Urban Skins layout

[12StonesScott]

Not sure where the best place for this is, but . . .

FWIW, here's a Google Map with the layout for the Urban Skins competition in Asheville last Sunday:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=U...515,-82.552418&spn=0.004964,0.011362&t=h&z=17

If you're not familiar with the event, it's basically like this -- the top four finishers in the Mountain Disc Golf Experience tournament get to face off in a skins format competition played in the streets of downtown Asheville, NC. One basket is moved from location to location. The police close off each section of street(s) as needed. The specifics of the course are kept secret from the players until the competition begins.

This event draws quite a crowd of spectators each year -- got to see it for the first time myself this year, and there were as many as 200 people watching at times, the majority of whom were following from hole to hole.

Pix from Sunday at http://www.flickr.com/photos/scottwalker3/sets/72157624181925290/

 

[DSCJNKY]

DiscChainBasket18 will be uploading video to YouTube soon.
But for those ofyou who cant wait to see what Urban Skins is all about... here'e video of last years event:
DSCJNKY

 

[billnchristy]

Thanks for that, it is a really cool event, we had thought about checking it out...guess we should have....there is always next year.

Was it only 10 holes?

 

[jsc430]

I want one...

 

[12StonesScott]

Thanks for that, it is a really cool event, we had thought about checking it out...guess we should have....there is always next year.

Was it only 10 holes?

It was a lot of fun to watch, and having a large crowd, with lots of disc golfers mingling with lots of folks who just happened to be around and got interested made it something of a party atmosphere.

Yeah, 10 holes. Not sure they even decide for sure ahead of time how many holes they'll play -- think they try to make allowances for delays or problems -- but from a brief conversation I had with John Mahon beforehand, I don't think they had more holes than that laid out.

 

[DiscJunkie]

Interesting.
Got support from the city of Asheville?
Wow.
I can't imagine this happening on the streets of Wilmington.

 

[Fender088]

I watched the above video a while back and thought it was one of the coolest ideas yet. Thanks for posting this year's layout. Wish I could've driven up to see it.

 

[toothyfish]

How tolerant is the general public about their cars getting hit? Though I bet the skip shot works well...

 

[mashnut]

That looks like an awesome idea, thanks for posting!

 

[Fender088]

How tolerant is the general public about their cars getting hit? Though I bet the skip shot works well...

Haven't been to the event, but every time I've been to Asheville the people have been exceptionally nice and chill. I don't imagine that everyone loves the event, but I'd be willing to bet that the general population could care less or would even be excited about such an event in the middle of the city. Definitely one of the headier places on the east coast.

 

[scarpfish]

You know as fun as that looks, it also looks incredibly dangerous, and potentially destructive to property.

 

[12StonesScott]

Interesting.
Got support from the city of Asheville?
Wow.
I can't imagine this happening on the streets of Wilmington.

Yeah, apparently the city has been cooperative; as you can see, there were police cars blocking off the streets for each hole, coordinating their positions with the organizers. As I understand it, that's been the case for at least a few years now; the first few years were more of an "outlaw" sort of thing.

It is sort of hard to envision it happening in most cities -- Asheville's a bit of a different sort of animal.

 

[Marty McFly]

That is totally rad. Looks like a blast to play!

 

[12StonesScott]

How tolerant is the general public about their cars getting hit? Though I bet the skip shot works well...

The guy whose nearly new SUV got hit at the end of a ~480 ft drive didn't seem too happy about it, judging from the amount of time it took the TD and the thrower to finish their conversation with him. I think they tried to minimize the risk of hitting parked cars through placement of the basket, and generally closing off the streets and clearing them of traffic before throwing pretty much mitigated the risk of hitting moving cars on most holes (the throw over Charlotte Street from the Stephens-Lee basketball court area was probably the one place where there was any appreciable danger of hitting moving cars). The one throw that did hit the SUV was 150-200 ft off-line from the basket -- don't think anyone thought there was any chance of ending up over there.

 

[12StonesScott]

Haven't been to the event, but every time I've been to Asheville the people have been exceptionally nice and chill. I don't imagine that everyone loves the event, but I'd be willing to bet that the general population could care less or would even be excited about such an event in the middle of the city. Definitely one of the headier places on the east coast.

Yeah -- standing around with a big camera on a monopod, I was fairly conspicuous, and had probably 40 or 50 people ask me what was going on during the course of the day. The usual responses were either an "Oh, that's cool" or a "Hmm. Thanks". No one seemed upset or hostile about it, and a few were obviously interested and hung around to watch some.

 

[12StonesScott]

You know as fun as that looks, it also looks incredibly dangerous, and potentially destructive to property.

I have to confess that there were times when I couldn't help wondering what sort of arrangements had been made for liability in the event of property damage, not only when the SUV got hit, but also when a drive on the next to last hole hit the side of the Kress building near a patch of ornamental glazed ceramic tile that's probably been there since it was built in 1928 (at the rear corner of the building in this photo, just above the red sign):

 

[DSCJNKY]

^I thought the disc was going through the window from my angle. It hit the building a few inches low - Thank God! We certainly didn't want any bad publicity.

The guy whose escalade got hit somehow managed to get past the police roadblock and the throw was WAY off line. I could see the disc in the air... and the escalade driving down the street... and the disc in the air... and I knew it was going to hit it. Barely glanced the side of his fender, but it did leave a mark and the guy wasn't happy about it. But, they exchanged numbers and any damages should be covered.

DSCJNKY

 

[petecarp]

I had to opportunity to play in the Amateur version of Urban Skins Saturday night at the Mountain Sports Festival Village and before play is started you basically have to verbally agree that you will take responsibility for any damage done to private property by your disc. I stayed clean and took home 150 in merchandise without even winning a skin.