Gazos Gambit and the beauty of northern California's coast
Edmundo from San Francisco is a passionate player, musician and DJ extraordinaire. This year he is organizing Gazos Gambit again. Gazos Gambit is an amazingly fun tournament set on a remote and pristine beach where camping, party, food, and fields are all in walking distance and where they throw one of the finest parties in ultimate.
This is a great opportunity to explore the beauty of northern California's coast in traditionally the last good weather before the rainy season. And, there is a great surf spot just down the beach.
I just returned from Poland where our team (Diz-Cu) played at the SandSlash tournament in Debki. Debki is a tiny village (125 people) north of Gdansk and is a fun place with beautiful surroundings. Poland is also still very cheap compared to most of Europe. For less than 10 euros you can get a complete meal with drinks and desert included.
The tournament was great. Well organized, great parties, and everyone was friendly and fun. A crazy drink-and-layout game on Saturday kept everyone laughing. The wind was strong but not unbearable. It did help that we are used to playing in the wind so we ended up winning the tournament in an exciting final against Uwaga Pies (=Beware of the Dogs). That we won the SOTG award was icing on the cake :-)
Poland is going through a great surge of (Beach) Ultimate. Four years ago there was hardly any Ultimate, now the tournament had 13 Polish teams with 3 teams on the waiting list. With beautiful women and men (according to my wife :-) and tasty vodka it has a place in my heart and I hope to be back soon.
The Beach Ultimate tournament in Kiev seems to attract a lot of interesting people. Christian Jennewein, the French/German/Scottish founder of Ffindr, went and he told me Kiev Hat is great. Really good Ultimate and a lot of fun. The spot was beautiful and considering that the tourney is inside a capital it qualifies as one of the best sites ever. Approx. 250 players from mainly Russia (75%), Ukraine (20%), Belarussia (4%) and foreigners (4 in total) made this a really unique experience.
A funky TV station also visited the tournament. I am not sure if the girl was drunk or just really happy but from what I saw it was clearly a BULA tournament: Play hard, party hard:-)
Ukraine's Gigolo won Paganello's Spirit of the Game award and finished in the top 12 in the Open division. The great combination of high level play and great Spirit is totally obvious is this YouTube promotional video of their upcoming Kiev tournament August 8-9:
For those of you that never traveled that way, the Ukraine is a great tourists destination for Europeans, who do not need any visa. The tournament is located on the beach almost downtown Kiev, so you can play and enjoy the beautiful landscapes of the city which is situated on the banks of the Dniper river.
We have talked about African Beach Ultimate before (Mozambique and Kenya Beach Ultimate in particular) but we overlooked a great nucleus of Beach Ultimate in Africa: CapeTown
The Clifton beach game every Sunday morning has generally had an excellent turn out. Now they have the new field marking kit, to make games look even more appealing to new players. Check them out at http://www.capetownultimate.co.za/?cat=39
The Texas Beach Ultimate Fest (TBUF), is back and bigger than ever. Come join them at Galveston’s RA RA Apffel Park (east beach) on Saturday May 30th for the longest running beach tournament in the WORLD. There is something for every skill level from beginners to world’s level ultimate players. Come help them show the rest of the country that Galveston is still on the map and stronger than ever! This year they will be supporting a fund raiser for the local Galveston Independent School District (GISD). See the tournament details at:http://houstonultimate.org/TBUF2009
A week after Paganello 14 teams from British Universities came to Rimini to compete in the Festival Italia Tournament. The atmosphere of 2,000 students playing so many different sports was amazing and the nightlife was incredible. The ultimate players had a fantastic time on the beach; they don’t often get to play beach ultimate at home. Rimini blessed them with beautiful weather throughout the tournament and the players really enjoyed themselves.
The Final was between Southampton 1 and Southampton 2, with Southampton 2 victorious in sudden death. Swansea beat Exeter 2 to win the Plate. Spirit was fantastic throughout the tournament for the more experienced tour veterans and for the first time tour teams; the Spirit award went to Bath.
Last weekend saw the second edition of the beach tournament of Mozambique. On the tiny island of Xefina in the bay of Maputo, where 20 inhabitants watched amused at the invasion of mad discoteiros who took over the beach in front of their village.
6 teams with players from Mozambique, Swaziland, Lesotho, South Africa, Angola, Europe and North America quickly found their groove and proved to be pretty equal in strength.
The tournament was a great succes and we are sure that we are going to make this tourney an annual event.
Look out for next year's announcement and reserve your seat on the boat!
Spanish Beach Ultimate is growing strongly. Each year there are more teams and now they also allow Portuguese teams to enter in their national championships. If they continue their growth like they have in the past, they will be the country to look out for at the 2011 World Championships.
The Beach Ultimate community is getting ready for another edition of the largest international Beach Ultimate tournament in the world: Paganello! 120 teams, big parties, new contenders (will the Boracay Dragons make it to the finals?), and lots of other fun things to do. We all hope that the weather will be a bit better this year. Last year's finals were cold and windy.
Here is one report on the tournament from the US:
Disk brings twist to Holy Week in Italy
When most people think of visiting Italy for Easter vacation, rarely do they stuff their suitcases with 40-ounce beer bottles, Spandex and oversized Uncle Sam top hats. But in the case of the American Gladiators, a Chicago co-ed Ultimate team, this is packing protocol. More...
Another good blog posting from Ffindr.com. This time they featured the Boracay Open Beach Ultimate tournament and the still undefeated (on home turf) Boracay Dragons. Read more...
The last few months there has been a fair bit of Beach Ultimate in Spain and Portugal. The Porro Open tournament in Barcelona, several tournaments in Punta de Umbria (South of Spain) and at Praia do Meco (Portugal). There wasn't a lot of sunshine, some rain and wind, but that made it special. With waves crashing, fresh sea air in your nose and the disc in your hand you realize that life is great!... until you have to huck into the wind... :-)
You can clearly see the mass of players around the umbrellas, the 2 fields, the players on the fields and the side lines. On field 2 (left mid), the players are on the line, about to start a point!
