Team Urban Siege

2015 New Hampshire Extreme Chunkin

Posted by Matt | Tags: launches, NASAW

Since the 2015 World Championships of Punkin Chunkin ended up being cancelled for the second year in a row, we were once again left without a hurling event to go to. A number of phone calls and emails ensued, and we decided to go off to the chunk happening at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the Extreme Chunkin, which was only 2 weeks away (October 24 & 25) when the Delaware cancellation was made! We had not really tuned NASAW to shoot for distance in 2 years, but we really wanted to compete with some of our hurling friends again, so plans were set for us to go! Some last-minute tuning was done with about 3000 pounds of counterweight (roughly what our last shot at the 2013 WCPC was with), but unfortunately one of those shots resulted in bending a main section of the throwing arm. Luckily we still have the original throwing arm, which was the one we shot with in 2011 and 2012, so that was installed just a day before NASAW hit the road for the long drive from Western New York to Loudon, NH.

World Championships of Punkin Chunkin 2015 Cancelled

Posted by Matt | Tags: NASAW, launches, news, WCPC

Yes, the 2015 World Championships of Punkin Chunkin, scheduled to be held at Dover International Speedway on November 6-8, are cancelled for the second year in a row. The Association was unable to obtain an insurance contract for the event this year given all the legal issues that have surrounded the WCPCA since the accident and lawsuit several years ago. Suffice to say we chunkers were once again given short notice of the cancellation (the news broke October 8), and chunkers and fans alike have been left scrambling. Delaware was going to be our only out-of-state trip of 2015 due to our busy schedules, but we have made the last-minute decision to rush off to New Hampshire and compete there with our friends from Launch-Ness Monster, Yankee Siege II, Onager, and more. We haven't tuned for distance shots in 2 years (that is currently changing), but NASAW has been firing very nicely for the last 2 years so we hope to put on a good show and hopefully set a new personal best distance. For more information on the NH chunk, visit the event site now! Stay tuned here or on our Facebook page for updates!

Team Urban Siege Fall 2015 Plans

Posted by Matt | Tags: NASAW, news, launches

Many people have been asking us what our plans our this fall with regards to launching pumpkins. Our confirmed schedule is listed at the top of the home page. As noted there, the World Championships of Punkin Chunkin is NOT a distance competition this year. The field at Dover International Speedway is simply entirely too small. In fact, at this time we are not sure exactly WHAT, if any, competition it will be this year. There has been talk of a "call your distance" competition, with closest to their called distance winning, but this has not been finalized. There are also a number of distance competitions popping up around the US this fall, which will see attendance from a lot of the teams that normally compete in Delaware. We would be attending one of those if our schedules allowed, but unfortunately it doesn't look like that will happen.

"Projectile Launcher" Invention Challenge at the Rochester Museum and Science Center

Posted by Matt | Tags: news

Hey, Team Urban Siege fans in the Rochester, NY area. The Rochester Museum and Science Center has been running an exhibit for the last 6 months or so entitled the "Inventor Center". Every few months they have a different hands-on design challenge, and the latest one is right up our alley! It is a projectile launcher challenge, and we were contacted to help provide some content and advice for their exhibit. Among these, our first team trebuchet, Melon Felon, is on display in the exhibit space for inspiration! The exhibit just opened yesterday, and runs through the end of this school year, in mid-June. Go check it out and let us know what you think!

Happy Holidays from Team Urban Siege!

Posted by Matt | Tags: news

We at Team Urban Siege would like to wish all of our fans a happy holiday season. 2014 was a rough year with the cancellation of the World Championships of Punkin Chunkin, but we have faith that in 2015 the event will be back and better than ever! In the meantime, we are relaxing, enjoying spending time with family, and plotting for the future.

World Championships of Punkin Chunkin 2014 - Cancelled

Posted by Matt | Tags: WCPC, news

Sadly, the title of this post is not a joke, a play on words, or anything like that. This morning the teams were notified that the event for 2014 has been cancelled, with less than 3 weeks' notice. With the trouble with finding a new field, the association was behind all year, and they felt that there was no way that the event could be held this year. Some more information is available at this link. While we wish there had been more notice, this is what it is. We are looking to see what we will do for the rest of this year, we would like to perform for the public at least one more time before the snow flies. Stay tuned here and on our Facebook Page!

Punkin Chunkin 2014 Has Moved - Both Time and Place

Posted by Matt | Tags: WCPC, news

Important information follows, please read the whole post! Those who follow our Facebook Page know that the World Championships of Punkin Chunkin are at a new location for 2014. The reasons for the move are somewhat complicated, but stem largely from a lawsuit resulting from an accident in 2011 by one of the spotters in the field. The full details have not been disclosed to the public as the case is on-going, but the long and short of it is that the landowner of the field that we have been using since 2007 (and a chunker himself) has requested that the chunk be held off of his property (he is one of the parties named in the lawsuit). This news hit in March, and the Association only recently secured approval to move forward with holding the chunk at Dover International Speedway in Dover, DE and the surrounding grounds for 2014. What this means is big changes in the format and layout of the event, but those details are also still being finalized. Still, the chunk is slated to be held at a field bordering the speedway, so plan accordingly if you wish to come. The event will have a different feel this year, but it looks like there at least will be an event, which was very much in doubt a month ago.

Announcing the First Scheduled Demo of 2014

Posted by Matt | Tags: NASAW, launches, news

While we will be firing NASAW from time to time during the summer and fall, most of those times are not scheduled and happen as the team has availability to do so. But September 27, 2014 is a scheduled event. Wickham Farms is one of our sponsors (they grow pumpkins for us every year), and last year we actually brought out NASAW to fire near their farm for an afternoon. We will do so again this year, hopefully without breaking our release pin this time! Wickham Farms is located at 1821 Fairport Nine Mile Point Rd, Penfield, New York 14526, a short distance SouthEast of Rochester, NY. We will likely be firing from roughly 10AM until 3PM or so on Saturday, September 27, with a rain date of the following day of Sunday the 28th. This is the same weekend that Wickham Farms holds a pumpkin festival, and is a family-friendly event, so come on down, say hi, and watch us launch some pumpkins into orbit!

New Hurling Forums

Posted by Matt | Tags: news

Around the end of November 2013, TheHurl.org was shut down by it's owner for a variety of reasons. We of TeamUrbanSiege would like to thank Ron Toms for all he did in providing those forums to us for as long as he did out of his own pocket. A new forum has started up to fill the void left by the closing. Head on over to The Hurling Forums to discuss anything hurling-related! Catapults, torsion, trebuchets, competition, it will all be discussed there. Need help? Stop on by there and get help from some of the top hurlers in the world! A few of us from Team Urban Siege are on there as well.