GHEDI Fall 2016

The Griffin Hill Equinox Disc Invitational The GHEDI

took place September, 25, 2016 (A Sunday)

This is a semi-annual event held in celebration of life and marking the
legitimate holiday of equal day and night (Equinox).

A record turnout to take in the sun on a perfect fall day.  Registration was at 9:30 and play started on time at 10 AM.  There were 34 bodies recorded on the score sheet including 4 rookies who had only thrown disc a couple of times.  There were others playing on this course for the first time that tried for rookie status but since they have 400' throws! They were put in the Open Category.

Ron, Doug, Juan, Waffle Dough, Lefty

Sparky and Chyna, the Countess, Sonia, Greg, Polisher and Fire
Marshalle

Polisher, Fire Marshalle, Matteo, Bling, Nebs, Hawkeye, and
Raven

Hawkeye, Raven, and Amber

Amber, Coach, Skat, and Jerry Garcia

Rear Admiral, Van, Count Ferrari, Jensen

Group Photo:  Fall GHEDI 2016

Juan at Tee #6

Ozetta, if you hit a horse you add 4 strokes!

Turbo doing his thing like Predator on hole 14.

Eye, B. Eh?, Raven, and Polisher 

Dave, looking like the cat who swallowed the canary!

Nebs, playing her lie on the top of the Bloody Mary Truck.

Bling having crab bisque

Lefty telling Dave the secret of putting.

Count Ferrari looking dazed and confused.
There would be a reason for this!

Everyt'ing in da rite place!
Joe with posole.

K,O., doing food.  He needs a good meal!

Cajun after a well played round,
winning the course record at -16!

Coach with a plate of beans.  One bird away from the course
record.  He tied the previous best at -15!

Eric before his nap in the Bloody Mary Truck

Skat taking in some liquid refreshment.

The Scorekeeper or sometimes known as the
Doorman.
Also claiming the handle of Ace King??
None for him this round.

Legs with the Fagioli

Jalapeno, Ron, and Barber in the clubhouse.

The scorecard!

Warning:  We may need to limit participation as this population was stretching the course ability for safety.

Anecdotes:

A new Course Record was set by Cajun at -16, eclipsing AJ's record of -15 set a couple of years ago.

Jerry Garcia hit the only real Ace and collected the Ace Pot!  There were at least 2 *Aces too by other players.  The Ace King (self named) did not get any of these!  One has to question the ego that takes this lofty title....

Turbo took home the $$ that was close to triple digits in playing Skins after the tournament.  He also picked up a CTP worth $30.  Bling and Hawkeye each took a CTP too.  The other is unknown at this writing.


Good Food:

The potluck was a great success with too much food.  Most of it was consumed with at least 6 hot dishes of posole, fagoili, rice, meatballs, sliders and crab bisque as the notable dishes.  Also notable was the two boxes of beautiful donuts that were not touched as much as one would suspect.  Maybe a dozen were consumed.  Maybe this crowd is staying away from the sugar and eating healthy.  There were sliced apples and magic toffee as well as some consumable lozenges that came with the Bloody Mary Truck.

Lost items:

A trifold disc stool that says "BA" on it was found on the #1 tee.  A black folding chair was left in the clubhouse too.  Apparently two discs were left behind, according to reports, one in the pumpkin patch and one over the fence by target #5.

BAD behavior:

Someone needs a lesson in manners...  A Camel cigarette butt was left by Tee 16 and 3 other filters with cream spots were found about the course.  Maybe they fell out of the disposal bag but that is unacceptable.  Possible punishment?  Make them eat the discards?

Course Grooming:

There were two volunteers who came by early in the week to assist with course grooming, Jerry Garcia and the Scorekeeper.  Kudos to them!  The course looked better than ever and all who came had good things to say about it.

Results:

Best Shooter 18 = Cajun (-16 and new course record)
Best Score Doubles on the 10 = Turbo and Coach (-7)* ( there were issues in getting the teams matched up that were exacerbated by players leaving after the 18)
Nutcracker Award = Waffle Dough with nicely bruised knee
Hot Chick Award = Lefty (+6)
7th Place on the 18 = Jensen
Straight Shooter = Jerry Garcia Ace on 16
Clean Sweep = Garcia and Doorman
Most Regular = Eye (-5)
Forget Me NOT = Polisher
2nd Place Team Award = B. Eh and Waffle Dough

Viking River Cruise Longship photo tour 2016

This site is intended to be examined by those interested in taking a river cruise.

Hope it helps.

Viking River Cruises are noted for quality.  If you are interested in seeing what the

trip from Budapest to Amsterdam was like click here for the article.

UP

Count Enrico

The name of our boat explained.

Boat Description:

There were 6 of these vessels built in 2012, All sister ships. 443' long x 37' wide and only need 2 m to float.  The fleet currently has 47 of them as of 2016.   They are purpose built and do the job like a feather pillow for sleeping!

The Mechanical Bits:

A lock that is 83' of drop or lift and 40' wide.
We just fit.  I suspect the boats were designed
to optimize this lock size.

4@ electric driven props shafts, turning independently, with counter rotating props on each shaft. The props are .8m in dia.

After a tour of the main brain by one of the two engineers on board, I was given way more information than I could ever write about.

Some highlights: 20 km/h top speed, enough fuel to go round trip from Budapest to Amsterdam. Fueling is done in Vienna along with water and sewage dump. The waste water is treated and discharged while the sludge is dumped as needed.