Could this be the first time that a Beach Ultimate tournament was captured by the big eye above us?
Slowly but surely Beach Ultimate is getting into Asia... Recent developments in China and now in India are heartwarming to see :-)
Adding to the excitement is the fact that in two week the hosts for the 2009 Asian Championships Beach Ultimate will be announced. Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Currier Island, and Pakistan have all shown interest in participating. No word yet from India and Taiwan but we hope they will join the championships as well.
That there is Beach Ultimate in India is certain. Just look at this invitation:
Last September saw the seventh edition of the Burla Beach Cup take place on the beach of Viareggio, near Pisa in Italy.
This tournament has been growing in numbers each year, with 82 teams taking part this year in 3 divisions. It’s easy to understand why: you’re guaranteed 3 days of beach ultimate, good weather, perfect beaches, great accommodation and a good party atmosphere all with an Italian style.
Viareggio is becoming like a second Rimini, 14 fields, increasingly high level and, to be fair, some of the disadvantages too! Paul Bernier, Max Vitali and the rest of the hard-working Tuscan team have done a fantastic job of expanding this great tournament, and they have committed to continuing to improve the experience for all comers.
In the open division CUSB Bologna (IT) beat the Rimini finalists SEXXXPENSIVE in a close final. The young Italians were perhaps less tired than the international thong legends and made slightly fewer mistakes with some tight defending. The Bologna junior team also won the third division; perhaps we can expect CUSB to start challenging for the Paganello title in future years? Cota Rica might have something to say about that, although they didn’t make it to Viareggio this time.
A special mention should go to Glasgow Open, who, having made a wrong call that decided a game, realized their mistake overnight and asked for the result to be changed! Spirito del gioco.
Full Results:
OPEN_1 div.
1. CUSB Bologna (IT)
2. SEXXXPENSIVE (Intl)
3. DJI SAM SOE (AT)
4. INEXXXPENSIVE (Intl)
SOTG
1. FREEZZZBEEZZZ (BE)
2. DJI SAM SOE (AT)
3. 4 STAZIONI (DE)
----------------------------------
OPEN_2 div.
1. COBRA KAI (UK)
2. INNERCIRCLE (AT)
3. SKYHAWKS (CH)
4. ULTEAM (NL)
SOTG
1. RADICAL (CH)
2. XLR8RS (BE)
3. SPIN (AT)
Another special award to GO (Glasgow Open)
----------------------------------
OPEN_3 div.
1. CUSB JUNIOR (IT)
2. NO FRILLS ( UK )
3. MYTHAGO ( UK )
4. BASIC ( UK )
8. Best women team: WOODCHICAS (DE)
SOTG
1. LES COLLEGUES (FR)
2. WOODCHICAS (BE)
3. LEAMONGTON LEMMINGS ( UK )
With the Porro Open this weekend in Barcelona it was perfect timing to get coverage about Spanish Beach Ultimate on TV3 from Catalunya.
The 2 minute report last Friday showed that in heavy winds there can still be a game. I wish TV3 would allow for others to embed the video (why not?), but that doesn't seem to be possible so you will have to click here: http://www.tv3.cat/videos/768109
With the 2009 Asian Championships Beach Ultimate in sight, we are discovering more Beach Ultimate in Asia. In Beijing there was even an artificial beach that saw the arrival of many players. Here is an excerpt from a blogger in China:
The sand was artificial and, at places, hurt like hell to land on (more on this later), but it was still a fun day at the beach, even if there was no water. Organized by the inimitable Jeff Orcutt et al., we split into four teams -- names drawn out of a hat -- and played four games each. More...
Have a look at the possible future World Champions Beach Ultimate: footage of the 1st Boracay junior Beach Ultimate tournament. 54 students from elementary and high school participated.
Slowly but surely the Asia Pacific is waking up to Beach Ultimate.
Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines have been on the forefront for many years, but Singapore started with a Beach Ultimate tournament last year and now Hong Kong is doing it too.
This is great news for the 1st Asian Championships Beach Ultimate that will be held in 2009.
In the meantime, if you are in Hong Kong on Sunday 7 September, go play!
Why Grow Up At Wildwood When There’s Room For More?
SUNDAY, July 27th 2008.
Yes, there were 300+ teams. The beach, a good 400 yards to the ocean, was packed. You couldn’t see the end of the fields. Not too long ago Wildwood had 150 teams and that seemed large. How many teams will the tournament cap it at?
“We haven’t found that number yet,” says Mike Adlis one of the tournament directors. “I suppose we could add another day if we get more teams, and maybe keep adding days.”
Its appeal is accessibility and lack of pretension. Everyone is welcome. Anyone can come. All levels of play are encouraged. There are sweet trophies for 40 teams. You can win your loser’s G bracket chumpionship and walk away with hardware.
Sunday’s weather was cool. A thunderstorm with lightning snaps came midway through the day and held off games for an hour and change.
The top pools were headlined by the usual suspects, the many-headed Horned Melons who fielded teams in both divisions and the octopus-like Yellow Submarine. Both are Philly-based teams and Wildwood is their backyard sand box.
The Melons lost to Yellow Sub in 3-1 semifinals, but advanced in semis over Sexually Considerate (New York) in the 2-2 division. Yellow Sub won the 3-1 again, practically a birthright for this team, over Do The Deed (DC, I think). In 2-2, Atlanta’s No Limit Pandas, one of the few teams to have actually taken a plane flight to Wildwood, won the 2-2 over the Melons after having defeated Big Fish (Boston/ Slow White) in the semis.
According to one of No Limit’s players, most of the team hadn’t even played on beach before.
The rain delay sent plenty of teams packing. Two teams, Death By Misadventure and Thunder Punch, set to match up in the finals decided to determine the winner realized they couldn’t play because many folks left. Instead they competed in a boardwalk carney watergun-shoot-the-target race, won by Thunder Punch.
