News from "Boules to You"

A history of the early years of Petanque in New Zealand

Boules to You was the first NZ business to be on the internet on Telecom Xtra all those years ago. After an absence of some years it is good to be back. We have a CELEBRATORY SPECIAL starting today, anyone purchasing a set of competition boules will receive a FREE telescopic measure with their purchase . Very useful!

TERRAIN CONSTRUCTION

The aim is to create a playing surface similar to the rough, hard-packed, earthern surfaces, common in Southern France. The following method has proved successful, assuming adequate drainage, and is the "recipe" Greg Keane, Christian Fouquet and myself concocted when we put the terrain in at Victoria Park, Freemans Bay, Auckland, in !994. (

It was Gregs vision as Parks officer that gave us the highly-visible, 1000 sq m terrain, ideal for international tournaments, that we enjoy today). BASE 10cm of crushed limestone sometimes called lime rock, 35mm to fines in size. Compact well.

SURFACE 1cm crushed shell. Other materials can also be used, there being many ways of skinning a cat! eg the base can be composed of base course road metal with a surface of fine gravel (GAP 7 ) One ends up with a terrain with a composition and surface not unlike a back country NZ "dirt road". SIZE An ideal minimum size for a home terrain is 12m x 3.5m, a little wider and you have enough room for two games. Nothing succeeds like success! If you have the space make it bigger! Further, a wide curving path can double as a petanque terrain if made of the appropriate materials. For clubs - a terrain 33mx 33m (

the size of a lawn bowling. green) allows for a sizable tournament to be held. Remember reading the terrain and playing the appropriate, accurate shot is one of the prime skills of petanque - a terrain should test players skills, aim for a rough surface of varying consistency, tending to hard rather than soft. (I played in a tournament on a carpark at the Vieux Port at Marseille some years ago, the temporary terrain being constructed by the simple expedient of covering the asphalt carpark with a centimetre thick layer of clay and rolling it).

CARE OF YOUR BOULES

Steel rusts! After use, clean the boules, dry them, then spray or wipe with a light oil eg. WD40 or CRC.