PCAS recap

It has taken me all week to return and recover and re-enter and catch up!

Pacific Coast Adult Sectionals was a blast.  I got to meet up with old grad school friends of mine and hang out with their kids, visit my alma mater, go to Powell's, and - skate and skate and skate.

I skated in three events - Adult Gold Ladies Championship III, High Figures, and Masters Ladies Interpretive Light Entertainment/Comedy II/III.  All went well.  The figures event though was easily the highlight.  There were 8 people who competed in the High Figures event, and three in the Low Figures event.  We had several practices on Fri and Saturday - it was defintely cool to patch on designated patch sessions - everyone on their own patch of ice, no music - and moreover no dance patterns, MIF patterns, or multi-revolution jumps careening through the figures layouts!

This picture cracks me up.  You may need to embiggen to see it - but the judges are standing still and in focus, I am a ghostly blur.

The event itself was amazing.  They coned off the ends of the ice for warming up, and one by one, folks were called out to lay out each figure (we each did two - first a one-foot 8, then a FI to BO bracket).  I was the 6th person to skate the one-foot 8, and the second person to skate the bracket.  The test levels of the 8 people had a wide range - I have passed my third test on the standard track (there's the preliminary test, and then tests 1-8), my friend Brenda has passed her 2nd test, someone had passed the Adult Silver test (fairly similar to the 2nd standard track test), three folks had passed or taken (and not quite passed) their 8th test, someone had passed her 5th test, etc.  The main "feeling" during the event was more giddy than nervous - judges and competitors alike were really exited to be competing figures!  There was also a huge audience in the stands - more than I expected.

I laid out really nice figures - the one-foot 8 was a few inches wider on the starting side than the other side, but aside from that, it was really nice.  The other side was lined up, the change of edge was clean, and it was nicely traced.  The bracket I did was *great* - I don't think I have ever skated the figure that well!  The two circles were a little offset from each other - but aside from that, it was really nice - the F brackets were clean and nicely shaped, the back brackets were so well traced I couldn't believe it.  I went around for the third bracket and the first two were *right* on top of each other - the third was about an inch away.  I ended up in 4th place for this figure- the top three folks were all 8th test skaters, and they did just a beautiful job - you can totally tell the extra control and edge quality with those extra years of doing figures and testing under their belts.  Rumor has it the skating club will try to put together a figures-only competition next summer (09 sometime) - they'll pick 15 figures, you sign up for the three you want to compete, and whoever wants to do it can.  FX they do it!

  There was this funky hand-operated ice resurfacing thing they used during the event - it covered over the prior tracings and left the ice clean for the next batch - they did it after a few skates to clean up the ice.  Who knows how long that thing has been sitting in storage.

I skated reasonably well for my freestyle event.  My spins were great - and often those suffer when stiff-kneed and nervous.  My footwork went well - I edited one small piece of it (changing a counter turn into a three-turn), and forgot to look up (I am perenially trying to stabilize myself by looking down - it doesn't work and looks bad to boot LOL).  My jumps were so-so - I two-footed the first axel, I popped the lutz of the luzt/loop/loop combination, and fell on the second axel which is supposed to be a combination jump too.  I edited out the third combination jump and turned it into a solo flip - oops.  (Part of a well-balanced program is having both solo jumps and combination jumps).  I placed at the bottom of the entire group of 15 skaters but really?  I'm fairly happy with the skate.  Goals for the next month are to get the jumps solid and not "eek", and work on presentation points.

The interp event was decent too.  I typically am mortified to skate this event - I purposely picked music that is beyond my introverted comfort zone - I skate to some goofy pots-and-pans rhythm music that I pulled from a Sandra Boynton CD, you can preview it here.  Last year I skated it bedecked in kitchen utentils and paraphenalia - measuring cups at the bottom of my shirt that whirled around when I spun, etc.  This year, I wore a chef's coat and a single pot on my head - plus a few wooden (well, plastic) spoons in my hands.  I managed to be much more playful with it - and ended in a three-way tie for 4th place with my friend Brenda and someone else.  Since I've only ever placed at the bottom or very close to the bottom with this program, I was pleased.

Brenda and I after checking the scores -

There was a little bit of yarn shopping too - I looked up Yarnia. 

You pick different strands of yarn and combine them for a custom blend.  The one on the left was aimed at a denim look - it has some silk blend, cotton, and I think wool in it.  The one on the right I was aiming for a coppery yarn - it's mostly a variety of wool blends with a boucle in there I think.

One month to go (a little less really) before Adult Nationals - wheee!

Comments

[katy]

Glad you had a good trip & a good competition. Sounds like it energized you!

[Brenda]

Glad to hear the competition was so enjoyable for you, yay!

[misnomer]

Nice pictures! Congrats!

[lkmcland]

Oh, sounds like a great time! Congrats on placing so high on that interpretive routine! Wish I'd seen it, I'm sure it was great :). Best of luck next month!