I am hesitant to post this as I do not in any way want to appear critical against the group hangs or those who work hard to set them up.
I suppose my thread is about the expectations at a hang, specifically one that is a central gathering and not a group adventure from point A to point B.
On one hand they are and certainly should be much like a family day your employer might put on at the park or a family reunion or church gathering.
On the other hand I imagined them somewhat like going to a car show where everyone is showing off their ride. Perhaps many hangs are and I’ve missed it. Gunner76 certainly gave me the grand tour of his hammocks at the Smoked Butt hang last year. If this was going on across that hang then I missed it by arriving late.
So I have some ideas I think would be cool and allow the hang to be both the social gathering it is as well as something along the lines of going to a workshop at REI.
Mostly what runs through my mind are little competitions. Rather than the 3 legged races you might have at a family reunion, why not competitions like these?
Hold time trials to setup your hammock the fastest.
Hold races to take your packed cook kit and use it to boil water the fastest.
See who can filter water the fastest? (That one would be very apples/oranges)
Have weigh offs to see who’s various kits (FAK, cook kit, base weight ect) is lightest or for that matter heaviest.
In a bigger hang with vendor sponsors, any donated gear could go towards the winner.
Simply having a set of scales, (body weight, luggage and kitchen) would be handy for people to check and compare with each other.
I’m by no means trying to imply here that the fastest lightest gear is best, but the activity would be a great way for people to see each others gear, learn, and break any ice that needs breaking.
Maybe all of this is the norm and I’m just clueless?
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