Beach Ultimate in San Francisco has long been in the shadow of its grass cousin. During the summer, when the grass league is in full swing, there are just enough players to play on one field on Ocean Beach (for those of you interested, it is on Saturday's at2 PM at stairwell 9). There are no tournaments in the area and there is no beach league.

However persistent work from Edmundo and Chris McT is starting to change this. More and more players are showing up on Saturdays and now Ed is organizing a Beach Ultimate tournament close by: Gazos Gambit November 30 - December 2. There is also some talk about a beach league... It is still just talk, but San Francisco has the players, has the beach, and has the funkiness to have a great Beach Ultimate league. BULA is rooting for it! :-)

Both readers of this blog might have be wondering why it has been so quiet lately... I feel bad and will try to improve, but the main reason for my silence was the preparation for the World Championships.

Getting teams to respond and commit has been a challenge. Since I started playing (20+ years ago!) I always heard and found that Ultimate players are great, but there are a lot of unreliable people. At least relatively to other friends and or co-workers. They mean well, but committing to something is tough. Organizing the World Championships has been no different.

However, after a very intense 2 months with lots of emails, phone calls, etc.. we now have 27 teams confirmed. We have rosters, payment, flight info etc... we have WCBU lift off!!!

The turnout could have been better, but flying to Brazil is not cheap and that is always a problem. I believe that the World Championships (grass) Ultimate in Perth had a bit of the same problem. Beach Ultimate is even more handicapped because not that many players are playing it yet.

Nevertheless Maceio will be the biggest South American disc event EVER, and with 300+ players, 15 countries, beach, disc, parties, etc... it will be an event to remember! I am really looking forward to it and I know many other players are. Now we are going to work on scheduling and other details and we will get you all the info as soon as possible.

Until then, keep 'em flying and here are the divisions:

Mixed: Austria, Brazil, Canada, Great Britain, Germany, Ireland, the Peace Team, Scotland, Spain, Switzerland, and the US
Masters: Portugal, Brazil, GB, Canada, US
Open: Philippines, Australia, Brazil, US, GB, Currier Island
Women: Currier Island, Australia, US, GB, Brazil