Another Punkin Chunkin season has come and gone. I can't believe it's been 6 years of competition for Yankee Siege. I can't believe we pulled off another 1st place! Six straight years of wins, with no losses, its like a dream come true. And to top it off, to break the 2000 foot barrier. I am so proud of all the team members who worked so hard this year so that we could be the first treb in history to break the 2000 foot mark in competition. I would especially like to thank my wife Kathleen for putting up with me and this weird sport. We are the only members of the 2000 foot club, quite an exclusive club! This is one time that its nice to be lonely at the top!
The treb division this year was very impressive with nine machines throwing in excess of a thousand feet. The 2000 foot club will soon be crowded. I was particularly impressed with "new comer" American Chucker with their 1895 foot shot on Sunday 11/7/2009. With only 2200 pounds of counterweight and a ten foot drop that is 35% efficient! Very nice! This is a great machine and a great bunch of guys. Not bad for their first year in competition. They mentioned that they only tested 6 shots before the competition. Image what it will shoot with a little more tuning!!! Good luck!
Its nice to see our old comrades from Pumpkin Hammer and Merlin. Unfortunately, both their machines had breakage problems a short time before competition and could not live up to their full potential. Both of these machines are beautiful examples of ingenuity and efficiency and are easily capable of a 2000 foot plus throw! When these machines are fully functional, watch out!
Yankee Siege's goal has always been to break the 2000 foot barrier. I told my wife back in 2004, that once we broke 2000 feet we would retire from competition. Be careful what you wish for!!! I didn't think we would ever reach that goal or not quite this quickly at least.
The 2000 foot goal has presented several problems for Yankee Siege. The biggest problem is space in our test site at the farm stand. We have run out of space. We are now capable of hitting 4 houses with several throws this year in excess of 2300 feet. It is making me very nervous that we will do harm to an adjacent property.
The second problem with continued competition is cost. It costs Yankee Siege $15,000.00 to compete every year in Delaware. We are looking for sponsors to cover some of the costs. Maybe we could just bring in the machine to throw 100 pound pumpkins as a crowd pleaser and not compete. Maybe we should retire. It's been a great run for the past 6 years with many fantastic memories. It will be hard to "top" this year with all the media attention and the 2000 foot throw. It might be best to leave while you are at the top of your game. To be continued.
Steve Seigars, YS
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5 comments:
Sorry to hear that you will no longer be doing demonstrations on your farm in Greenfield. I see that you also are looking for sponsership to cover the cost of competing. Couldn't you "de-tune" the treb a little so it doesn't go so far at the farm and ask people to make donations at the demo's? I'm sure you could raise at least $15000. I brought my family to your farm two years ago to see the Seige in action, we loved it and I was surprised it was free to view.
So sad you won't be doing pumpkin throwing!! We missed out last year and promised the kids we'd take them this year ... we would donate a few dollars to go!
Sorry to hear this we have been going up for the past few years it has become sort of a tradition in our family we get all the grandparents and cousins to tag along as well .. I KNOW our family would donate to this event... PLEASE CONTINUE :)
:( we where looking forward to this, so sad to hear it will not be part of our fall adventures, we have been there for the past few years. thank you for allowing us to take part in such a historical event.
Good Article
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