A Winter Cure: Cur(e)ling?

 

Our six-plus-month winter season gives us plenty of opportunity to think, read, write–and for many–leave town. For those staying, pickleball and curling provide options for all ages. We’ve written of pickleball enough that a fellow columnist has taken caustic note. So today we focus on curling which you can do all along the North Shore. More on that below.

My only contact with curling before now has been watching Olympic teams from the U.S. On television, it looks somewhat lazy and easy. Do not be fooled. I joined the Grand Marais Curling Club in January and like both the subtlety needed and the people doing it. The 90 members welcome new players, and about half of this year’s membership are new. We range from age 11 years to at least 88!

If you have good balance, you can “throw” the 42-pound “rock” the way you see it on TV. You slide on your front foot after pushing off from a foothold in the ice. For lesser souls, and aged ones, we curl standing up, using a stick that attaches to the rock’s handle. Walk forward pushing the rock and let it go before you cross the line, giving it a twist to cause the rock to “curl” on the way to the “house,” the concentric circles more than 100 feet away.

The curl is akin to a hook in bowling, but it is necessary to ensure control of the throw. What you quickly learn is that it is a game of nuance punctuated by rapid running while sweeping if more speed or distance is needed. I find it relatively easy to control direction but devilishly hard to control speed. Nuance and muscle memories are required for success.

The most important scoring fact is that only one team, or none, can score points in an “end,” roughly the equivalent of a baseball inning, but both teams are at bat, alternating eight rocks each. The scoreboard in Grand Marais has room for 12 ends for each game. And a team can be ahead 7-0 during an end and have that lead erased by one good, last throw.

Many if us got covid shots in the last two years on the floor of the curling rink adjacent to the Community Center off 4th Avenue west of County Road 7. The building is a 1990’s replacement for a prior rink building that burned. The rink created and maintained by very precise volunteers has four lanes. With four members per team, up to 32 curlers can play at the same time.

There are also curling clubs in Thunder Bay, Two Harbors, and Duluth and several more on the Range. The internet mentions a Silver Bay Curling Club, LLC, but it is not clear that it is active, although Silver Bay golf manager Norma O’Leary is a member of the excellent U.S. Women’s team.

The Two Harbors club is located just off Highway 61, next to the Lakeview National Golf Course. (I am aware of only one other curling rink next to a golf course; it’s in Bismarck, North Dakota.} The Duluth club is at 327 Harbor Drive, inside Pioneer Hall at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center on the ice level. Three of the four members of the Shuster team in the last Olympics are from Duluth.

If you are unsure or want an easy way in to curling, come on a Wednesday afternoon by 1:00 p.m. Tuesday evening also has open curling beginning at 6:30 p.m., and there are classes for a modest fee. Open curling has room for more. Jim King and other veterans are there to provide leadership and guidance. Check out the Cook County Curling Club schedule: duluthcurlingclub.org; twoharborscurling.com; and three clubs in Thunder Bay area: Port Arthur, Fort William and Kakabeka Falls.

Dues for a new, local, senior member are $100; that covers about 26 weeks of curling. The first couple sessions are free for prospective new members looking to test drive the sport. All you need to bring is a clean pair of shoes with traction for the not too slippery ice. For information and encouragement, contact Jim King at 218-663-7409 or toftemnhome@gmail.com.

Addendum: For those interested in international things, you will want to know that all the granite for the Rocks used in curling comes from one of two quarries in the UK. The main source is on Ailsa Craig, a small isle located off the coast of mainland Scotland. A second quarry is located in Trefor, North Wales.

Groaner: “I always took it for granite….”

For the scientists among us, consider: “First principles pivot-slide model of the motion of a curling rock,” proposes an algebraic formula to explain the relationship between the curling rock and the pebbled ice on which it is thrown to explain how it curls down the ice.

Steve Aldrich is a retired Hennepin County lawyer, judge, and mediator. He and Myrna moved here in 2016. He likes to remember that he was a Minnesota Super Family Lawyer before being elected to the bench. Steve writes this column to learn more about his new home area and to share his learnings with others—and to indulge his curiosities. Bouquets and brickbats to the editor or stevealdrich41@gmail.com. Copyright Stephen C. Aldrich and News Herald, 2022.