Calling all South African Cubers

[DonnyStar]

Hi, My name is DonnyStar

I am a cuber from Johannesburg, South Africa. I am searching the web for all South African Cubers living inside or outside South Africa.

I have already put together a handful of us already. I would like to grow the community and will even go as far as hosting our own site (once there's enough of us). I'm hoping that this could lead to South Africans getting our own shop, and hosting our own events. That's the first step. Next will be to convince the WCA to give us a shot at an official comp. We have a few sub 20 cubers here that have no chance of getting ranked, due to the fact that the only Africans that are ranked live abroad, or have travelled to the other side of the world.

If you are a South African cuber, or know of any, please contact me with a personal message, or reply here.

Thanks!

 

[stoic]

Welcome DonnyStar.

I think if you post here asking for replies to a external email address, this thread is going to disappear pretty rapidly and you won't get much of a response.

IMHO If you are interested in growing the cubing community in RSA, a live thread here with people posting regularly is a much better way to do it.

Nice avatar BTW

 

[DonnyStar]

Thanks so much for the reply and advise.

I made the avatar in google sketchup. It's an idea for the logo for the south african cube community if I can get it off the ground. speedcubesa.com is the idea.

I will follow your advise and edit my post now.

Thanks again!

 

[stoic]

Good luck!

 

[SA cuber]

Hi Donnystar! I am a keen cuber currently living in johannesburg, looking for a cubing community. My times arent too good (i´m working on it though, I use the fridrich f2l method, however, I still use the beginners method for the last layer) My average is 52.43 seconds (best out of 10) with a personal best of 41.23 seconds... I do enjoy solving the 5 by 5 (my times are around 8 minutes) and the v cube 7, with an average of about 23 minutes... anyway, good luck trying to find south african cubers!
- SA cuber

 

[DonnyStar]

I'm so glad that you found us. So far I have 8 of us now, and it hasn't even been a week. What's even more exiting is that so far we are all from johannesburg. Your times fit in with the group perfectly. We do have two sub 30 solvers, but most of us are in your region. Please look for me on facebook if possible. My name is Donny Hale, and my profile pic is the same as it is here. I would love to add you to our small but, growing group.

 

[Ninja Storm]

I hope you guys start to improve and kick Kamaru out of the AfR averages

 

[MirzaCubing]

I hope you guys start to improve and kick Kamaru out of the AfR averages

That's what I was about to post XD

 

[StephenC]

Hi DonnyStar.
I am a cuber, and I live in Johannesburg. I average around 17 seconds on a 3x3. I think that trying to establish a cubing community in South Africa is a great idea, and would like to join. We could certainly benefit from a few competitions and a store. I will add you on Facebook immediately. Thanks for putting in the effort.

Stephen

 

[DonnyStar]

It hasn't even been a week and I have already gathered 10 South African cubers. This thread has really proven to work. Looks like South Africa will be having our own comps much sooner than I expected.

 

[tx789]

Africa first offical comp. The last continent to have one.

 

[Phlippieskezer]

Greetings, DonnyStar!

I'm a South African, from the relatively small town of George, in the Western Cape, currently residing in Canada. I think it's great that cubing is growing there and despite no longer actually living there, would love to be involved with your group. Why don't we form a Facebook group? (Honestly, I prefer not to add people I don't technically know.)
As for my speeds, at home I average 11-12 seconds on 3x3, 19-20 seconds OH, and ~1:00 on 4x4. My times at competition are a little worse, though. But honestly, I don't really speedsolve any more. I've been focusing on getting better at BLD and a little bit of 4x4 and 5x5 (3x3 and OH don't really interest so much any more, so I pretty much stopped practising).

Regards,
Phlippie

 

[DonnyStar]

Hi Phlipppieskezer

I have started a fb group called Speedcube South Africa. I would love to add you, so please find me on facebook, Donny Hale, with the same profile picture as here.

I am very fimiliar with your home town as my father ran the enduro motocross there for many years. I originate from Cape Town myself, I moved to Johannesburg to pursue a career in freestyle motocross. However that dream was short lived when I started a family very young and was forced to start a "real" trade. Today I'm doing pretty well though as a High pressure steam turbine blade engineering inspector for MAN turbo. Quite a mouthful I know.

Anyway, hope to see your invite on facebook soon.

Cheers,
Donny

 

[Kian]

Africa first offical comp. The last continent to have one.

Unlikely.

 

[Phlippieskezer]

Unlikely.

Eh, if there's any African country to host one, it's more than likely to be South Africa, methinks. I think they/we could accumulate a significant enough amount of people to host a small competition eventually, as long as we make it clear that there is a South African speedsolving community (most South African solvers think/thought they're alone, after all). Sure, not in the near future, but still, there's hope...

 

[DonnyStar]

We cant rule out the fact that Johannesburg is the 2nd largest Metropolitan in the world to Mexico City. We host a large percentage of the entire African continents population here. We are also the furthest away from any country hosting WCA comps. If you look at a map of the world with Africa and Europe centered, you will notice that the WCA comps happen in a big radius consistantly half the planet away from South Africa. We are the perfect place to host an official comp. I will do my best to gather as many cubers together as possible, and create as many cubers as possible.

I feel that the WCA even need us to get this right. They only have 15 official Africans ranked, and the 3x3 times range from 10.71 right up to 2:53.96
In the small group I have assembled this week, we have 3 sub 20 solvers and 2 sub 30 solvers. We could already change the African rankings dramatically.

wish us luck, cause we have started off fast, and I don't want the steam to run out...

 

[JasonK]

Eh, if there's any African country to host one, it's more than likely to be South Africa, methinks. I think they/we could accumulate a significant enough amount of people to host a small competition eventually, as long as we make it clear that there is a South African speedsolving community (most South African solvers think/thought they're alone, after all). Sure, not in the near future, but still, there's hope...

I think Kian was referring to the fact that Antarctica is unlikely to have a competition in a while...

 

[DonnyStar]

Very good point, Although Antartica has quite a few scientists staying there, so they might have a cuber or two. lol.

As far as a South African comp goes. I set a goal for January 2013, the reason for this is that I will need my bonus pay check in December to be able to buy displays from Speedstacks South Africa, rent a hall, and buy a few small prizes. Prizes will most probably just be little trophies I'll have made up at the local trophy store. I would also like to have the entry be free of charge and open to all, as it is our first unofficial comp. I will host the comps according to the WCA regulations manual, and will record everything.

We are now at 11 members in our first week, but I would like that number to grow to around 20 to 30 members, that way at least ten cubers should show up. I cant spend so much cash for nobody to show. The members I have now are already nagging for a comp, so I might try a little "get together" soon. But I think I should stick to my plan being in January. For now it's just to keep this thread alive, as it's been the biggest help in finding cubers.

I might just put silly little comments here every few days, just to keep the thread fresh and on the list.

 

[Ickenicke]

Very good point, Although Antartica has quite a few scientists staying there, so they might have a cuber or two. lol.

If you don't think that cold fingers is a problem Or maybe just outdoor comps is an bad idea?

 

[DonnyStar]

If you don't think that cold fingers is a problem Or maybe just outdoor comps is an bad idea?

They would call this "ice cubing" I think the problem with Antartic cubing is that you would loose 10 seconds trying to break your cube loose from the mat.