...and I thought the DG scene in Seattle was suffering. Reykjavik what?

[ChUcK]

So I'm nearly a week into my vacation in Iceland and we finally made our way to Reykjavik. I found a course to play just outside the city limits in some landfill-became-park and decided to try my luck despite not bringing any plastic with me.

I showed up at 10 a.m. and found the course with ease. After 2 hours of wandering around the completely empty course (sunny and 15 deg C, WTF?) I finally deciphered a teesign's Icelandic script. It seemed to be sponsored by a shop that sold discs. I asked some geezers at a gas station and they gave me directions for an hour walk to find this shipping company that went out of business years ago. D'oh.

After another hour's walk back to the course I saw a car in the parking lot and a Hail Mary thumber rise above the treetops and got excited. Three guys were warming up for a round and they allowed me to a) join in b) borrow an Aviar, Buzzz, and Flash and c) use their car as a locker for my non-essentials. Super nice guys.

The course was pretty ho-hum with only one hole that was longer than 100m. They are mostly home-welded contraptions that catch just fine except for an unusually small diameter bucket. The rest were Lightning buckets that hurt just to look at, but chains are chains are chains when you need your fix. The course seems to have the usual teenage basket vandal problems as our stateside courses do.

The Vikes were amazed that I kept using the Aviar instead of the Flash. They asked me what discs I normally used and were blown away to learn that Sweden was manufacturing discs. They had never heard of Latitude 64! Coincidentally, the course is on that exact latitude. These poor guys have to purchase all their plastic online blindly and were throwing mostly Pukes, Losses, and Shitanas.

At some point I discreetly inquired as to their safety levels and discovered that one of them was an Iceland Air pilot, one was just a normal guy, and the third dude was part of Iceland's Olympic swim team with a bunch of national records and much fame to his name. That's impressive, considering how swim-crazy this country is. The funny part was that despite his swimming prowess, he could only throw a Pred thumber about 150 feet. I guess he must specialize in the breaststroke or something. Needless to say, it was a dangerous round.

I was invited to attend their Wednesday night league, wherein the entirety of Iceland's DG population gathers (all 20 of 'em) for a doubles round unless the weather is completely glacial. I can't wait to see the whole crowd!

First time DGing outside the States, unless you count Guam (which I don't).

[cefire]

Sounds pretty cool, you'll have to update again when you get to play in the dubs!

[sillybizz]

Chuck, that's awesome, makes me feel a little better. :)

[ChUcK]

Haha, I just did some Wikiresearch and the swimmer really is a breaststroker (aren't we all, said the male chauvinist to the strip-club crowd) so now I feel bad for giving him crap- at one point I mentioned that he should be able to thumb a Predator at least a kilometer with his swimming prowess. Perhaps it's time he learned the good ol' RHBH.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakob_J%C3%B3hann_Sveinsson

Now that I think about it, at one point I also asked him (jokingly) if he had any youtube vids of personally epic bong rips. He must hate me. Stupid Americans and their stupid Olympic swimmer/stoners. :slapface:

My wife already gave me the go-ahead to attend the Wed. dubs match, so I will certainly take notes/Flip Video and post them for everyone's viewing pleasure. If I actually remember that I own a Flip camera, that is. So far all I have is a single, crappy, 10-sec clip of some random fjord with brilliant commentary- "...and this appears to be a fjord." :yawn:

[Ken Smith]

Really neat Chuckster. You can start an Icelandic DG revolution ... Reykjavik will be ChUckavik.

[LakeStevensBA]

Chuckajavik,

Three things I noticed:

1. You now mention all units of measurement in metric units and temperatures in celcius. You have gone native and will soon rape and pillage your way through the local viking viliages. (or drink and joke with the locals....up to you).

2. You proudly represented US disc golf by showing your love for the game by walking a few miles (kilometers) and hooking up with the few locals. I've played ultimate in 4 Asian cities but have yet to find a disc golf course.

3. Your wife is totally cool letting you go play DG on your vacation. Buy her some spa time.

Throw an Iclandic thumber into that flight disrupting volcano for me!

[Ken Smith]

Chuckajavik,

Three things I noticed:

1. You now mention all units of measurement in metric units and temperatures in celcius. You have gone native and will soon rape and pillage your way through the local viking viliages. (or drink and joke with the locals....up to you).

2. You proudly represented US disc golf by showing your love for the game by walking a few miles (kilometers) and hooking up with the few locals. I've played ultimate in 4 Asian cities but have yet to find a disc golf course.

3. Your wife is totally cool letting you go play DG on your vacation. Buy her some spa time.

Throw an Iclandic thumber into that flight disrupting volcano for me!

BA is in the freakin' house. I second that!