To get a copy of the 2007 tournament DVD, email kenne DOT hemphill AT gmail DOT com.
It's Saturday night, 9pm. I will post again after pools are announced.
The Wildwood weekend is reserved far in advance for most ultimate players on the Eastern Seaboard.
Jake lives and Connecticut but comes down to volunteer at Wildwood so he can get a free ride. With the resort prices here, it’s a smart call.
“I spent all week doing homework in my summer classes so I could make it here. This is my sixth year in a row. So far I’ve spent most of my time regulating the registration line. It’s great because someone always brings you beers when you do the line.”
Boston. Providence. Baltimore. Dover. Washington DC. Atlanta, Georgia. Every player in the New York Metropolitan area, across all skills levels, makes the three-hour drive to this tournament. Philadelphia, just an hour and a half distant, sends swarms.
Saturday begins with a .99¢ breakfast: scrambled eggs, English muffin, hash brown. Games start 10am for half of the tournament, 11am for the other half. Temperature is perfect, humidity ideal, the sand is packed but not too tight. It’s a fast track.
It is impossible to try and recap the winners and losers of day one at Wildwood. The tournament is well-organized, for sure, so that teams choose their overall skill level and pick either 2-2 or 3-1 (ratio of men to women).
By the time it all shakes out there are tons of pools, tons of teams with random beach-themed names masking their city and club affiliation and tons of games, more than 75 per round, every hour, like clockwork.
At the end of the day teams move up or down in pool strength and placards showing championship and chumpionship brackets in new pools from A to S are posted on the side of a rented cube truck.
On that same side of the truck they hoist up a white screen and play an hour-long DVD of last year’s tournament highlights while players queue up at the trough of free beer like farm animals. 32 kegs, scheduled to last for three hours.
So I can’t really provide a concrete review of the top teams, because the pools haven’t been posted. In the meantime, some quotes from players across the spectrum of the tournament.
Question: What’s your favorite thing about Wildwood?
“Wack the Iraqi” – Drew, Brooklyn
“Crazy scenes on the boardwalk.” – Courtney, New York
“I love all the fried food and I love beach Ultimate!” – Annie, New York
“Seeing friends from all over. Oh and also babes in bikinis.” Brenton, Connecticut
“Seeing everyone you know from the Northeast.” Squeege, Albany
“Getting to see old friends. Tracy’s been to every Wildwood since the 2nd one [14 years ago]” Geoff, Boston
“I like that as a high-brow New Yorker I can come down to slum it out on the Jersey Shore and not feel guilty because it’s an Ultimate tournament. I get to go to the batting cages, eat all sort of fried food and stare at the 15 year old girls on the boardwalk.” – Brian, New York
“I like the deep fried Oreos” – Zar, Ithaca
First time at Wildwood:
“Two pointers” – Troy, Australia
“It’s a great showcase for the sport because spectators can see all of the action here. It’s also great for social networking.” – Steph, Boston
Imbibing Wildwood Wild Times in the Land of the Uninhibited
Wildwood XXVI begins in about 6 hours when the 308 teams (and counting) square off in 19 pools of 16 teams each for the world’s largest 4-on-4 beach ultimate tournament. I'm at the registration party on Friday night where the libidinous teenagers and savvy college kids match up on the party grounds of New Jersey's finest boardwalk enterainment.
The boardwalk scene at Wildwood is pure Americana, battered in lard, fattened on easy living, primed for a weekend of low-effort entertainment. Large amusement park rides, silly little carnival games and an endless barrage of fried foods await the the packs of traveling Americans, groups of familes and friends who descend upon this sanctioned party land like schools of fish investigating a sorority cruise.
Enter the Ultimate scene. Its an uninhibited bacchanalia of well-bred manners, a frolicking of the cultists attracted to ultimate, the sport. Mostly college kids, some teenagers, a handful of oldsters but its basically the introduction to "this is Ultimate! We party like we dont care!"
One of the Tournament Director's, Mike Adlis, is more than happy to accomodate the fun times. Here at Wildwood, you can be young for a long, long time and it's all good.
"Some teams are coming down on a six to eight hour drive, so we keep the party open late. That way you don't miss anything!"
Indeed, its 1:45 am when the registration packs it in.
OK, well, its 2:40 now and they are kicking me at the bar. Back to the hotel, one of the few not overpriced....
The good times flow freely. At the registration party where some (usually most) members of a team must come to register their team and thus be qualified to play tomorrow, the craziness is in the air.
"How do they fucking throw a frisbee that good??" explaims the bartender, watching the TV screens filled with the highlights of last year's games
The Americans travel in packs, whether with their families or their friends. The wander up an down the wooden slats.
Canada is a country with an amazing Ultimate community. Toronto, Vancouver, and Ottawa all have thousands of players and 250-350 teams per city. However when it comes to Beach Ultimate they are the victim of their geography. The West Coast close to Vancouver has basically no good beaches (anything more north of Vancouver has either no inhabitants or it gets too cold). The East Coast is slightly better, with the Parlee Beach tournament in Fredericton, but apart from that there is not much else. The only hope for Canada is to use their wealth of lakes to play Beach Ultimate.
Britannia in Ottawa has been going on for 17 years and last year a new tournament got started: La Petite Vite du Capitaine
On the 23th and 24th of August, La Petite Vite du Capitaine takes place on the Haldimand public beach in Gaspe, a small town in the area of Gaspesie peninsula, in the eastern part of the province of Quebec. This tournament will be part of the town summer activities and they are expecting local people and tourists to enjoy the event.
They are expecting teams from Quebec and New Brunswick but are also hoping for other teams/players to register. The airport is 20 minutes away and many facilities will be provided such as a beer garden, meals, washrooms, music and others services.
