USVI-On-Line

We'll be at the beach shack. If you're comming down for the festivities, wear flannel, work pants, sh*t kickin' boots, and a John Deere hat. This here's one big Bubba Fest in Lower Slower Delaware (LSD).

http://www.capegazette.com/storiescurre ... kin17.html

Hey, Chet! We're there. I've worked pit crew for the gun on pipanale's "how did this happen" thread, page 6 and for this one:

It really is accurate to describe Punkin Chunkin as "Jerry Garcia meets Nascar", or "the difference between men and boys is the price of their toys".
Unlike some of the guys at Punkin Chunkin that have corporate sponsorship, our two group's are homemade!



This one is not part of our group, but I always thought it was a pretty fun example of the nut cases we hang around sometimes:




For all of you Red Sox fans, this is Danielle Peck autographing our "Mack Daddy" air canon!
She was the Sox's Josh Beckett's ex-girlfriend. After their break up, the Red Sox's opponent had her sing the National Anthem in an attempt to psyche him out before the opening game of the 2007 American League playoffs. It didn't work. Beckett pitched a great game.

And I thought our PA potato guns were dangerous!

How do they power those things?

If beer was served at the event, I think we would drive down.

As for beer, it's BYOB. The guns are air powered by compressors. Some shoot with over 200 psi. There's also trebuchets, catapults, human powered[ by bicycle],a kids' division, a theatrical division,etc. There's over 100 contestants and it's all for bragging rights as to who can propel a pumpkin the furthest using many different energy sources.

How do the pumpkins (or pipinale's housemates) get chunked out of those guns safely? Are the guns set up in the middle of nowhere or something? I guess I am wondering how you stop a chunked pumpkin from landing on someone's house or car, etc.

Also, how can you tell excatly where they land? Are there tracking devices on the pumpkins??

It certainly looks interesting!

I have the same question/concern as Liamsaunt, the one-mile bowling ball scares me a bit.

The contest was originally held in Lewes. Some of the local owners of garages and machine shops got a crazy idea about who could launch a pumpkin the farthest. Over the years, the hardware became more sophisticated and Lewes bacame more crowded. The event has been moved a couple of times to open farmland that can hold 30-40-50,000 spectators. LSD is mostly rural and wide open (read FLAT). There is no risk to houses, cars, or people. Only a few machines are capable of launching pumpkins into orbit. Those folks use color-coded pumpkins and have to find a significant chunk in order for the "shoot" to count. That can take hours. Also, there's tampering with pumpkin genetics - they have to be the right size, have thick skin and rinds, and people claim the development of spiral ridges for improved rifling.

I saw a special on this event on either Discovery or Travel channel a few years ago. I'd love to get down there one of these years just to watch (when the boy gets a little older). It's probably only about a 4 or 4 1/2 hour drive from groton/new london. Please post some pictures from this year's competition!

Chet wrote:The contest was originally held in Lewes. Some of the local owners of garages and machine shops got a crazy idea about who could launch a pumpkin the farthest. Over the years, the hardware became more sophisticated and Lewes bacame more crowded. The event has been moved a couple of times to open farmland that can hold 30-40-50,000 spectators. LSD is mostly rural and wide open (read FLAT). There is no risk to houses, cars, or people. Only a few machines are capable of launching pumpkins into orbit. Those folks use color-coded pumpkins and have to find a significant chunk in order for the "shoot" to count. That can take hours. Also, there's tampering with pumpkin genetics - they have to be the right size, have thick skin and rinds, and people claim the development of spiral ridges for improved rifling.

I'm thinking it'll have it's own cable channel, something along the lines of the bass fishing channel.

liamsaunt wrote:How do the pumpkins (or pipinale's housemates) get chunked out of those guns safely?

Safely? Psh...as if I care.

Just make sure you shoot all her "stuff" right behind them.

There truly is nothing like watching what happens when you give a group of men beer, power tools, and disposable income. It's a wonderful thing.

OK, a few basic answers. A few years ago there were a few cannons with PVC [plastic] barrels and one of them exploded at the competition. It was caught on film and it was rather frighteningly spectacular, but nothing short of a miracle that no one was hurt. Since then the plastic barrels are banned and the guns go through intense hydrostatic testing for safety.
The festival in Bridgeville is the 2nd largest draw of people of any event in Delaware, only the Nascar Race at Dover draws more.
Over the years our group have had some hysterical tales. Both of the guns in our camp are [more or less] easily trailered and ready to shoot in a matter of minutes when we get to where we're going. Some of the others at the competition are assembled with cranes. We get permission on some huge tracks of land in MD and VA. So our guys get to shoot a lot more often then most of the others. A few years ago we did a big party in Frederick, Md on a huge farm. They set up a couple of cars, a boat, and a painted mural on 2 sheets of 3/4 inch plywood about 200 yards away. Using sugar baby watermelons the car and boat were destroyed. Now get this... The plywood had 8" holes thru them that looked like they had been drilled!
On July 4th 2006 both cannons were set up on another big farm across from White's Ferry on the MD side of the Potomac River. The guns were firing cantaloupes into the farmers' woods a few hundred yards away when his son's cell phone rang. Suddenly "Cease fire, cease fire!" was being screamed at us. Seems some local good ol' boys and girls had trespassed, complete with 4 wheelers, dirt bikes, generators, blenders and stereo, and set up a tiki bar. Suddenly some rather large fruit started falling out of the sky into their compound in the woods! Now, because no one was hurt this is a funny story, but I gotta tell you if a 8lbs cantalope falls from hundreds of feet in the sky and hits you it would be a mess!
The people at the festival are pretty varied. You got gear heads, beer heads, and every other kind of head. It's fun, friendly, and a lot of work for the contestants and their crews. Bowling balls are not allowed at the festival! The winner gets bragging rights, nothing more. The proceeds go to charity. It's just good old American competition an it finest!


Frederick, MD targets and cannons. Note; we don't have the extenstion barrels on either gun. The black one, on the right is 60 feet long with the extension barrel on it.


Aftermath of the cars, which were in pretty good shape in the beginning!

The winner gets bragging rights

...and the World Cham-peen-ship Punkin Chunkin Trophy!!

My daughter signed up for Honors Physics in High School this year because of the first semester project - pumpkin catapult.

I've been pitching the trebuchet, but her team decided on a catapult driven by leaf springs.

I'll try to get video.

Cheers, RickG