[ChUcK]

1. You now mention all units of measurement in metric units and temperatures in celcius. You have gone native and will soon rape and pillage your way through the local viking viliages. (or drink and joke with the locals....up to you).

2. You proudly represented US disc golf by showing your love for the game by walking a few miles (kilometers) and hooking up with the few locals. I've played ultimate in 4 Asian cities but have yet to find a disc golf course.

3. Your wife is totally cool letting you go play DG on your vacation. Buy her some spa time.

Throw an Iclandic thumber into that flight disrupting volcano for me!

Celsius temperature is already *sorta* normal for me from lab work. Even the Nuclear Navy used that temperature scale for all the analyses we would do, but the length measurement still trips me up a bit. The Vikes asked me what my personal distance record was and I thought for a while, then said "I dunno, 350 meters I guess" and their eyes went like :shocked: until I realized what I had said and corrected myself to 120 meters.

I need to remember to proudly represent the US in a less bombastic manner. We (U.S.ers) really are a bunch of relatively loudmouthed buffoons! It is easy to forget to be mild-mannered on the golf course because I feel so comfortable in my natural habitat with plastic in hand.

Here's a fun factoid- every teesign and casual mention of the game by the Vikes refers to Frisbee Golf (frisbigolf). I wonder if the word 'disc' means something casually crude in Icelandic slang. It shouldn't, because that word is older than dirt- that famous Diskobolos statue by Myron the Greek was created before Iceland was even discovered by early seafaring pioneers.

Spa time for the wife has already been arranged, for sure. She likes to hang out in the outdoor hot tubs while freezing rain falls from the sky!

[JR Stengele]

nICE INFO CHUCK. Would love to hear more about it when you get back.

USA USA USA

[ChUcK]

Well, I suppose the intent of the Wednesday night meeting was lost in translation, but it was a good time regardless.

Many golfers showed up (around 10 total) but it wasn't for an organized league, more of a "regular" thing. Too bad, because for once I had cash in hand to enter and was looking forward to recouping some of my Kronur losses from this exorbitantly expensive trip!

As it turns out, they have Tromple Golf in Reykjavik also. By the end of the round my group had swelled to 6 total as the group ahead of mine finished with light left and a couple guys came back around to hole 13 to join up. Not the biggest card ever, but for a course containing 100-200' holes with switchbacks and crossing fairways, it's a full load.

I got to meet and play with the Chairman of the DG community, as well as the person who organizes their tournaments. The tourney guy had some weird rules interpretations- I asked if he used the 2m rule and he informed me that the PDGA had removed it from the rulebook because golfers were getting hurt climbing into trees and throwing from there in order to avoid the penalty. Huh? I didn't argue with him because the last thing I wanted was an international clash between two loud-mouthed know-it-alls. :biggrin2:

My disc selection (not like I had a choice) was a 160 dx aviar and a red champ Viking. I had to fight my own instincts to keep from saying "Whyking Powah!" every time I threw it. Not too sure if it was a good Viking or not, but for me it was nearly unusable. That sucker is slow speed Whippet X, fast speed Roadrunner.

Here's an interesting latitudinal anomaly- no matter what time of day, the sun is always low on the horizon. The sight of a discer shielding his eyes with a frisbee was common.

Another notable- Icelanders don't seem to high-five or anything like that no matter how bad-ass their shot was. That's cool with me, as I suffer from a distinct lack of coordination when it comes to celebratory flesh-slapping.

I got a few short clips with my Flip Video and will post one or two when I get the chance. I'm still not sure if I want to be the first to write a review of the course on DGCR or not. The only thing that comes to mind is the fact that it's the best DG course in Iceland (you know, the whole prettiest Denny's waitress routine).

[ChUcK]

Peter Jackson I am not, but here's a couple shots.

Course Info
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV1rbHEynTE

Homemade and subsequently repaired basket
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2xb0fCwUbA&feature=channel

[Tim]

Hahah, nor David Attenborough, apparently. I was listening for some commentary, wondering if my speakers were on mute, until i heard an exhalation. Still, that basket didn't look too bad for being a homemade jobber in a place where disc golf is so foreign. I saw this video of some Icelandic skating linked to yours: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXuhiPpPaq4&NR=1&feature=fvwp It's interesting to see the minor differences in another culture's interpretation of an American sport. I like that they still have a George W. "Worst President Ever" stencil on their ramp. I can see what you're talking about with the sun there too.

Cool story though, it's a lot more intriguing than my Wednesday disc golf story! Totally jealous here.

[Jaemes]

throwing mostly Pukes, Losses, and Shitanas.

Seems you have pretty strong opinions on these 3 discs, what do think are better discs?

