July 6, 2008 - Flotilla 2008

What a great Flotilla, and a great weekend altogether!  A great job to all of those who participated in the Flotilla, it was a great time, and a huge Thanks again to everyone who contributed towards the fireworks, and especially to Scott Knepple, and Steve and Joan Murphy, for their very unselfish donation of their time and property!

As far as the winners of this years flotilla, the "physical judges" have cast their votes for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners, and we are now awaiting your votes!  Everyone who did not finish in the "top 3" will receive a nice consolation prize for participating, because as we all know- there are no "losers" here on Shavehead Lake!  This year, to cast your votes please utilize our "post a comment" feature at the bottom of this entry to tell us your choices for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place boats. Please include your name, your email address, and the home on the lake that you are affiliated with (friends and family of our residents are welcome to cast a vote).  All of the comments need approval before they get put onto the website, so nobody will know who is voting for whom until next Sunday, when the winners will be officially announced.  At that time all of the "comments" / (votes) will then be approved for everyone to see.  Please, no attempts at "ballot-stuffing"- Everyone worked very hard on their boats, and did a wonderful job!!  Thanks!

I hope you enjoy the video of the Flotilla I've put together- in search of some music to put to the video, I had a bit of a struggle- the "pirate songs" I found were "OK", and it was very interesting to find out how many things you can do to a "drunken sailor early in the morning", but that song gets old pretty quick!  The artist is Pat Green- title track to his CD "Wave On Wave"

 
Boat # "007"

 
Boat # "00"

Boat # "5"

 
Boat # "13"

 
Boat # "17"

 
Boat # "23"

 
Boat # "33"

 Boat # "54" was actually 3 boats all working together!!

The 1st boat of the 3 boat # "54" team

The 2nd boat of the # "54" team, outfitted with a "human cannonball"!

And the 3rd boat of the # "54" team!

The # "54" team all working together

Boat # "55"

Boat # "77"

Thanks again to all who participated in this years Flotilla!  Great job, everyone!!

April 20, 2008 - Flotilla 2008

"Pirates of Shavehead Lake" is the theme this year - All you swashbucklers meet at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 5th at the West side of the Island - "X" marks the spot..

The "Treasures" to the winning ships this year are still in
the planning stages - we'll let you know when we know (maybe)

Of course giving some doubloons to the judges might help..

Please be sure to register you pirate ship so we know who to hand the maps of the locations of the treasure chests to!  Send an email mailto:flotilla2008@shaveheadlake.com or call Mike 641-2929.  The "physical" judges will be at the North East side of the lake again, so be sure to shiver thar timbers as you pass them.  We'll again have a "virtual" vote for the winners- anyone caught cheating will be made to walk the plank!  Have Fun!

July 10, 2007 - Shavehead Lake 2007 Flotilla Winners

    A little story before we announce the winners this year.  Two years ago, when the theme of the flotilla was "peace", a boat entered without registering, or displaying a number.  It was a great boat, and the kids worked very hard on putting it together, and did a great job.  The judges, who were on the shore, had a hard time determining the order of the awards, and another boat was awarded first place.  We received phone calls saying that boat should have been in "1st place" instead.  Nothing could be done, as we already awarded the prizes.  I was disheartened, as we were just coordinating the event, and not a judge; our boat was in the event ourselves. 

    In looking at how to better the judging, we decided to have the judges actually be on the water, in a quiet place on the lake, so they could have more time to watch the boats more closely, and make their decisions.  This worked out quite well last year, and we had no complaints.  However, we were still limited in just the "physical" judges determining the winners, and I thought it would be nice if all of the residents could have a say in whom the winners would be.

    Which brings us to this year..  With our new website, and the technology available, we were able to invite the members of our community and their family and friends to cast their votes for their favorite boats.  However the "polling" technology, although wonderful, has some inherent problems with it that I knew of, and had some concerns about:
1.) Anyone and everyone on the internet who went to our site could vote.  Last week alone, we had visitors from all across the United States, as well as the United kingdom, France, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, Thailand, Hong Kong, Bermuda, Canada, and Australia.  We had a total of 592 visits and 1,974 page views last week.  We appreciate everyone visiting, and we hope you enjoy our website!
2.) The polling software looks at the computers "I.P." address, and will allow only one vote per IP address.  This works fine if the ISP provides a "static" address (usually DSL and Cable high-speed providers).  In the case of internet providers such as AOL and MSN however, each time a computer logs on to the internet, the computer is assigned a different IP address, thus allowing an individual to vote more than once in a poll.
3.)  The ability of someone to influence the voting by emailing / calling everyone they know, asking them to go to our site and place a "vote for them".

