Wine Country Curling Club

From C.A. Casey’s personal blog (Carol is the lead of Team Halpenny)

Well, I played my second game of curling last night and my team won. Yeah. We actually didn’t do bad once I got the hang of throwing the first two stones lighter than heavier. Skill in knowing how much muscle to put behind the stone and releasing it so it curls properly is only half the equation. The other half is the ever changing condition of the ice.

The ice can be fast or slow and it can have rough or slick patches that will alter the course of the stone. The condition of the ice changes as stone after stone rolls over it and as slick paths are created by the sweepers and the players who glide on the Teflon soles. Also last night, the door to the ice was left open for a while. That warmed the rink down and, while it was more comfortable temperature wise, the ice got slicker and slicker and nearly every stone was too heavy–rolling all the way through the house. After someone closed the door, the ice hardened, changing the playing conditions again.

Read complete blog here