Date: Mon, 2 May 1994 20:27:42 -1000 From: tanaka_be@swam1.enet.dec.com (Bert Tanaka) Message-Id: <9405030625.AA02622@mts-gw.pa.dec.com> Organization: Division of Applied Sciences, Harvard University Subject: L.A. SportKite Classic The LA SportKite Classic was a regional event last year but has been upgraded to a national event for this year's competition. It is also shaping up to include an international field. Fifteen to twenty flyers from Japan will compete in El Segundo, Ca. on June 11th and 12th. At this time it hasn't been confirmed exactly which teams and individuals will attend, but possible participants include Team Bonzai, Team Ninja, Team Kiteland and/or Team Arrow. It would be especially nice if the powerful Team Ninja were able to attend but one of the team members is expecting the arrival of a new baby so they are waiting themselves to see if the two schedules will conflict. On a recent visit to Japan, Randy Joe, who captains the U.S. Team Tsunami, reported seeing much improvement in the Japanese teams and some pretty hot individual flyers. Most of the teams are doing ground work in their routines and are showing moves with increased difficulty, with excellent spacing and position in figures. A pairs team demo'd an opening move for Randy. It started off with a kite on each side of the wind window. In about 10 mph wind, the kites each did a tip drag toward each other. Meeting in the center, they both axeled off a tip stand (the coin), and split to the outside. What was impressive, Randy related, was that the moves off the break commands, and the kites in rotation were synched up together so well. Besides Edges and Freestyles, Randy also observed a Cal Wasp and an XTC being flown by individual flyers. One of Japan's top individual flyer is a sixteen year old named Suzuki (sorry, but I don't know his first name). Next year he plans to attend college in the San Francisco area, so you bay area flyers will have a chance to meet him. The LA SportKite Classic will be held at a beach that is so large, that limitations caused by field position or field size are not factors. One of the three fields will be dedicated to single line kites. Accomodations at the Double Tree Inn are a reasonable $55/day. Transportation to and from the flying field will be available for flyers. The atmosphere has always been friendly and novice flyers will find judges to be extra patient and helpful. Experienced teams are also especially encouraged to attend. Master class Team Tsunami will be competing with six man precision and ballet routines. For more information, call the Sunshine Kite Company at (310) 372-0308. Or, if you need registration forms and further info, E-mail me your address and I will mail you the material, no charge. Good winds, Bert = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Wed, 15 Jun 1994 06:54:22 -1000 From: tanaka_be@swam1.enet.dec.com (Bert Tanaka) Message-Id: <9406151651.AA26660@mts-gw.pa.dec.com> Organization: Division of Applied Sciences, Harvard University Subject: L.A. Sportkite Classic Warning - Long Post to Follow The L.A. Sportkite Classic was held on June 11-12th in El Segundo, California. Last year it was in Redondo Beach, but this year's site was selected because the event was to be more of a flyer's competition and the flying fields, though isolated, were larger. We were quite fortunate to obtain the services of Dan Buxton to control the judging and to insure that the various panels were properly selected. Saturday morning had very light winds that improved as the day progressed, and Sunday was slighlty better. Also in the tradition of the LASC, all judges scores and comments will be copied and mailed to all competitors. Generally speaking, the quality of the field of flyers was quite high. All winners in the various events had marvelous routines, but there was some pretty interesting flying in the lower placings, too. I was disappointed with my nearly last place finish in MIP. Especially since I finished quite high in this event last year, and consider it my strong suit. I could have been using the wrong kite. Or maybe I was on an uneven part of the field. Nope, to be honest, it was Dan Rubesh's fault. He was standing directly behind me, and pretty much blocked off all the good wind. And he's a fellow rec.kiter, too. Seriously, one of the hottest freestyle precision routine's I have ever seen was flown by Kobi Eshun. Killer moves. Just to describe a few... Kobi flies his kite straight down to about 10' above the ground. Then he rotates his Cal Wasp 90 degrees and then drops it to a perfect wing tip stand while it is locked in this horizontal position. He did a variation of this move where his kite sort of tip stabs itself into an immediate tip drag. He does a whip ground turtle, and then the same move in slow motion later on in his routine. He was doing 1\2 axels high up that looked like graceful up and overs. He did axels out of small outside loops. He did a snap launch into a low ground pass. The thing that I enjoy about watching Kobi's flying, besides his creativity, is his style and form. All his moves are done with full amplitude and accuracy. Very straight lines, clean angles, and unbelievable speed control. When he does a helicopter, his kite is rock solid and slides like it was on rails. The geometry in his figures is obvious and easy to identify. And he applies a lot finesse to each move coaxing little variations to the base move which makes his routine non-repetitous and very interesting. Good stuff. In NIB, Dan Rubesh flew a kite