The accommodation and the Saturday night activities (dinner and party) will take place at the Douglastown Hostel. The fees for the tournament are 350.00$ can. per team including accommodations, meals and activities for the weekend. There will be prices and gifts for the team who will achieve the best spirit and the teams who will be playing the finals.
If you are in the area, or love adventure, this can be quite the new experience for seasoned Beach Ultimate players. Try it. Even if you do not have a team, they can get you one.
The Subic Bay Beach Ultimate Frisbee Challenge in the Philippines was held last June 7-8, 2008 at the Waterfront. Twelve teams from Manila and Boracay participated in the tournament. Boracay Dragons White and Gold ended up playing against each other in the finals. Dragons White won 13-6. Junthir from Boracay Dragons Gold got the MVP award in Pool A. Janjan from Dragons Gold suffered a severe cut just below his left eyebrow and chin. (See collision on video.) Dragons Katol bagged the Most Spirited Team Award (AGAIN! They won the same award at the Bora Open 2007.) Awarding and party took place on the field. There was a band…and lotsa beer…and a lot of dirty dancing party people!
Thanks to all who joined and especially to Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority and Department of Tourism for sponsoring the event and to UP Sunken Pleasure volunteers for organizing the tournament.
Brazil has seen a surge of Beach Ultimate since they hosted the World Championships last December. They are now creating a new federation solely dedicated to Beach Ultimate (!) and organizing the first national Brazil Cup 2008.
This is great news. Brazil has such great beaches and their beach culture is fantastic. BULA is in big support of this new movement :-) Força!
Dutch Beach culture is mostly limited to holidays and 'strand jutten' (picking up things that wash ashore after a storm). The Crunch Hut tournament in Hargen has been the only Beach Ultimate in Holland (although this year will be their 14th edition!) and until recently the Netherlands never participated at a BULA Beach Ultimate World Championships.
However Beach Fever has struck Holland. They participated at the European Championships Beach Ultimate where they just missed the chance to go to the semi finals and suddenly there are two new Beach Ultimate tournaments planned:
The Texel Beach Tournament 21-22 June: Texel is the biggest island of the Netherlands and it's about a 100 km. north of Amsterdam. The tournament is going to be an open tournament and you can sign up at their website.
The Monsterball Beach Classic August 30-31: This tournament is very close to The Hague and the base of the tournament will be the Bondi beach club.
African Beach Ultimate on a rise: Mozambique's first tourney!
African Beach Ultimate is still in its infancy. South Africa is by far the most developed in this region. With the help of the Lifeskills organization and the Kaiser Foundation thousands of kids are starting to play (Beach) Ultimate. The rest of the continent is still almost untouched.
There is some Ultimate in Egypt, helped by Russians that host the Ultimutation tournament in Dahab, and there is some Ultimate in Morocco. However new on the horizon is Mozambique! Led by well known Dutch Ultimate veteran Stef Steven, the man who started the development of Ultimate in Vietnam, there is now a Beach Ultimate tournament on the island of Xefina just off the coast of Maputo.
Chapeau na Ilha da Xefina (translation: Hat on Xafina island) is the name of the tournament and it will take place 14-15 June. It will be beach disc like you've never experienced it before. Local fishermen will give players dhow rides to and from the island with a sundowner included. Caipirinha served in the boats. It should be just an amazing experience.
Party and play like Mozambicans. You know you want to! :-) Contact Sjoerd Brouwer, sjoerd_brouwer@hotmal.com for more information. I am sure they would love to get a couple of foreigners to visit.
Steve and Tom have packed their bags, got theirlaptops primed for high speed editing, and are taking Blockstack.tv to Rimini Italy for Paganello.
They have exclusive backstage access to all the Paga action, interviews with the big names, and with Ultimate loving people having a good time. Most importantly they'll be bringing back a flavour of one of the world's most famous and exciting Ultimate tournaments.
Part 1 of Blockstack.tv in Paganello should be live late Friday night or early Saturday morning.
I suppose it shouldn't have been a total surprise the way the Boracay Dragons A (so-named for the dragon boat races on the island -- a few of the players are dragon rowers) dominated the finals, winning, in effect, 16-5 over Manila's league champion Sexual Chocolate. 16 points because the last goal was an end-zone to end-zone huck which, like Wildwood or those Florida tournaments, is worth 2 points.
The Dragons were fast, deep (roster of 17 i believe) and basically played smart. Their D caused SexChoc to make throwaways which the Dragons converted with efficiency. Game started out 4-0 or 5-0 and was never in doubt.
In semis, Dragons A (White) beat Dragons C (Blue/Yellow), while Dragons B (Silver) lost to Sex Choc 10-9 when the game ended on a one-pointer when the team needed a two-pointer to tie and prolong the game (alas, thrown by me)
In the Important Prizes at the crazy beach after-party, the Manila-based team called Dragon Katol, so named for the local spiral mosquito repellent incense, won the Spirit of the Game, the Party Award and one of their regular player Christian (who played with Boracay Dragons here and was MVP of WBUC in Brazil) won the MVP making it some sort of weird Katol sweep.
Party Details: this tournament was sponsored by a Filipino energy drink, 100 Plus, a number of fine establishments on the beach like the Hey Jude bar, Summer Place bar and grill and Smoke Restaurant, to name a few. Also a TV network/channel sponsored prizes for Spirit/Party and "Top 4 Players" awards which included a compass from the TV show "Lost." Evidently Lost is coming on air here soon.
But the number one sponsor in terms of ubiquitousness was Colt 45, "America's leading premium strong beer." However, we don't have "strong beer" in America, only the more apt designation "malt liquor" a category which Colt 45 probably created too, heck.
Colt 45 is a great and wonderful brew for smashing one's head to mulch for the following day. But it was free.
