A global pandemic isn’t stopping Allan Sand from getting his curling fix.
The Quesnel resident didn’t want to curl to stay safe during COVID-19, so he went back to an old standby. He’s been creating a curling rink in his backyard for years now, using plastic jugs as stones.
“A lot of it was trial and error and also seeing how the ice is put in at the curling club,” he said. “I just cleared some ice and started experimenting.”
Sand said he worked 20 hours this year on making the sheet, but some years, it takes even longer. He paints the houses using non-toxic finger paints and then mists over them to set the colour. After the paint is locked in, he does a heavy flood using water pumped from the lake itself.
“Last year, I didn’t put in a rink because the weather was so bad,” he said. “It would snow six inches, get above zero, so there was slush on the ice, and you couldn’t keep a sheet clear.”
Weather needs to be below freezing consistently before Sand can start work on the ice.
The “stones” are assembled carefully as well. Sand uses a heavier-duty plastic jug than normal, fills them with gravel, making sure they all weigh the same. After the gravel is inside, he fills them with water and leaves them outside. When the water freezes, it means the gravel stays at the bottom, and the jugs stay upright more often.
Sand added while the jugs do curl a little bit, playing is closer to shuffleboard than curling on a proper ice surface, guessing there was around 1.5 feet of curl when throwing. Curling stones move the way they do because of small bumps on the ice surface, called pebbles. While pebbling a lake sheet is possible, it’s a challenge, and requires perfect weather. Sand said a light coating of snow can simulate waxing a shuffleboard table to make it easier to throw.
The sheet of ice on the lake has drawn attention from neighbours and others using the lake.
“I can’t believe how many skaters there are on the lake this year,” Sand said. “It’s nice to see everyone out getting some fresh air.”
On Sand’s sheet, two teams play horseshoes style, meaning they maintain extra outdoor social distancing, as teams within the same bubble compete against each other.
Sand hopes to return to regular curling, as well as jug curling, in 2021.
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Do you have something to add to this story, or something else we should report on? Email: cassidy.dankochik@quesnelobserver.com
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cassidy.dankochik@quesnelobserver.com
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