called the Airgasm to some pretty funky music that included train sound effects. Off of one wing, he tied a ribbon that was, oh maybe, 50' long(er?). Very creative. At times the ribbon was like the smoke coming from a train, and at times he used it to trace and trail a variety of swirling, twirling, patterns. Reminded me of the ribbon ballet in women's gymnastics. A real crowd pleaser! I really enjoyed the NIB because I was field director for this event and got to meet all the flyers. Incidentally, if you ever attend a meet, volunteer to be field director... its absolutely the best seat in the house. Dodd Gross flew a kite called the Aerial (which was reviewed in an earlier note) that is a delta, but he four lined it for the Open Quad Ballet. The Aerial looked to be one of the best moving quadlined deltas around. It moves in reverse extremely well. Ron Despajado flew a marvelous technical routine with a Rev I - one move was a so very slow 15 second rotation with his kite perfectly locked in place, just barely above the ground. Duane Drake is one of the best Rev II pilots I have ever seen. He flies the smaller Rev so tight that it looks as steady as the big one. Among a lot things Duane does, a few include multi-position stalls that are just locked to the sky, and moonwalks where one rotates quickly, and another that barely spins. The number one flyer from team Arrow from Japan - in the EIB flew a routine that was unbelievably tight on his music. He is a force to watch in future international competitons. For this meet he used a Tracer. I forgot his name - The only Japanese words that I know are "Toyota, Katana, and please pass the Sushi" so we didn't have much conversation. He also won the EIP and when I get the listing from Randy Joe, I will post all scores. Two teams from Berkely dominated the pairs ballet. All Cal Wasps. Huge technical difficulty content. Both teams were just wired with each other. Some of the best mirrored moves I have ever seen. Among them, simultaneous slides to the center, and axels out. A whole handful dead still stalls with unusual, but matched wing angles. And a variety of linear figures choreographed beautifully to powerful music. Dos Avispos is composed of Miguel Rodrigues, and Kobi Eshun. I apologize for not knowing the other team, but they will be in a later post. John Barresi flew his usual great MIB routine. One of the stunts he had his Tracer doing was to float his kite down in the belly-down-nose-away position, and then rotate it twice. Is this a double axel? I don't know what to call it. At any rate, he used some Looney Toons cartoon music tied to some very clever choreography. Six man team Tsunami criss-cross launched with one flyer crissed where he should have crossed. Raul Brieno, flying number one kite ended up with a broken leading edge. Incredibly, Tsunami recovered almost immediately and after just the shortest delay went on to finish their routine and to barely edge out the powerful team from Portland, Invisible Wind. Watching the six man routine, I actually wasn't sure whether or not Raul's wing was really broken because he had a mid-routine edge launch, and ground roll, that were done flawlessly. Afterwards, though, I saw his Freestyle kite just fold in on itself until it wouldn't fly at all. The number one team >From Japan, team Bonzai, stayed home because one the team members had a new birth in the family and couldn't travel. A few of the members came anyway, and although they aren't individual flyers, ad libbed a couple of pretty nice routines. Team Invisible Wind flew Turbojet kites. -Bert = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Wed, 15 Jun 1994 19:44:38 -1000 From: darrin@ebay.sun.com (Darrin Skinner) Message-Id: <9406162044.AA21268@stuntkite.EBay.Sun.COM> Organization: Division of Applied Sciences, Harvard University Subject: Re: L.A. Sportkite Classic -] Date: Wed, 15 Jun 1994 16:54:22 GMT -] From: tanaka_be@swam1.enet.dec.com (Bert Tanaka) -] Subject: L.A. Sportkite Classic -] -] The L.A. Sportkite Classic was held on June 11-12th in El Segundo, California. -] Last year it was in Redondo Beach, but this year's site was selected because (snip) -] -] Two teams from Berkely dominated the pairs ballet. All Cal Wasps. Huge -] technical difficulty content. Both teams were just wired with each other. -] Some of the best mirrored moves I have ever seen. Among them, simultaneous -] slides to the center, and axels out. A whole handful dead still stalls -] with unusual, but matched wing angles. And a variety of linear figures -] choreographed beautifully to powerful music. Dos Avispos is composed -] of Miguel Rodrigues, and Kobi Eshun. I apologize for not knowing the -] other team, but they will be in a later post. Dos Avispas routine was *the* best pairs routine I've ever seen. period. The other team is Cal Berkeley: Greg Aronson and Brian Champie. They took second behind Dos Avispas, but are only ("did he say only?") an experienced class team. Also of note was Pairs team Gone With The Wind. They plugged/refueled their kites and then did an axel WHILE plugged. Truly amazing. (snip) -] Six man team Tsunami criss-cross launched with one flyer crissed where he -] should have crossed. Raul Brieno, flying number one kite ended up -] with a broken leading edge. Incredibly, Tsunami recovered almost immediately -] and after just the shortest delay went on to finish their routine and to -] barely edge out the powerful team from Portland, Invisible Wind. Watching -] the six man routine, I actually wasn't sure whether or not Raul's