The finals were pretty colorful: the usual loudspeaker setup, lots of local fans clapping and cheering, all of the teams here, tons of cameras with nice lenses, a TV station was here to do a segment on the tournament and the team (airing March 29th in Manila I was told -- a sports show, nonetheless)
Once again the talk of the day from the Dragons was about how excited they were to bring their game to other tournaments around the world and how psyched they would be to host more traveling players and teams to this tournament. In fact, it appeared that besides a small Singapore team with none of the players from Freakshow, the only travelers here were Jane and I, Izzy and Pierre the French-Canadian handlebar-mustache brothers and two blokes from Regina, Saskatchewan. Truly that will change in the future because it is pretty good times here with lots of free food, free beer, tournament shirt and disc included, parties every night and good competition.
I'm trying to get some pictures up but otherwise go to the official tourney photographers websites:
http://ssshortzzz.multiply.com (not up yet)
http://ogong.multiply.com (not up yet)
Saturday pool play was divided into two pools, an upper and a lower. The upper pool was six teams. Boracay, a, b, and c, manilla's alabang, dragan kutong (insect repellenent for dragons), and sexual chocolate, also from manilla. The closest and best game of the day was sexual chocolate v. boracay silver (b). With two and three goal leads throughout, silver coudlnt finish it al the end and manilla escaped with a universe-point win at the end.
Boracay white (a) crushed sexual choc. two games later to take command of the pool and of the tournament. Tomorrow the semi-finals will likely be a rematch of sex. choc. and bora silver, while bora white should play bora blue (c, aka the young fast kids).
Truly the young kids here in Boracay have a bright future ahead. They are really receptive to the game and start pretty young -- the 12-year olds were forehand hucking like champions. The deal is: Boracay takes ultimate seriously. They really have a good vibe for the fast action of beach ultimate.
Manila and PUA (Philippines Ultimate Association) also are very psyched with Ultimate here -- several celebrities (Rima and Derrick) in Manila, known as TV and Radio hosts (seriously, random locals passing by the frisbee scene stopped and HAD to get a picture with Derrick on Friday night, and everytime he held up a disc in the pic -- which is pretty rad if you think about it.)
Team Alabang Anonymous is know here for the good times, team Dragon Katon for also making things merry and who can forget the travelers, like Pierre and Israel from... Quebec. Viva Francais.
So you can be rest assured that we are drunk now because the saturday night food and party was swell and now we must get ready to play tomorrow
The sand here is quite nice, the beach is fantastic and the teams here feel a bit like they are in paradise.
The international presence is not felt, however. With an always crowded ultimate schedule a lot of Asian ultimate players are saving up their money for Korea or Bali, or still paying for Bangkok Hat and Vietnam Hat.
But the Dragons are psyched to get some love thrown their way and would absolutely love it for more teams and more players to come this way and make this tournament a prime destination tourney. There's no reason why this can't happen: the beach village and the beach itself here are definitely top-notch, the parties promise to be swell and in high style and generally speaking, it's all good.
One drawback simply appears to be that the width of the beach from shorefront property to the sea is shrinking. Therefore, only 4-on-4 action (which i can totally dig coming from Wildwood) and not quite enough for a ton of fields or for 5-on-5. they are working on solutions.
But really it's pretty nice here. The Dragons want to continue their international push after the WBUC in Brazil by going to Paga next year and maybe Oz or the States in the future if they can afford it. But meanwhile they're hoping some kickass teams come this way to so the competition can continue to be amped up
OK, here's some news from Boracay straight off the bat.
FIRST, the tournament this year is being held about 2 months earlier than normal. The local Filipinos, many of whom play in this tournament, are still in their "work" season and thus attending this tournament is difficult. As a result the tournament is not massively large -- perhaps only 14 teams.
But on the flipside there is some serious beach love here. The Dragons (teams A, B and C) practice ultimate just about any day of the week. Tomorrow the teams gear up for some beach conditioning at 9am. Tomorrow being Friday of course... games are not until Saturday.
Not a lot of traveling disc players have made it to Boracay this year. It is not the easiest tournament to get to, but not the most difficult either. And this place really is a swell beach scene.
The other talk of the scene here is that this weekend may be WINDY which apparently is not common for this tournament, as, again, it is usually help in late April or May.
The teams to beat are the stacked Manila big boys Sexual chocolate and the speed demons of Boracay Dragons (A). Last year Dragons won by 2 in the final.
If football is the "beautiful" game then Beach Ultimate is well on the way to being known as the "social" game.
The competitors at the sixth annual Ocean Beach "Beach Hat" tournament came from all over the country as well as from overseas, but once they were put into teams, friendships blossomed that should last a lot longer than the two-day tournament.
The beauty of this tournament, apart from its setting on Ocean Beach, is the fact that no team rivalry exists other than during the game. Each team is picked at random at the beginning of the tournament, meaning teammates have to get to know each other pretty quickly.
What better way to start off the new year than to come out to Southern California and play a weekend full of 5 v 5 beach fun? Lei-out grows every year and this year they have expanded it from 2 days to 3 days (Jan 19-21).
Here are some of the key details:
Three day tourney right at the Santa Monica pier. Enjoy the sun and the ocean while you play.
Raging Tournament Party
Hotel discounts and local restaurant discounts for you and your team
No roster cap for your team so you and all your buddies can come and play for only $30 per person.
No UPA fees
Of course there will be the normal Frisbee morning cuisine of bagels, fruit, an initial supply of water and some other yummies.
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! :-)
The 2007 Against the Grain Beach Ultimate video will be ready in 2 weeks. Order your copy from the TD, Stacy Hubbard [daisyhubbs@gmail.com]. Only $20 :-)
(Austrian article about their Mixed team in Graz this summer)
"Bereits zum 4. Mal veranstaltet der Frisbeeverein Catchup Graz das international besetzte Beach-Frisbeeturnier im Eggenberger Bad.
Heuer werden 12 Teams aus 3 Nationen erwartet, darunter auch das Österreichische Mixed Nationalteam, das Österreich im Dezember auf den Beach Weltmeisterschaften in Brasilien verteten wird.
