After staying up past 1:30 am finishing event sheets and fixing printer problems, I had a long nights rest. I woke up the next morning to discover an article about me on the front page of the Connecticut Post.
I got everything together, packed my cube bag, and off we went to the venue.
When we got there, there were 6 giant cubes made of cardboard for decoration. The captain's cove staff also got us free coffee and donuts for everyone who came. It was a beautiful day and I knew it was going to be another great competition.
I quickly setup the tables for scrambling, data and stackmats, and waited for Bob to show up with the stackmats and displays. When he did show up, he almost had me worried, saying "I forgot the stackmats..." Very funny Bob. :)
The competition started on time, with 23 people competiting in 3x3x3. Only one person who pre-registered didn't actually show up. The first 3x3x3 round started very slow, doing only judges and scramblers first. Bob was great and helped to do both during the entire competition. Once all of the judges and scramblers were finished, everyone else competed, and it sped up. Before I knew it, the first round was over and 4x4 was starting.
The 4x4x4 round went well, no problems. The only problem was the wind which kept blowing papers and table cloths around.
Everyone got a free lunch card thanks to the Captain's Cove staff, and Magic/Master Magic ran during that time. Again, things went smoothly.
5x5x5 was were the problems started, or rather where I thought they would start. There was 10 people competing in 5x5x5, and I quickly saw that the time limits I set for that event would not be very good. I considered making it into a combined final, but Bob assured me that time would be fine, as 3x3x3 final would not take up its entire time space. 5x5x5 ended around 15-20 minutes off schedule, but things seemed fine.
Bob told me that he had a contest with Tyson for fastest blindfolded solve, and we had a 1 minute handycap. Rowe ended up with 2 great times under 2 minutes, and that got us the win.
2x2x2 was also a problem, as we had too many judges vs scramblers. Judges were coming back for another scramble before scramblers were ready. In the end, it worked out, but by then the schedule was around half an hour off.
During one handed, there was one person (I don't remember who) whose cube kept exploding. Who ever that was, get a better cube, please. :) Besides that, it went smoothly.
Bob was right about the schedule being fine, and we ended maybe 5 minutes over schedule. I was impressed it all worked out, and glad it did. I printed the last few certificates and
handed them out. I also had a raffle for the 6 giant cubes, 4 of which ended up being taken away.
The competition started slow, but it picked up and got rolling eventually, and turned out great. I had a very positive response, especially about the venue as it was very beautiful. A reporter from National Public Radio in Boston came down and interviewed quite a few people including me and Bob, and she learned cubing terms pretty quickly. I'm very excited to hear how that show turns out
Brian Smith from the radio station WICC also showed up, after I called him and chatted with him on the air a few days before. We also had a chat a few days after the event, and he wants me to come in and be on the show again some time.
A BIG thanks to the Captain's Cove staff who provided just about everything, and to Bob who brought anything else I needed. Also thanks to anyone who showed up and brought more
attention. There is a very good chance I will hold another competition in the same venue around the same time next year. I'll keep everyone posted.
By the way, who walked away with cube? It has cubesmith stickers, with the orange side being old style flourecent orange (from cubesmith). Please contact me! I want it back! pjgat09