Items of interest about the World Championship Punkin Chunk that ended today down in Bridgeville, Delaware.
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Delmarva.com:Thousands on hand for splats, misfires, 'pie' on Chunkin's last day
- Adult Air Cannon -- Emancipator, 3,728.84 feet
- Adult Female Air Cannon -- Hormone Blaster, 3,755.65 feet
- Adult Centrifugal -- Bad to the Bone, 2,005.14 feet
- Adult Catapult -- Chucky 2, 2,027.96 feet
- Adult Trebuchet -- Pumpkin Hammer, 1,972.26 feet
- Adult Human Powered -- Pumpkin Slayer, 1,635.69 feet
- Adult Torsion Catapult -- Chucky III, 2,836.28 feet
- Youth Air Cannon -- Snot Rocket, 3,086.56 feet
- Youth Catapult -- Punkin Warrior III, 1,129.21 feet
- Youth Human Powered -- Rockville, 781.65 feet
- Youth Trebuchet -- Imperial Pride, 778.37 feet
- Youth 10 and Under -- Punkin Seeds, 795.64 feet
- Big 10 Inch, Adult Air Cannon, 3584.20 feet, 2nd place
- American Chunker Inc, Adult Air Cannon, 3535.27 feet, 4th place
- Medieval Postal Service, Adult Trebuchet, 1309.40 feet, 6th place
- Launch-ness Monster, Adult Trebuchet, 1265.86 feet, 7th place
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note: The Launch-Ness Monster trebuchet from Merrimack, New Hampshire is utilizing a curved track, at the 43 second mark of the video.
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The Launch-Ness Monster Facebook page has more photos and stuff, also checkout their photo essay, Road to Punkin Chunkin:
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Delaware Online:2010 Photo Gallery
Steve Chupp secures the ammo for the United Flingdom III,
a team that finished third last year in the Centrifugal Division.
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Team Urban Siege (Medieval Postal Service trebuchet) updates on the 3rd day of the event:WCPC 2010 - Day 3
The final day of the 2010 World Championships of Punkin Chunkin saw major winds kill the distances of many teams, but there were still some nice shots. In the trebuchet division, none of the top 3 machines from Day 2 shot any further, although First in Fright shot a solid 1815' into a stiff headwind. Tired Iron also shot less, so 1443' was his top shot. Shenangians recovered from a disasterous free fire shot Saturday morning that resulted in missing the day 2 shot and popped a 1391' shot into the wind, the machine is certainly capable of more. Hokie Hurler shot less again, so 850 was it's final top distance of 2010, they are not sure why it shot so much less this year.
Now for the movement section. We squeezed 100 more pounds of counterweight on for a total of 800 pounds (this was not a simple addition mind you, we had to carry the weight part way up the ladder, but for one shot it was fine). The shot blasted nicely through the wind for a whopping 1309', easily a personal best and netted us 6th place when Prawn shot in the 1000's. Launch-Ness Monster got disqualified for their sling getting thrown downrange, but the shot went over 1600 feet with around 2500 pounds of weight...
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DelmarvaNow.com:Chunkin marks 25 years -- Young participants don't rely on parents; youth division piques engineering interest ...
Wilmington-based Sanford School has fielded a team for the past 10 years. Each June, a group of students begins work on the school's trebuchet, which has been altered slightly each year since its creation in 2005.
Physics and mathematics teacher Jon Roberts said it's a great introduction to engineering for his students.
"We are there as guides, but they pretty much run it themselves," he said. "It's their baby."
Fellow teacher and head coach Andre Dagenais said participation in Punkin Chunkin has sparked an interest in engineering for many of his former students. The student who created the design for the current trebuchet is in his junior year at Rowan College in New Jersey.
"This gives these kids that have engineering talent an opportunity to be creative and learn what teamwork is all about," he said. "For us it's fun and it's a chance to teach kids a good lesson."
While many find the launch process of trebuchets more intriguing, they don't nearly achieve the same distance as the cannons. Young Glory III holds the current record for launching a pumpkin more than 4,483 feet...
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WCPC was like Woodstock this year!Nones Notes:
Projectile Pumpkins: The New Fall Pastime --
In fact, this year’s event was the 25th anniversary of a competition that began in its first competition with just four contestants. This year, nearly 100 contestants participated in numerous classes – air, centrifugal, catapult, trebuchet, torsion … and yes, human-powered as well.
When we arrived at the competition venue on Saturday morning – basically a large field in rural Sussex County – it became evident quite quickly that the torrential rains from Thursday had turned the viewing area into a sea of mud. As we were slogging our way up to the viewing area and very nearly coming out of our shoes as they sank into the mire, I couldn’t help but think of a work colleague’s story of surviving his own personal Woodstock Festival “soggy adventure” in 1969....
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Delaware Online:Punkin Chunkers have a blast in Sussex -- Actually, as hard-core chunkers would tell you, pumpkins aren't vegetables -- they're fruit.
But no one would quibble with the flying part, least of all Joe Kane of Dewey Beach. He's been coming for years, since it was over in the Lewes area. One year, he and some friends competed in the human-powered category.
"We took two 2x4s and put them in the ground, 10 bungee cords, a bucket and rope," and created a slingshot of sorts, he explained. Their pumpkins went up in the air about 100 feet -- but only landed a few feet away.
"Not much distance," Kane chuckled. "But it was a lot of fun."...
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WCPC has become like the Super Bowl for the Science Channel. They've brought out their "big guns".
Jamie Hyneman from MythBusters at the World Championship Punkin Chunkin
MythBusters' Adam Savage Covers the Action for Discovery Channel & Science Channel Fans
Photos via Science Channel on Twitter and at FaceBook
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Everyone wants a piece of that delicious Punkin Chunkin funnel cake.Jocelyn Wong's Blog:
bustin’ myths about pageants and punkins -- So you remember how excited I was about entering this year’s Punkin Chunkin Pageant? Well, the day came today. I’d be working the event for MSN TV to do a story on the Discovery Channel/Science Channel Thanksgiving Day broadcast of the 25th annual Punkin Chunkin World Championship.
I shopped for a cute outfit. I practiced my speech. I watched America’s Next Top Model and worked on my stage walk.
The pageant was at 12:30pm. They said to get there by 11:30am, 12noon at the latest. But “come early to avoid traffic.” Ominous....
with Adam of the Mythbusters
of course there is pumpkin funnel cake!
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Twiterings about WCPC:
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Jeff Del Papa with Mista Ballista torsion machine from Framingham, MA tweets about WCPC...
Twitter / @rjnerd
Chatted with Jamie at the chunk, they kept Adam too busy to talk...Twitter / #punkinchunkin
another long day, but we got a pumpkin to leave the front of the machine, and land 803' away. 110' further than prev record...
Survived first day. Field a quagmire, sink in over the ankle, and the mud wants to keep your shoe. everything 2x the work...
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Science Channel:Punkin Chunkin Game / Lord of the Gourd
VTPC Final Score: 6088 = "Raw Recruit"