BASH@The Beach 2025

Come join us for a day of fun in the sun at Lyme-Old Lyme High School! Get ready for exciting activities, live music, delicious food, and more. This in-person event is the perfect way to kick off the summer with friends and family. Don't miss out on the opportunity to make unforgettable memories at BASH@The Beach 2025!

The Bash @ the Beach is an informal FIRST-style competition designed to showcase high school student talent and reinforce the importance of business sponsorship for this outstanding educational program. It has always been a lower intensity event that refionals or district events to allow teams the opportunity to get organized in the fall and try different configurations of drivers and coaches. Attached below are many of the details of how Bash@ the Beach will be run and some of the ground rules for competition. If you have any questions, concerns, or special requests, please contact Mike Gentry at Z2VudHJtZSB8IGNvbWNhc3QgISBuZXQ= cell phone 860 608 3223 or Bill Derry@ZGVycnl3IHwgcmVnaW9uMTggISBvcmc=

Have Fun!

Reminder: this is a beach party. We do not call all penalties but do call those that could result in damage to the opposing robots or violate the spirit of Gracious Professionalism.Come ready to have a good time. Come dressed for the beach. Several of the judged awards relate to the Beach Party theme.

COST:

Our sponsor, Dominion robotics and all the teams sponsored and supported by Dominion and Millstone power station believe in FIRST. To help us recruit and kickoff the season they support a separate off season event. But last year a problem with floor protection and the problems created by the power and swerve drive of the robots caused significant damage to the finish of the gym floor. To prevent we are installing floor protection. This is raising our cost approximately $1000. To cover this and other expected increases this we now ask each team for a $300 donation. Also NEFIRST has requested we all charge the same amount for off season events. This will allow us to continue our support of the Connecticut FIRST Lego league and other outreach programs. This allows us to help several of the qualifying events to purchase medals and fields. If that will prevent you from coming please contact one of the event organizer.

CHECKS CAN BE MADE TO Region 18 ROBOTICS and brought with you on October 18. . THANK YOU

As some of you may have already been aware, the CT-FLL State Tournament is limited to a capacity of 50 teams, and there have been as many as 200 teams registered in CT in the past. To accommodate these FLL teams who may not get the chance to compete at the CT-FLL State Tournament, several of the FIRST teams participating in the Bash @ the Beach are hosting CT-FLL Local Tournaments. While these CT-FLL Tournaments are not expensive to run, they do require some funding, and we could use everyone’s help in staffing and funding these worthwhile events. For more information about Local CT-FLL events, please contact Mike Gentry.

Merchandise For Sale

Event T Shirts—New beach theme design. We will be selling event t-shirts with the teams on the list as of October 5. Price $20

Location – Lyme-Old Lyme High School Gymnasium

Lyme-Old Lyme High School

School Contacts: William Derry, Jon Goss

69 Lyme St.

Old Lyme, CT 06371

(860) 434-1751

Directions are attached at the end of this document.

Schedule

Friday Oct 17. We wil be setting up but hope to finish by 8 PM. You are welcome to drop off robots after 5PM.

Saturday October 18

7:30 am - Gym open for set up, final details.

8:00 am - Pits open for teams

8:00 am - Field open for practice if available.

9:00 am–9:15 am - Opening ceremonies

9:15 am - Qualification rounds begin

11:30 am–12:30 pm - Lunch (rounds will continue until a convenient stopping point)

12:30 pm - Qualification rounds resume if necessary

2 pm - Qualification rounds end, alliances announced We do a random draw selection

2:15–4:30 pm - Elimination finals

4:30 pm - Closing ceremonies

As you can see, the schedule is very tight, especially considering that we would like every team to play in 5 qualification matches. Please do your best to get to the on-deck area when your team is called, keeping in mind that we have a lot of matches to play, and several teams have a long ride home.

If you have technical problems with your robot, and you need more time between matches, we are always willing to rotate some matches around to ensure everyone gets a chance to play their 5-6 qualification matches.

Ground Rules

• Safety - top priority - safety glasses while working on robots and in the player station, safe distance from front edge of field…

• Gracious professionalism should be demonstrated at all times – this is an off-season event designed to showcase student talents and hard work and allow teams to train new drive team configurations.

• Lyme-Old Lyme Regional School District 18 is allowing us to use their facility - we must stay in the gym, the Cafeteria, pits or the restrooms and that is it.

General Rules

Doors open 7:30 You can drop your robot off the night before. Text me first we should be there till 7 maybe a little later.