Four diesels: One main V-12 of 1000 hp, 3 6 cylinders with abou 700 hp. All for generation of electricity. Props are driven by electrical motors of 300kw. AC is the next biggest use of power and then water and heat.



Here is a video made by someone else showing a cabin just like ours.
Click here for video

The sundeck was not open while in the canal
that transits the distance of 106 miles from
the Danube to the Rhine.
Clearance was about 4" exiting the lock.

Sink and vacu-flush toilette.  Also, 110s and the
standard 220v outlets

Double doors to shower.  The head has a heated floor.
A drying line is provided to hang laundry which I used.

Top shelf doors, drawers, fixtures,etc... The bathroom floors are heated electrically, Vacuum flush toilets, Queen sized beds, fridge, wifi, outside deck with two chairs in our upgraded cabin (no charge,  which we think was done since we booked through a travel agent).

The stewards welcoming us back from our tour of Nurenburg.  Vinnie, on the far left was our steward and a better one
could not be found.  He was amazing!  The boat picked us up in a mill log yard.  You can see the logs in the reflection.

I found a video made that shows the check in by a newbie Viking River Cruise.  This traveler is in a cabin on the bottom floor.  We were on the 3rd (top) floor.  The tour this passenger gives includes many of the nice features we found.  Click here for the video

Lori looking at the logs outside our cabin.

Viking Aegir and Modi (sistre ships, 2012 and 2015) at Werthheim Gm. Bow to stern raft.  Note sun decks are down.  You can see the two luxury suites at the stern of Aegir and the forward sundeck of the Modi. 

Exiting a lock.  Note the height of the gate.  VERY close.

The bar which is centered in the boat and has seats on both sides.  This is the port side.  Note the grand piano which had
our lounge player most nights and a concert pianist one special night.  Dancing was on that little floor just in front of the
bar. Also used as a performing stage for Gypsy Music, Jazz Music night, and Glass Blowing Demonstration.

The port side with the Breakfast Club boys in the AM.
We were always up early and having coffee and wifi
when it worked.

The Food:

The food is excellent with a standard menu each night and then two or three other choices added on each meal. The staff is very accommodating! Our steward, Vinnie, is trying so hard to keep us happy it is kind of embarrassing to mention any little want. He will try and get it done. Amazing!

Navigation on the rivers:

The state of the art navigation was done in the wheelhouse that rises and lowers for bridges.

Click here to view a short video of it in action, going under a bridge.  The water can be too high or too low so constant input is needed to clear the obstacles.  There are 3 'captains' on board who rotate through 6 hour shifts.  One is overall in charge but they are all needed.  They are very good at driving these mechanical marvels.

Aquavit Lounge. The most AC in the boat.  Often too cold.   This is what breakfast looked like in the light dining area.
The formal dining was down one deck and offered anything you could want.  Lighter lunches and dinners were offered
in this dining area.  The views from here were incomparable!

Forward dining area with the doors open.

Forward sundeck and outdoor dining area on the bow.  The windows on the front of the Aqavit Lounge could open
and make the two areas one space for dining.  Awnings were deployed if the boat was not moving..

The Activities:

Julia in Werthheim

 The guides at the 12 stops were all excellent.  They all had good English and took us on walking tours that filled us with historical facts.

Wei-Ler in Vienna herds a group of us around after a short bus tour.

Jena in Passau, note gondola in background

Ingelin in Regensburg

We would get one of these each night on our bed left by Vinnie.  We had the entire
next day outlined.

This was the same each day.  Dinner and lunch menu varied but the same format.
Usually with 4 entree options and 3-4 desserts and a few salad or starters options.
There was a standard menu you could count on, being salmon, chicken or steak.

Zeljko, our favorite waiter had these 5 tables near the kitchen.  Lori is having breakfast.
Note the bar behind her for toast and behind that omelettes are ordered with other warm breakfast foods.

Breakfast fruit and omelette prep station.

At our table in the main dining area with Ann and Phil from Milwaukee.
You sit where you want and meet all sorts.  It was a fun social time.

A look at the breakfast servings.

The hallway looking aft, to our cabin.  Note the bright
light on the floor WAY down there.
That was our cabin on the starboard side.

More breakfast choices

The Aegir at Cologne (?).  Note the trams crossing the river.

The walking track.  12.75 laps = one mile.
Note the sun shade and very nice furniture.

The aft sun deck in front of the walking track.
Speakers were up here for the tour
director to tell us about interesting places we were
passing.

The blue 'X' is part of the mechanical system that raises
and lowers the wheelhouse to clear bridges.  Maybe 10' of lift.

Forward sundeck in front of the wheel house.  No rudders
or wheels, just joy stick/s

Some solar panels at the stern just behind the crew's upper lounge.

The top deck was not available for part of the cruise due to MANY low bridges, such that the rails were lowered and the chairs and tables were also flattened.  The Pilot House rises and lowers on command.  We cleared by less than 6" many times.

Click here to see the video for preparing to go under low bridges.

Lori and Gita on tow path in Cologne.  Aegir moored facing up stream as per usual. 

Same photo but at night.

Reception area.  We would get our passes for departing and turn them in when returning so they could keep track of us.
I forgot to turn my passes in and got a call from the night auditor at 3:30 AM to make sure we were on the boat.  My bad!

Menu and entry to the main dining area.  Menu was always posted so one could decide to eat up or down.

The Aegir in Amsterdam.  The buses used by Viking are the nicest I have ever been on.

Cocktails on our veranda!  Doesn't get much better than this!