[Adam Schneider]

Seems you have pretty strong opinions on these 3 discs, what do think are better discs?
I'm pretty sure he's simply pointing out that too many people, including most beginners, go out and buy the latest "fastest" discs -- even though they'd be much better off with older slower plastic.

So, what's better than a Nuke or Boss, if you don't have at least 350' of power? Almost anything.

[Ol' Bob]

With the world's weakest noodle arm, <150g R-Pro Bosses are the longest drivers in my bag. I still wish they'd make them in DX so the effective life would be longer than the R-Pro/cheese factor. Cheese just doesn't make for disc sweet-spot longevity.

[Scott]

With the world's weakest noodle arm, <150g R-Pro Bosses are the longest drivers in my bag. I still wish they'd make them in DX so the effective life would be longer than the R-Pro/cheese factor. Cheese just doesn't make for disc sweet-spot longevity.

Have you tried a lighter weight Pro Boss? I got tired of replacing the R-Pro bosses on a per-round basis and switched to Pro. More durable, and when they get beat it seems to be more of a fine tuning than going completely sideways. Not sure if they make a 150, but I found some in the 160s that work almost as well.

[ChUcK]

Seems you have pretty strong opinions on these 3 discs, what do think are better discs?

I don't really know as I don't throw those. Who would want to throw something called the Puke?


The chairman guy mentioned a couple of plots of land that he had his eyes on for future courses, one of which I had stomped around while lost in south Reykjavik, and it is prime, fertile land for some links, as long as they can get rid of all the volcanic rock in the area ( :laughing: )

Yeah, I thought about adding some commentary but I couldn't think of too many positive things to say about the course so I just kept my trap shut. I hope the future of Icelandic Frisbigolf has some length and intelligent design in its future...:trophy:

[emmarose]

you, chuck, have a future in disc golf travelogues... super entertaining read... where are you going golfing next? i can't wait to read about it... i've heard they have a nine hole course at mcmurdo (oh, i totally don't know how to spell that) down antarctica way...

peace,
emmarose

[Parks]

With the world's weakest noodle arm, <150g R-Pro Bosses are the longest drivers in my bag. I still wish they'd make them in DX so the effective life would be longer than the R-Pro/cheese factor. Cheese just doesn't make for disc sweet-spot longevity.

Longest most certainly does not always mean best.

Also, you've been playing for long enough that you can probably control an R-Pro Boss somewhat. A newer player is going to be stall-hyzering all over the course with one.

Chuck, I'm assuming that they spoke a lot of English, rather than you knowing a lot of Byorkayork? Or are you that well-traveled? :D

[ChUcK]

Also, you've been playing for long enough that you can probably control an R-Pro Boss somewhat. A newer player is going to be stall-hyzering all over the course with one.

Chuck, I'm assuming that they spoke a lot of English, rather than you knowing a lot of Byorkayork? Or are you that well-traveled? :D

Bob doesn't like to throw Gouda.

Hell yeah, everybody here speaks English. The only Icelandic I have learned is "kartoflur" which I used as a curse whenever my impeccable Viking went awry. That means the locals quickly tired of me yelling "POTATO!" at my disc in flight. :slapface:

[Jeff Hemmerling]

I don't really know as I don't throw those. Who would want to throw something called the Puke?Perhaps someone who can't read or spell.

[ChUcK]

Perhaps, perhaps, perrrrrrrrrrrr..................haps. Although I suppose they would have to be deaf and dumb, and understand neither ASL nor mimed uvula tickling.

Aaaanyways, The Icelandic DG community has my email address, and I promised them that if they ever came to the PacNW that I would hook them up with a guide at whatever course they were closest to. One of them is a pilot for Icelandic Air, so there's a decent chance I'll have to make good on my promise. I assume there will not be a lack of volunteers via NWDGN? Don't worry, they won't smoke all your weed, and their accented English is delightful. It is entirely possible that they'll advance ahead of the away player (an oddly absent bit of course courtesy there) but that's an easy habit to beat out of somebody.

[Bridges]

Fantastic read way to rep good ol' american plastic huckin' ahhhhh potato there goes my disc again

[ChUcK]

ahhhhh potato there goes my disc again

EXACTLY :cheers:

[Tim]

Perhaps someone who can't read or spell.

So in other words, most disc golfers?

[chris7graham]

:bowing:bravo way to go very nice to read this cant wait for next one:seeya:

[Ol' Bob]

Don't trust these people over here, as they have a tradition of pillaging.

[Joshua Olmsted]

Perhaps, perhaps, perrrrrrrrrrrr..................haps.

Great song, great commentary, fun read... Honestly, reading this just further makes me wish there were at least one disc golf course in any of the three countries I'm traveling through this semester abroad: Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua. I was almost tempted to plan out a huge road trip to play Panama's sole course.:(