    Unfortunately, we did experience these problems with the on-line voting.  Two boats got into a bit of a "race" throughout the week- one boat would be first, then the other boat would pass them, then the other one would pass them, on and on, etc.  On Friday morning, we had a total of 537 votes in the "1st place" poll, with one boat having 315 votes, another 215 votes, with the other 3 boats having 0, 8, and 13 votes.  On the other hand, the "2nd place" poll only showed a total of 52 votes, and the "3rd place" poll showed a total of 42 votes.  Needless to say, the voting was being "swayed".  So, I reset the counters of the two boats that were having the contest to "0".  To those participating in the "ballot stuffing"- you are to go to your rooms after dinner this evening with no dessert, no TV, and no video games, and you are to write a 500 word essay on why "voting" is a privilege not to be taken lightly, and why "ballot stuffing" is wrong.. (the "smiley’s" aren't working, so insert one here, please) :-)

 
    The good news is that the "real" on-line voting trend matched the physical judges votes.. All the boats were great, so here we go..  The "physical" judges voted as follows:

Judge #1 voted: 23, 17, 54
Judge #2 voted: 23, 17, 54
Judge #3 voted: 54, 17, 23
Judge #4 voted: 23, 02, 54

"1st Place" is hereby awarded to boat #23- The Ullery Family, for the 2nd year in a row- Congrats!  $50 gift certificate to "Hammerin Hanks", as well as the "travelling trophy" for another year!

"2nd Place" is hereby awarded to boat #17- the "Rockin" Sweet Family- Nice boat, folks!- Loved the rocking chairs!Congrats! You will receive a $35 gift certificate to Sauk Trail Bar & Grille- they have great food there!

And "3rd Place" is hereby awarded to boat #54- the Inglett Family- Fantastic job folks- Loved the guitar- just wish your guitarist had chosen an acoustic instrument, so we could've heard what he was playing..- Congrats!  You will receive the $20 gift certificate to "Farm House" bakery- lots of great goodies there!
PS- Be sure to keep your pontoons "above" the water, and your prop "below".. ;-)

As we all know, there's nothing but "winners" here on Shavehead Lake!  Boats 02 and 14 will receive coupons for a cup of coffee (or beverage of choice) and a pastry at the Farm House Bakery..  Both boats were "great" as well- boat #2- we loved the "Uncle Sam" outfit and the "Bald Eagle" costume;  #14, great job with your boat as well- the "hair coloring", etc. actually fit in pretty well with the musical group / song we chose for the video! 

The both of you had very great boats, and here's wishing you better luck next year! 

Thanks again to the judges, both physical and virtual, and to all who participated!

I also wanted to mention that we had two other boats register for the event, that weren't able to participate in it-  sorry to see that you weren't able to make it to the event!

And, a very special message to the boat that two years ago in the "Peace" theme that worked so hard, and were  disappointed in the way they placed in the event, please don't "give-up", and we're all looking forward to seeing you out there participating in the flotilla next year!

  

 

 

 

   

July 9, 2007 - Shavehead Lake 2007 Flotilla

The 2006 Flotilla "1st place" winner- Who will this years winners be? The
"physical judges" have cast their votes, and they are in a sealed envelope at Flotilla HQ.
Now its time for the "virtual judges" to cast your votes! 
  Enjoy the video of this years event, then vote for your favorite boats!
One vote per poll, per computer..
The polls will close this Saturday at 9:00 p.m.,
and the winners will be announced on Sunday!

 


Boat #2


Boat #14


Boat #17


Boat #23


Boat #54

 

My Choice for "2nd Place" is:
02 14 17 23 54

May 20, 2007 - Flotilla 2007

Flotilla 2007
"Rockin Round The Lake"