wing -] was really broken because he had a mid-routine edge launch, and ground roll, -] that were done flawlessly. Afterwards, though, I saw his Freestyle kite -] just fold in on itself until it wouldn't fly at all. It's amazing what a little practice can do (:-)grin). This feat was accomplished due to much practice flying team with broken wings... and if you believe that, have I got a kite to sell you :-) . (snip) -] -] -Bert Darrin Tsunami 6 = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Thu, 16 Jun 1994 18:07:34 -1000 From: windwiz@rain.org (Dan Rubesh) Message-Id: <2tr7i6$fo@rain.org> Organization: Regional Access Information Network (RAIN) Subject: Re: L.A. Sportkite Classic In article <9406151651.AA26660@mts-gw.pa.dec.com> tanaka_be@swam1.enet.dec.com (Bert Tanaka) writes: [deletia] >In NIB, Dan Rubesh flew a kite called the Airgasm to some pretty funky music >that included train sound effects. Off of one wing, he tied a ribbon that >was, oh maybe, 50' long(er?). Very creative. At times the ribbon was >like the smoke coming from a train, and at times he used it to trace and >trail a variety of swirling, twirling, patterns. Reminded me of the ribbon >ballet in women's gymnastics. A real crowd pleaser! I really enjoyed the NIB >because I was field director for this event and got to meet all the flyers. >Incidentally, if you ever attend a meet, volunteer to be field director... >its absolutely the best seat in the house. Thanks for the nice comments, Bert.. The Airgasm is a kite that's being made in small quantities by a friend here in Ventura.. I 'borrowed' the idea of an asymetric tail from Simo Salanne, and the tail was 100' in length.. I'll probably do some more work on that routine for Berkeley.. I'll also second your suggestion to volunteer for field director.. I did that spot for the MIB, and the experience (and the view) was great!! -- Tako Buggy Naked Kichi!! Dan Rubesh AKA Member/Merchant Wind Wizard, Purveyor of windwiz@coyote.rain.org GO Stunt Kites & Accessories danr@crash.cts.com FLY A P.O. Box 5747 (805) 659-5654 (voice) STUNT Ventura, CA 93005 (805) 659-5769 (fax) KITE! Member: Kite Trade Assn. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Fri, 17 Jun 1994 11:29:30 -1000 From: kobi@netcom.com (Kobi Eshun) Message-Id: Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 261-4700 guest) Subject: Re: L.A. Sportkite Classic [stuff deleted] routine's I have ever seen was flown by Kobi Eshun. Killer moves. Just to describe a few... Kobi flies his kite straight down to about 10' above the ground. Then he rotates his Cal Wasp 90 degrees and then drops it to a perfect wing tip stand while it is locked in this horizontal position. This is called a Black Hole, or a Stab; I learned it from Miguel. He did a variation of this move where his kite sort of tip stabs itself into an immediate tip drag. He does a whip ground turtle, and then the same move in slow motion later on in his routine. He was doing 1\2 axels high up that looked like graceful up and overs. He did axels out of small outside loops. He did a snap launch into a low ground pass. The thing that I enjoy about watching Kobi's flying, besides his creativity, is his style and form. All his moves are done with full amplitude and accuracy. Very straight lines, clean angles, and unbelievable speed control. When he does a helicopter, his kite is rock solid and slides like it was on rails. The geometry in his figures is obvious and easy to identify. And he applies a lot finesse to each move coaxing little variations to the base move which makes his routine non-repetitous and very interesting. Good stuff. Wow -- I guess somebody liked my stuff! Thanks for the kind networds, Bert. In NIB, Dan Rubesh flew a kite called the Airgasm to some pretty funky music that included train sound effects. Off of one wing, he tied a ribbon that was, oh maybe, 50' long(er?). Very creative. At times the ribbon was like the smoke coming from a train, and at times he used it to trace and trail a variety of swirling, twirling, patterns. Reminded me of the ribbon ballet in women's gymnastics. A real crowd pleaser! I would have to agree. I judged this event, and really dug Dan's music, even though I could not identify it. A very daring and creative performance. [more stuff deleted] Two teams from Berkely dominated the pairs ballet. All Cal Wasps. Huge technical difficulty content. Both teams were just wired with each other. Some of the best mirrored moves I have ever seen. Among them, simultaneous slides to the center, and axels out. A whole handful dead still stalls with unusual, but matched wing angles. And a variety of linear figures choreographed beautifully to powerful music. Dos Avispos is composed of Miguel Rodrigues, and Kobi Eshun. I apologize for not knowing the other team, but they will be in a later post. Again, thanks for the kind words. Dos Avispas and Air Berkeley have spent alot of time at the Marina getting ready for this; glad you liked. Greg Aaronson and Brian Champie make up Air Berkeley. Greg has already chalked up a few major victories up and down the coast in the MIB category over the last couple of years. Brian debut'ed in EIB/EIP this year, and looks like he will be a scary phenomenon. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Mon, 20 Jun 1994 08:37:14 -1000 From: ag436@leo.nmc.edu (Ken Nealy) Message-Id: <9406201837.AA01819@leo.nmc.edu> Organization: Division of Applied Sciences, Harvard University Subject: Re: L.A. Sportkite Classic = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =