D.O.C.NEWS

WOODSMAN'S WEEKEND SPRING CLIMAX

Ross McKenney's brain-child didn't look robust at its birth. The only competitors in the field that wet morning three years ago were Dartmouth, Kimball Union Academy, and half a team from Williams. It went awkwardly. Rules were clumsy, organization poor, and it rained and rained. It rained so much that on Sunday we had to give up and the Williams boys threw their gear into a car and headed South.

The result of this first year was that we learned something about running a meet. The rules were rewritten, the timing and judging were systematized, some events were chucked, and others were added. The next year there were six teams on the ground at Storrs Pond and, although it rained again, there was also a crowd of spectators. The competition ran more smoothly and, the important thing, everyone had a good time.

Very early in the morning of this last May 7, we concluded that the meet was cursed. Those of us sleeping in the open were awakened before dawn by thunder and stuttering flashes that threw up the shape of Oak Hill to the east with gaunt trees along the ridge. Rain swatted at us as we ran naked for the tents, and by breakfast the storm had settled into the determined pour of a Java monsoon. To our surprise it was over in a couple of hours, and the action began with the felling and sawing events. By the time the water boiling and pack-board races had been run, the sun had come out to lessen the harshness of the dunkings that result from canoe horseplay.

The actual events started off with felling, in which 16-inch poplar trees previously stuck in the ground for the event were cut against time by two men from each team. Once felled the logs were then quartered in a cross cut sawing contest. At this point, each four foot section was halved in a buck sawing contest and then the two-foot billets were split in a splitting contest. Pulp throwing and chopping races completed the morning's activities.

The Saturday afternoon's activities combined a fire-building contest, a pack-board race, and then moved to Storrs Pond where a one-man portage race and a two-man canoe obstacle race took place.

Sunday morning was devoted to bait and fly casting for distance and accuracy, experimental four-man canoe racing, rescue races, and demonstrations in casting by Andy Anderson, well-known sports writer from Houston, Texas. All of these activities were witnessed by both Andy and Henry Moore '23 of the Boston Herald as well as by many of the class and club officers who were in Hanover over the weekend.

Norwich, McGill, and Maine had teams out this year beside the original three. Hap Person '5l captained the winning Dartmouth crew of Pete Vail '52, Dave White '5O, Dick Hollingworth '52, Langdon Palmer '5l and Les Viereck '5l. We were badly pushed, as always, by Billy Robes' rugged K.U.A. boys who led for the first third of the meet.

This Woodsman's Weekend idea may spread. Kimball Union had a small meet this spring, and the University o£ Maine is planning to hold one next year. Whether it spreads or not, it is now an established part of the Dartmouth outdoor program. It is here to stay, not so much as another meet to win as a time in the spring for the boys to get together and show off and enjoy good company.

NEW D.O.C. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:

David A. White 'so—President Eugene Hotchkiss 111 '5O—Secretary-Comptroller George M. Woodwell 'so—Chairman, Cabin and Trail H. Newcomb Eldredge 'so—Chairman, Winter Sports Theodore E. Bamberger '5O—Carnival Chairman James K. Hotchkiss 'so—Director of Publicity William S. Friedlander '5l—Director of Membership Martin B. Person Jr. 'sl—Director of Entertainment Rolf C. Syvertsen 'lB—Faculty Adviser Richard H. Goddard '2o—Faculty Adviser John A. Rand '3B—D.O.C. Director Robert S. Monahan '29—D.O.C. Genera Manager

VISITOR FROM TEXAS: Prominent at the DOC's Woodsman's Weekend, May 7-8, was Andy Anderson, well-known outdoors writer from Houston, shown about to demonstrate his casting skill at Storrs Pond.