Zusätzlich starten mit dem Österreichischen Masters-Nationalteam die amtierenden Beach-Ultimate-Weltmeister (Portugal 2004).
At the Bar do Peixe tournament in Portugal last June, all 10 teams made a post-game cheer. All cheers were captured on video, subtitles were added and put online: http://bug-p.org/memories/2007/cheers.html
This winter in Dahab, a city in Sinai, Egypt, the first Ultimutation – BULA beach ultimate hat co-ed tournament took place. If you missed it, no worries: next year they will be back :-)
Ultimutation was organized by Russian beach ultimate lovers who couldn’t wait for the sun in Russia. Around 60 players from all around the world joined the tournament. Two days of 4 on 4 games, party with belly dancing, party in Sinai Mountain, warm Red sea, cheep and cozy restaurants with nice food with real Egyptian sheesha (water pipe) and real summer sun on the middle of winter.
"It's been two weeks since the tournament is over... My face, still tanned, hiding under the hood and winter cap, looks strange in cold and grey streets of St. Petersburg.
In my previous article "Open Truth" I shared my views on Ultimutation as I saw it before the tournament, now I'll try to describe what we got in the end. I won't be surprised if your point of view differs from mine, so you're welcome with your stories, impressions and suggestions..." more
So this past weekend was the annual Ocean Beach Ultimate Hat Tournament. 60 people from around NZ meet at Ocean Beach (which is about 30 minutes from Whangarei) to play two days of Ultimate. All the teams are picked randomly based on ability, sex, and date of registration. On Saturday morning when the teams were named out I stood with my team and looked at all the other ones and was pretty sure I got a bad draw and got put on the worst team in the tournament... (more on Jordan's space)
Since 2002 Dimitry Strelchin and his friends have been organizing the Kiev Hat tournament in the Ukraine. The location is great and look how popular this tournament has become:
On May 5-7th, Anikan (NGO) and Jalisco’s Ultimate Frisbee Asociation organized an Ultimate Frisbee tournament to be played on the beach of San Pancho, Nayarit, Mexico. The purpose of the tournament, asides from throwing the disc around and hanging out, was to raise some funds for some of Anikan’s environmental projects.
Many participants with their friends and families showed up. A total of 36 participants signed up to play: two local frisbee enthusiasts, 14 players from the Guadalajara “Anfibios”, 10 teachers from the American School of Guadalajara, and another 10 players that came all the way from San Luis Potosí (mexican city). The youngest player was only six years old and he actually got to play the final match.
(by Stacy Hubbard)
The fourth annual Against the Grain beach tourney in Seaside, Oregon went off without a hitch! We had fantastic weather- with no wind to speak of! We had a very competitive field this year, and I think the teams are getting stronger every year. The beach was packed, and people sure enjoyed swimming between games. The backdrop of the mountains is one of me fave parts of the Seaside beach.
The party was a blast. Thanks to Denial for showing up first to start draining the bar! (I know Matt Bell did his part as well) I think people really enjoyed the open bar AND, Tim Stackpole's DJ abilities. The Elks Lodge was hopping for sure. They love us there! Check this pic out.
We crowned a new champ this year- Congrats go to Sandblasters from Seattle! This team has been all 4 years and has always been a fun addition to the tourney. In the finals they played Portland's Bikini Killers- a perennial contender. It was an exciting final that went the distance. Thanks so much to all my Whor$hack team mates who helped me pull this off. And, thanks to all of you who continue to support beach ultimate in Oregon. Let me know if you have suggestions for how to make the tourney better next year...See you on the sand, Stacy 'Daisy' Hubbard.
Yesterday we were informed that Wildwood, the 100% coed, 4-on-4 Beach Ultimate tournament in New Jersey, has 224 teams registered. Amazing...! This makes it, at least in number of teams, the largest Beach Ultimate tournament in the world. (Does anybody know how Paganello (Italy) compares in number of players?)
Wildwood will have 4 volunteers to collect the score sheets for the BULA Spirit of the Game rating system and will be awarding two teams the award: the SOTG winner in the elite 3/1 division and the winner in the elite 2/2 division (in case you are wondering... the numbers refer to the number of men/women per team).
Hats off to the organizers. This is quite the undertaking! 224 teams...
After all these years of thinking we knew about all Beach Ultimate tournaments around the world, we just found out that in Japan, for the last 6 years, there also has been a Beach Ultimate tournament! The way we found it is because someone posted a video of the Ebashi Cup on YouTube.com. Great! Another country with Beach Ultimate. Let's hope the Asian region will see more Beach Ultimate in the next few years.
Playing with or against the wind is part of the beach ultimate experience. It's like salt on your meal. Just a bit of salt and your meal taste better. But too much salt can make you meal not eatable any more. Last March in Marseille (France), for the "Bulf à l'eau" tournament, we played with a wind of 50-60km/h on Saturday. This strong and cold north wind is called "Mistral". It was hard but still playable (of course every little throwing mistake sent you disc away). But on sunday morning, the organisers eventually had to cancel the tournament because the "Mistral" was blowing at more than 100Km/h.
So, when is the wind too strong for playing beach ultimate ?
Posted by Jose Pires on April 25, 2006 6:51 PM
| Permalink
Paganello Pleasure Principle
I’m sitting here at work gently reflecting on what a wonderful Easter weekend I’ve just spent playing Beach Ultimate on the beaches of Rimini at the 16th edition of Paganello. My colleagues have politely asked why I seem so happy and sun kissed; whenever I try to explain how amazing Paganello is I fail and the best clue I can provide is the smile which spreads as I replay the memories. If you’ve never been then just for one moment consider the size and spectacle of the thing: 103 teams across 4 divisions (Open, Women, Mixed and for the first time Juniors), playing who knows how many games on 15 beautiful sandy beaches under sunny skies. How good does that sound?!
First up an apology: I had promised that I’d blog daily updates during Paganello. There was so much fun to be had that I quite simply forgot- sorry. I remembered when I bumped in to Patrick van der Valk playing for SeXXXpensive against Catch 22 on pitch 11 in our teams’ final power pool game on Sunday morning. They gave us a fairly good stuffing under the only cloudy skies of the whole weekend. No matter- both teams were already through to the quarters but our loss meant we faced the upcoming Freespeed whilst the SeXXXy boys went on to lose their quarter to the Swedish Stinks. Catch 22 managed to just sneak past the young and quick Freespeed, due in no small part to a defensive mack which a Freespeed player managed to get without getting the D in the sudden death point which decided the game. This brought us to our semi on the beach arena against the impressive No Tsu Oh from Houston, USA. Paganello’s own daily news sheet- The Talking Fish- (which does an ace job of covering multiple games per day) simply described this match as ‘a thing of beauty’. Despite needing a turnover at sudden death, Houston managed to sneak out as 12-11 victors in a hugely entertaining high quality game with only 2 turnovers per team. Special mention should go to the twin broad sword combo of the Simons Hill and Weeks. In the game’s stand-out moment the former threw a big hammer to the latter for a seriously impressive low level layout one handed goal which drew gasps of astonishment from the packed stands. This was your correspondent's first Paga semi but some of our team’s fourth loss at this stage- despite how comfortable we felt playing at this level we are in danger of becoming known as perennial bridesmaids unless we close out the deal by winning the whole thing some time soon. Whilst some of our opponents lost no time in spicing their condolences with this observation ( ;-)), the fickle nature of success at Paga is perhaps best underlined by the fates of last years open finalists : local boys Cota Rica and Collard Greens over from Atlanta, US who despite playing good disc finished in 11th and 9th places respectively.
Rocky from SeXXXpensive was heard to remark that whilst any team that wins Paga must be good they should also be lucky. In fact the overall level of play in all divisions seems to be improving year on year. JuPiter from Russia took Houston to sudden death in early pool play whilst Catch had a very hard game against the relatively lowly placed Salutami (16th). Just walking round between games there was often no need to cherry pick good spectating: witness the Sublime (UK 15th place) - Peyote Power (Belgium 33rd place) game in round one which was a good example of a game between two young teams showing spectacular D and precise long huck offence.
Another thing that struck a few of us whilst wandering along the beach was the wildly differing Paganello experiences of each team. Whilst some of the top teams gunning for glory would truly only let their hair down once they were knocked out (Stinks, Catch) other top teams had a more relaxed approach to their pursuit of sandy success (Scandal, SeXXXpensive, Horned Melons, and Carbomb). One only needed to pop your head in to one of the parties to see that not all the action was beach based. The opening beach party with “volcanic pasta”, copious red wine and stunning fireworks is always a delight with meeting old friends and making new ones a fitting prelude to the next day’s on pitch action. The Friday night party in the big top on the beach featured some truly stunning freestyle routines and some memorable costumes befitting the “National Stereotypes” theme. The Tyrolean lederhosen and Indian Saris were nicely set off against some (un)intentional sunburnt drunken Englishmen ;-) and a solitary Gandhi.
I can’t quite remember which night I got lost walking home from the party but I can recall what great fun watching the finals day was. Ranging across two pitch length 15 deep stands and packed 4 to 5 deep at each end zone, the crowd must have numbered over 2000. An enthusiastic mix of tired Frisbee players and Italians resplendent in their Easter Monday finery were treated to some great Ultimate with spectacular D, precise offence and inexplicable drops (yes even the best players make some howlers). An oompah band warmed the crowd up with some tunes as they wandered among the throngs many of whom were now relaxing with cold beers and fine pizza. The varied styles of Ultimate across the three main finals show that there is more than one way to skin a cat or indeed to win an Ultimate game. Some preferred low risk short games in working the disc to and fro whilst waiting for the chance to make a clinical score. The main style on show was that of deeps working in tandem off the handlers with one player coming short to receive the disk who would then make a long flat pass to a long legged deep running to the zone for a score. This is a spectacular crowd pleaser and was certainly encouraged by the warm conditions with relatively light winds. Another feature that was noticeable was the huge pulls, especially from Houston, which often allowed the defensive players to run up field under the disc and to mark up the handlers before the offensive play really got going.
In the Mixed Final two-time winners Horned Melons sneeked through in sudden death against Paga favourites Huck Finn and celebrated their victory by making a raucous full team bundle on the score catcher. The Womens’ final saw 6 time winners Bliss take on Paga virgins Ayers Frocks, from Australia with a healthy smattering of Brits spicing the Aussie mix. Both teams played some fine disc but to our little section of the crowd it looked as if the Aussie girls wanted the victory that little bit more. Some great D and point blocks from the Bliss girls were not enough to prevent Ayers Frocks from playing some intense Ultimate in pulling off a surprisingly comfortable 13-8 win. Could it be that the pressure of performing to their reputation got to some of the Bliss squad? That may be specualtion but whatever the case due respect should be given to Ayers Frocks for winning on their first attempt. In the Open final No Tsu Oh did not seem to be at their spectacular best in beating the Swedish Stinks who probably felt they were up against it with only 7 fit men and one team mate in plaster prowling the sideline. For a while it looked as if Houston’s big men would run away with the title but Stinks put up brave resistance to avoid their score being doubled. One should not deny Houston the recognition of their 5th Paga victory but maybe the main point to note is that perhaps Swedish Ultimate has finally woken up to the pleasure of playing disc and partying on the beaches of Paganello. At the very least we should expect more strong Swedish and Scandinavian teams in all divisions over the coming years. Perhaps the final word should go to Houston who in thanking Jumpi described Paganello as “the best Ultimate Tournament in the world”. If you’ve not been yet why don’t you find out for yourself whether this is true?
See you on a beach some time and at Paganello next year.
