Sacramento

Jean-Claude Bunand and I left San Rafael around 7:00 am to arrive at the Club Français de Sacramento slightly past 8:00 am. A quick and easy ride, not to be repeated on our return unfortunately.

We were both surprised upon our arrival to be met by cold weather and a biting wind that lasted most of the day. Christophe Sarafian welcomed us and invited us to share croissants and coffee.

Two separate Concours were scheduled that day. One for the men, one for the women. On the men’s side there was 13 triplettes (39 people) and on the women’s side there was 6 triplettes.

So about 60 contestants from all over the bay Area showed up to compete. On the Marin side, I counted Christine Cragg, J-M Poulnot, J-C Etallaz, Sandra and Mark Shirkey, and of course Jean-Claude Bunand and myself.

Three 11 points games were played in the morning, and Concours and Consolante in the afternoon. Due to a shortage of women players, no Consolante was scheduled on the women’s side.

In this contest I partnered with Jean-Claude Bunand and Pierre Bremont.

Given the caliber of all the contestants, we didn’t not expect to do too well, but we managed better than expected.
We lost the first game (5/11) won the second (11/9) and lost the third (6/11).

After lunch, in the Consolante phase of the tournament, we faced Manu Le Bihan and his gang of cutthroats. Upon losing the coin toss, they took us to “Purgatory”, one of the playing areas covered with pebbles.

Being very unfamiliar with this kind of topping, we fumbled our way through and lost 3/11. We were then out of the competition and free to indulge in whatever. For me, it was photo time, a pastime that I almost enjoy as much as pétanque.

In Sacramento, we found a strong contingent of Hmong people. A friendly lot but with rather confusing names unfortunately, and I am sorry to say that I remember and can spell just a few.

After photographing as many people as possible, around 4:00 pm I sat down to watch the men’s finals opposing Ed Porto, Wolfie Kurz, MickeyCoughlin against Christophe Sarafian, Mike Lee and Pao Li. All very good players.

To my surprise Porto’s gang steamrolled Sarafian’s posse 13/1. The 3 of them played very well and overwhelmed their opponents. Sarafian pointed well and both Mike Lee and Pao Li also shot well, but were not as consistent as Porto’s team.

This game ended around 5:00 pm and due to cold weather and increasing fatigue Jean-Claude and I decided to go home. Our return trip took over 2 hours. We left San Rafael at 7:00 am and came back at 7:00 pm.
A rather long but altogether pleasant day.

Ed, Wolfie, Mickey

Concours:
1st place: Ed Porto, Wolfie Kurz, Mickey Coughlin
2nd place: Christophe Sarafian, Mike Lee, Pao Li
3rd place: Chong Xiong, Reid Evans, Adam Grace
4th place: Michel Yang, Nicolas Yang, Paul Bissonette

Consolante:
1st place: Manu Le Bihan, By Vang, Fue Vang
2nd place: Bee Moua, Philippe, Serge Hanne

Women:
1st Place:  Tish Harris, Chue Thao and May Herr
2nd Place:  Maggie Lane, Erin McTaggart & Lisa Vaughan
3rd Place:  Janice Bissonette, Chia Tjo-Po Yang & Michele Dang

Hmong friends, please excuse my poor spelling of your names. I hope that you will forgive me after watching my pictures.

Alain

PS: If you can provide me with the missing results, I will be happy to update my blog.

2 thoughts on “Sacramento”

  1. Bonjour Alain,

    En ce qui concerne les noms des joueurs pour la 3 eme place le Dimanche 14 Avril a Sacramento.

    Chong Xiong
    Reid Evans
    Adam Grace

    4 eme place concours
    Michel Yang
    Nicolas Yang
    Paul Bissonette

    Bonne journée a toi,
    Christophe

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