Opening 9:00-15 matches start immediately after

Food and Tshirts for sale.

Lunch/Food

Breakfast foods coffee etc 8-? Lunch will be available for sale in the school cafeteria, prepared and served by the Techno-Ticks. Lunch food will be served from 10:00-2:00.

Bagels, donuts, pizza, chips, soda, juice, coffee, etc… will be available.

Prices will be reasonable and proceeds go to Team 236 – The Techno Ticks.

There is a grocery store and Subway just down the street and fast food restaurants located just across the river in Old Saybrook if you would prefer. Also, there is no rule against bringing your own lunches. No food or drink except water in the gym.

Pits

Due to the size of our high school, and the number of teams attending, the pits will not be the standard 10’ x 10’ area. However, the new location will allow about 8’ x 8’ of space and each team will have a 2x6 table . Blue tape will outline the pit areas. We ask that you stay within your team’s designated space.

Machine Shop

With the size of the pits, and the number of teams sharing the gymnasium, teams are encouraged to leave any portable machining capabilities at home.

Judged Awards

A panel of judges will be wandering through the pits and watching matches throughout the day, selecting teams for the following awards:

The Millstone Power Station, Gracious Professionalism Award – the most prestigious award – our version of the Impact award - is given to the team that demonstrates the understanding and good practices of the wonders of science, technology, and engineering, while also demonstrating teamwork, spirit, and the thrill of competition. This award in short, goes to the team that best represents the spirit of FIRST.

Beach Bums - the robot and team that best capture the essence of the BEACH!

The KISS Robot - Keep It Simple and Smart, for simple but effective design

Teacher’s Pet - the robot/team that is the judges’ favorite optional

Spirit Award - the team that gets the house ROCKIN’, on and off the field

Performance Based Awards

Teams will be recognized for the following performance achievements:

Top Qualifier - The team with the highest qualification point average.

Champion Alliance - The three teams comprising the elimination round champions.

Finalists - the alliance that competes in the final elimination round.

Competition Rules

We will not be making any major rule changes from the 2025 FIRST game. Scoring elements will have the same value as in the official FIRST game rules. We will not be performing robot inspections, but trust that the teams participating are gracious and professional enough to keep their robots safe and with in compliance with the rules. We will not be dispersing the same level of penalties as at some regionals, this is after all a beach party.

Qualification Rounds

Qualification matches are based on qualification round rules for the FIRST game.

Every team should be able to play 5 or 6 qualification matches if we can keep things moving on the field. A schedule of randomly generated matches and alliances will be provided in the morning.

Elimination Round Alliances

Finals alliances will be comprised of 3 teams. Finals alliances will be based on random selection. qualification rankings and alliances will be announced at the end of the qualification rounds. Because of our tight schedule we will NOT be holding a DRAFT for finals alliances. That gives us time for extra play. Depending on the number of teams that attend, some teams may need to play on two different finals alliances..

The option to play on two finals alliances will be based on qualification rankings, but the decision to play on two finals alliances will be left up to the team in question. There will be no penalty for refusing to play on no more than one finals alliance. In the case where a team playing on two finals alliances ends up facing their own alliance, the team in question will default to the higher ranked alliance (based on qualification rank) and a substitute team will be placed on the other alliance.

Final Rounds

Finals will be an elimination bracket based on the 2025 rules for elimination matches.

Directions to Lyme-Old Lyme High School

From I-95 North

Use Exit 70 – Old Lyme. The exit is at the end of the bridge that crosses the Connecticut River, so stay over in the right lane on the Connecticut River bridge.

Take a left at the bottom of the ramp following the signs for Route 1 – stay in the right

lane of the two lanes that turn left. This will take you under I-95.

At the second light, take a right, following Rt. 1 – this will take you past the Big Y grocery store in the Old Lyme Shopping Plaza

At the second light, take a right – this takes you back under I-95

The entrance to the Lyme-Old Lyme High School is just ahead on the left. The road is located right Before the Old Lyme Fire House which is on the left.

From I-95 South

Use Exit 70 – Old Lyme.

Take a left at the bottom of the ramp – this will take you under I-95

The entrance to the Lyme-Old Lyme High School is just ahead on the left. The road is located just BEFORE the Old Lyme Fire House which is on the left.

Coming Down Route 9 South

At the end of Route 9, get onto I-95 North, and stay in the right lane. Follow directions above “From I-95 North”

Coming Down I-395 South

Get onto I-95 South and follow directions above “From I-95 South”

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