it was, 1,894 feet to be exact. Before that throw, our team
members were watching their test throws on Friday night.
Apparently they weren't watching too carefully because they said
all of their throws were pop-ups barely reaching 500 feet.
We had increased our counterweight by
almost 300 lbs. We had tested the night before with the weight
and it really went far. One thing we started to notice was that
the machine started to roll on our Flintstone wheels. We had
never encountered that before, but as we said before, "it is
what it is..."
Merlin threw next, reaching 1,564 feet,
nearly 44 feet less than the day before. You could tell that team
Merlin were stunned by the result, as they went to the very top
of their roller coaster track.
We then threw, increasing our day 1
results to 1,640 feet or about 125 feet farther. We were now
securely in second place.
Our annual Trebuchet dinner was held on
Saturday night at the Big Fish Restaurant in Rehoboth. The teams
of PumpkinHammer, Yankee Siege, Merlin, Hokey Hurler, and War
Hammer were represented. Also, our friends Costa and Bobbie from
the Flying Pumpkins the Movie, attended. Besides
socializing with some great people, many ideas were shared,
including a revolutionary design by Walker...
Day 3 - Yankee Siege New World Record
and Champion
As it has been in 2004, Yankee Siege took the top spot with
a throw of 1,897 feet. From very reliable sources, it has been
rumored that once Yankee Siege reaches 2,000 feet, they will no
longer enter the giant machine into competition.
As for the Hammer, our last throw went
1,700 feet. Putting that into perspective, that's 2 feet shy of
the world record established by Yankee Siege. Let's put into
further perspective... Pound for pound, PumpkinHammer is the
most efficient trebuchet in the world. With about 1,500 lbs of
counterweight, we are throwing ungodly distances. It only shows
the power of a whipper.
The Trebuchet division ended as follows:
1. Yankee Siege - 1,897 (New World
Record)
2. PumpkinHammer - 1,700
3. Merlin - 1,589
4. Hokie Hurler - 723
5. Great Gourd Experiment - 719
6. First in Fright - 709
7. Medieval Postal Service - 686
8 Morgana - 666
9. Fred The Treb - 652
10. Shenanigans -644
11. Bellum - 563
12. War Hammer - 468
13. Tree Bucket - 434
14. Shock and Awe 137
Mark from Hokie Hurler has given us a
goal for next year - "2,009 in 2009". Stay tuned...
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