King of the Mountains at Oakhurst

Oakhurst did it again! With thanks to Jan Claire for his report:

May 17, 2008.

Petanque played strictly for laughs as the King penalizes any team which is walking away with the game score. Be winning at 12 to 1 and you can expect a visit from King Ingólfur “Tenaya” Arnarsson, 47th generation descendant of the original King Arnarsson who discovered Iceland in 874!

The King imposes such penalties as having to play with a magnetic cochonnet, tossing boules only with a three-person slingshot (bungee cords held by two players, the third pulling back to launch the boule), cubical-shaped boules, and such impediments as Carreau penalty cards (replace any of the opponent’s boules with one of your own), Backward Glance – one game must be shot by the offending team by facing AWAY from the cochonnet.

This is an annual event at Oakhurst which has proven as popular as some of the serious championships we host, and brings people closer together in enjoying that petanque can have its own sense of humor. The King is a benevolent king, consequently wide point margins are the antithesis of what he’s all about.

In reality – and this part is true - our “King” is the west-coast-famous Steve Bush of the Los Angeles Petanque Club who, with his wife Dolores, and Max and Gisele Legrand, visited Oakhurst and taught the locals how to play the game back in June of 1999. To honor that occurrence, and the fact that Oakhurst is now nine years old, the club named Steve Bush by his original name, King Ingólfur “Tenaya” Arnarsson.

Members of the club, and the King imposing a penalty on Oakhurst team captain Larry Adams: