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Three years ago the Tauranga Bay of Plenty Club
moved onto a new terrain at what had previously
been the Cliff Road tennis & netball venue.
Following the generally accepted recommendations
for construction of a petanque terrain the old
court surface was removed from two areas 16m x
25m. The exposed surface was very firmly
compacted and then covered with a 15mm depth of
AP5 'grey wacky crusher dust'.
The 2 areas were surrounded by 150mm x 50mm
timber sunk 25mm into the ground. The surface
was then subjected to regular raking and any
larger stones were ruthlessly removed. The
resulting playing surface tended to favour a
rolling or 'roulette & raspaillete' technique.
A further area of ex-courts remained near-by and
was useful for car parking. If this could be
converted into a playing surface we would have a
venue suitable for major events up to
international level. Tauranga City Council was
amenable to the project being done but was
unwilling to cover costs, which they had done
for the original work.
Following discussions with several NZ
aficionados the club decided to experiment with
laying a 17m x36m terrain directly on top of the
asphalt. It is very important to note that the
site is elevated & has excellent drainage.
The area was surrounded by 100mm x 50mm 'reject'
timber, gathered from local suppliers, which was
nailed on to the asphalt. One of our members
with contacts at a quarry was able to obtain 9
cubic metres of AP6 crusher dust for free,
provided that we paid for delivery. (This
product has a very low market value.)
The resulting pile was raked out to cover the
600 square metre surface but no attempt was made
to ensure an even layer and in fact it varies
from 2mm to 25mm. In addition to the AP6 there
was also about 1% of larger material up to about
cochonnet size.
The surface is never raked and the removal of
stones is not allowed. There is no difference in
drainage rate between the various surfaces after
heavy rain.
Four months after commission the new terrain was
used for the Santa Fe Classic Triples tournament
with no problems. The club can now offer two
levels of piste: the social players are happy on
their ultra smooth surface; while the more
competitive are able to develop their skills on
a challenging & very varied terrain.
Of more importance we have shown that it is
possible to construct a petanque terrain on top
of well drained hard surfaces. The cost of this
project was less than $1000 thanks to the
ingenuity and hard work of the club members.
Neil Goodwin |