Will
p.s. for comprehensive results and copies of Paganello's very own Talking Fish daily news letter see http://www.paganello.com/ing/content2002.asp?c=261&a=3_1
I'm Will Halliday and I'll be bringing you updates from Paganello which is held every Easter on the beaches of Rimini on the Adriatic coast of Italy. As you may know, Paganello is one of the world's greatest Beach Ultimate jamborees. Hopefully we'll see some of you on the beach and at the parties; for those of you unable to be there we'll whet your appetite for Beach Ultimate pleasure by blogging you tales and pictures of sandy glory and action. Your correspondent is playing for Catch 22 so you’ll maybe get news of top Open games and perhaps a flavour of Paganello’s tasty late night party scene. Will the Cota homeboys defend their title against sure-to-be-strong US teams- can Bliss take yet another winners' umbrella and who will come out on top of the strong Mixed division? With luck you’ll get updates from Thursday 13th through to Monday 17th April so check back here if you can’t make Rimini beach the place to spend your Easter weekend. I’m getting excited already.
The seventh annual Lei-Out Beach Ultimate Tournament shattered all previous attendance and competition records during the January 14 and 15 event. Teams turned out from all over the globe to be a part of the festivities even though the weather was a little gloomy, with the first rain ever during a Lei-Out Tournament early Saturday morning.
When the rain subsided Saturday afternoon, fierce competition began. “The pools were really, really hard” stated Alex Korb, captain of Lei-Out Quarterfinalist’s “Brown and Blue.” “There were no easy games- every team came to win” he said. In his pool there was a three-way tie for first place. Very few pools had the top ranked team hold seed and every pool had at least one major upset.
Lei-Out mainstays and Paga champions “Carbomb” were one of the few teams to hold seed throughout the tournament. Although they faced tough competition Saturday during pool play, they were able to muscle their way through the day without a loss. On Sunday, “Carbomb” had an intense battle against “The Steve Dugan Experience” in the semi final round- marginally attaining a victory. “That game had more intensity and fire than I have ever seen in a Semifinals game at Lei-Out” said Aaron Jacobs, long time Lei-Out participant.
On the other side of the bracket, Crazy Go Nuts University (CGNU) upset opponents all the way through the tournament. The team combined precision offense and intense defense, to create sound, fundamental Ultimate execution. CGNU faced off against Lei-Out favorites, the Woodies, in the Semifinals. Although the Woodies brought heart, experience, and determination, the execution of CGNU proved too much for the Bulgarian team.
The tournament featured “Carbomb” and CGNU facing off in a very memorable Lei-Out championship. Both teams possessed impeccable skill and athleticism, but in the end, CGNU reigned victorious and positioned themselves in a very elite group of teams to have been crowned Lei-Out Champions.
While the competition was the focus, the spirit, pageantry and spectacle stole the show. There were 66 teams, over 1000 participants, and hundreds of fans and onlookers. The tournament hosted college teams, club teams, and elite players from all over the country and the world. There was a huge part on the Santa Monica Pier, and all participants were given Lei-Out’s trademark leis.
All in all, the weekend was a smashing success filled with intense competition, partying, and great fun to be had by all.
It will be tough to top Lei-Out 2006…though; a fireworks show might be a good start!
I don't know what the winter has been like for you, but in London it's been dark, grey and cold. That's probably why I was a bit over-excited last thursday to be boarding a flight with Dom and Sally, bound for blue skies, warm weather and the start of the European Beach Ultimate season, in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria.
I'd never been to this tournament before, so didn't quite know what to expect, but one look at the list of players told me all I needed to know. So many of the "usual suspects" were flying in from all over Europe that a great time was virtually guaranteed. What I didn't know much about was what the local scene was like in the Canary Islands, but I was not to be disappointed!
Arriving on Thursday afternoon, and after setting up camp at the Hotel Cantur, we met up with John Scully and the Irish contingent was complete. We set of with Miquel, Jens, Tim and the gang, and got to the All Blacks Pub for the team draw. The party kept swinging till the early hours. I have vague memories of Cuba Libres, saying hello to lots of people I hadn't seen for a while, and a sore head the next morning. So far so good.
I suppose at some point I should mention playing, well here it is. A round-robin format meant we all got to play one-another, with the top two teams contesting a final on sunday afternoon. The one thing that surprised me the most was the level of play. Considering that the teams from Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, and Tenerife, all have to go island hopping to play each other (not to mention flying hundreds of miles to mainland Europe to play anyone else), the standard of their players was really impressive. In fact one of the Atis Tirma players on my team had 100% stats for the weekend. Dani had no drops, no throw-aways, and managed to score about a third of our points. Plus his band rocked the friday night party! We ended up finishing in fourth place, with 4 wins and 4 losses.
The story of the weekend was how tight the games were. Lots of sudden-death games and on or two surprises on the way, but in the end, and after a great final it was Rue Veitl and his team who were triumphant.
Many thanks must go to Juhv and all of his assistants and helpers who really helped start off the Beach Ultimate year with a bang. Their organisation was fantastic, from the accomodation and to the pitch-side food, drinks and massages. The parties, and especially the band, rocked. Cheers also to everyone who came to the Beach bar on sunday night to wind down after the tourney. To those of you lucky people who are staying on in Tenerife for the tourney next weekend, I am very jealous....
See you all on the beach soon
Ian aka Jazz
Posted by Ian Cuddihy on March 7, 2006 2:41 PM
| Permalink
![Photo credit: Louise Dyring Nielsen [www.photoz.dk]](/images/masthead_layout.jpg)
On the 23th and 24th of August, 
They have exclusive backstage access to all the Paga action, interviews with the big names, and with Ultimate loving people having a good time. Most importantly they'll be bringing back a flavour of one of the world's most famous and exciting Ultimate tournaments.
If football is the "beautiful" game then Beach Ultimate is well on the way to being known as the "social" game.
After all these years of thinking we knew about all Beach Ultimate tournaments around the world, we just found out that in Japan, for the last 6 years, there also has been a Beach Ultimate tournament! The way we found it is because someone posted a video of the 
