Tuesday, October 12, 2010

M is for Merriment

Mrs. Nesbitt's ABC Wednesday, now in its seventh round, has reached the letter M. Thank you, Denise, for your original vision and continued involvement. To see how other participating blogs have been by the letter M, click on banner or link.




A little over a week ago my son Stan and his wife Dianne, visiting from Colorado, took me to the Port Townsend waterfront to see the kinetic race. "Kinetic" means that the entries must be human-powered both on land and in the water. It is an all-day race, ending when the last remaining participant reaches the fairgrounds. There is also a judging of the floats for cleverness and decor. These first few pictures are of the participants racing toward the launching spot for the water leg of the race.


Completely unaware!




Some entrants use bicycle type pedals. Others, like the man above, jump or teeter-totter. All of them must have adequate floating devices for the water leg of the race.

The fantastically costumed Kinetic Kops enforce the racing rules. The course is rigidly set. They also act as announcers.


Some Kops ar Kind to Kiddies.


The floats (literally!) must race around a distant marker, out of sight of the launching site. Here one of the leaders in the water leg of the race races toward shore.

Here come they come!

To add to the merriment, there are a variety of prizes, I understand. One for 1st place, of course, but also for last place, middle place and others equally ridiculous.

I can take no credit for the photos. My son Stanford is the photographer.

20 comments:

Sylvia K said...

A fun post for the M Day and great photos! There's always fun to be had in Port Townsend! One of my favorite places! Hope your week is going well! Enjoy!

Sylvia

Carver said...

There was a lot of merriment indeed. Looks like a fun day and great post for the letter M.

Gigi Ann said...

What a merry time was had by all, it would appear. So many creative minds at work. Great choice for M day.

Dimple said...

What a cool event! Thanks for stopping by my blog so I wouldn't miss yours! With all the Ks I had to go back to your title, because I didn't read what the M was!
Blessings!

photowannabe said...

This looks like so much fun. A lot of hard work went into each "machine".

Roger Owen Green said...

loving this event!

ROG, ABC Wednesday team

Amy said...

I loved this post! It reminded me of the kinetic sculpture race in Eureka, CA. My husband and I happened on it about 10 years ago and we still recall with much laughter, the ingenuity and creativity that went into each entry. Recently we were in Ferndale (adjacent to Eureka) - and we happened on a small museum dedicated to these sculptures!

Tumblewords: said...

What fun! There are some pretty fancy machines there and the enforcers are so creative!

annies home said...

what a fun post looks like a very cool event

Mara said...

It looks like so much fun and those things they devised are brilliant!

jabblog said...

That looks a lot of fun. Some of the contraptions are really colourful and imaginative.

Gattina said...

That must have been very funny !



Gattina from the ABC team

MaR said...

Whar fun event and pictures!! merriment is what the world needs!
M is for me...

Kim, USA said...

That looks like a lot of fun. Happy Wednesday!
ABC Wednesday

Joy said...

That looks like a great day out with ingenious machines. I love the second photo with the oblivious cyclists, contraptions bearing down on her.

Jay said...

Oh, I'd love to have seen that! It looks so much fun! Colourful, too.

You took some great photos!

Maggie May said...

That looked like good fun.
Maggie X

Nuts in May

CousinLinda said...

Great use of the letter M.

Rinkly Rimes said...

Great merriment, indeed. And rather Maritime as well! I'm glad you still get such pleasure from your family.

Cezar and Léia said...

Bonjour!
What a funny festival there, it's a beautiful set of pictures and thanks so much for sharing!
Your blog is so sweet! ;)
Léia