anywhereSF

Day 17: January 17, 2014: Curling in Oakland

I ventured over to Oakland this evening for a group outing to the Oakland Ice Center for a curling lesson and match, in honor of a friend’s birthday.  Honestly, I had no idea that one could go curling in the Bay Area.  It turns out there is a small (but growing) group of dedicated curlers here making up the Bay Area Curling Club. They meet a couple times a week on a few multipurpose ice rinks around the bay in Oakland, Fremont, and San Jose toward the end of the evening for league night, lessons, and other group events.

We showed up for our lesson during league night, with 3 sheets dedicated to league play and one for us to play around with our enthusiastic instructors. This crowd is clearly very into their curling, with specialized curling gear and curling club jackets with patches and all, yet they were incredibly welcoming too. As serious about the sport as they were, everyone was there to have a good time, and no one was too serious to welcome the newbies and invite us back for a league night. Though it’s too far for me to make it out there regularly, they seemed like a fun crew, and I’d love to make it back one of these days. Interested in curling? Wondering what curling is? Go check them out!

(Shot with the EOS 650 SLR on Kodak Portra 400)