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Monterey International Healey Week Funkhana

Published on 9/11/2017


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Healey Week Funkhana



Not having a partner at the  Monterey International Healey  Week, I thought I would be  relegated to the status of  spectator at the Funkhana event.

 

But, then I spotted a cute young  lass watching the event.

 

Recalling my days as a swinging  bachelor, I decided to employ  one of my “can’t miss” pickup  lines. “Wanna navigate for me?”  I oozed with a Robert Redford  grin? The look on her face said  it all. The conquest was  complete. She was all mine for a  tire screeching ride in my sexy  little Sprite.

 

The theme of the event was “A  day at the beach.” Held in an  isolated parking area of the Monterey Hyatt, the event required each driver/  navigator team to negotiate five tasks.

 

At the start, each team was issued a picnic lunch  basket, inflated balloon in the shape of a Corona beer  bottle, and a huge beach ball. These items were to  be carried throughout the course, making for some  rather awkward moments for the navigator of each  team.

 

With a shout from the starter the following tasks had  to be performed as fast as possible:  Highway 1: This was a short gymkhana course that  involved weaving through a series of traffic cones. Picnic: Next, the team had to park at a designated  station, get out of the car and perform two picnic  lunch tasks. One was to pretend to feed each other  sandwiches using small squares of wood. The second  was to pretend to pour “wine” from the Corona bottle  into a plastic wine glass and give each other a sip.

 

Then it was back to the car for a trip to the next  station.

 

Sand Castle: At this station the team was required to  arrange a set of cardboard boxes with lettering on  them to spell out “Monterey 2017.” To the top of this pyramid, the team was to place two  large cardboard cylinders that were  marked with the letters “A” and “H.”  Volleyball: At this station, the driver  and navigator needed run to a  badminton net, toss the beach ball  over the net to each other three  times, and then drop it to the ground.

 

Highway 1 Deux: The volleyball task  having been completed, it was back  down “Highway 1”, this time in the  reverse order from the first trip,  ending at a solo traffic cone near the  registration table that marked the end  of the course.

 

I turned in a time of three minutes,  thirty seconds, the fastest of any prior  run. Unfortunately, my victory was not  to last the day, as other teams posted  faster times. Our own Brian and Linda  Hubbard took overall honors, with  what had to have been not only the  fastest, but the most spirited run of  the day. (Photos attached.) The final  results had the following three fastest  times:  1. Brian and Linda Hubbard: 2 minutes  57 Seconds (increased to 3 minutes 7  seconds due to a 10 second penalty  for a flubbed task.)  2. Ellen Wetzel and Ashley Feldman: 3  minutes 1 Second (increased to 3  minutes 21 seconds due to two 10  second penalties for flubbed tasks.)  3. John Tennyson and Nancy McCloskey: 2 minutes 52 seconds (increased to 3 minutes 22 seconds due to  three flubbed stations.)  Everyone who ran the event had a lot of fun. Kudos to course workers Marc and Patti Lewis, Eliot and Ginny  Brown, Carla den Dulk, and Irene Medzyk. I ran the event in the morning and was surprised at how many  entrants didn’t show up at their appointed time. Rumor had it that serious partying the night before left  several entrants in no condition to drive! Afternoon attendance was apparently much better.

 

My only criticism of the event was the proximity between the gymkhana course and the registration table. I  would have run the course much faster than I did, but I did not want to risk spinning out into the crowd at the  table. I’m sure others exercised similar caution in this area.