Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1993 08:31:00 -1000 From: ATAHC423936NIDO1.BITNET@hsdndev.harvard.edu (Caroline Heider) Message-Id: <1993Oct4.195429.19907@das.harvard.edu> Organization: Division of Applied Sciences, Harvard University Subject: EURO CUP VIENNA 93 Cheers to all the kite fanatics out there. It's a bit strange to me to write an email into a network - to as many as 15,000 communicators - whom I don't know. As you can notice: I'm new in this business. And not only the kites.rec but also to kites themselves. Simo Salanne send a few days an introduction on me onto the air. He did not mention - because he did not know - that I got into kites only some three/four months ago. The first festival I went to was the World Cup in Berkely early September, and then I became commentator during the European Cup here in Vienna. Why bore you with all this long introduction? Well, it's all bur just excuses in case I write rubbish..... THE EVENT The tought of organizing a major kite event in Vienna was quite scaring to me for no other reason but the wind. Summers especially, but also other times of the year, are marked by this strange species of wind which is dreaded by kite flyers and know to all of us as the "NO-WIND-WHATSOEVER" type of stuff. And whenever that doesn't happen it's so gusty that one doesn't know what sort of gear to use. With other words: no SMOOTH WINDS, Simo. Helmut Georgi, one of the main movers in organizing the whole event, told me that the wind wasn't so much on their mind but: Vienna agreed more or less in the last moment after a number of countries cancelled pretty late in the game. Preparations like removing trees from the flying field (not very environmental, I know) were made until the "curtain opened". Everything was set to go, participants arrived, and so did the wind. Saturday spoiled us with beautiful sunshine and really warm weather, whereas on Sunday it felt more like sitting in a fridge with a fan and a sprinkler turned on. But to quote Andy King: we've been flying in much worse conditions. All pilots found the wind "absolutely wild" because the sky was made up with patches of strong gusts and, inbetween, wind-holes so that kites ended up jerking from racing speed to stand-still. Or better: if I had been flying that would have happened - with the excellent pilots on board, naturally it seemed much smoother than it was. Although, the wind did add some spices to a number of performances which became even more exciting than they would have been anyway. Unfortunately, the wind conditions did also add some problems to the performance particularly of teams and one or the other line got tangled at the wrong time and moment, and sometimes the white lines were just too narrow for the strong breeze which was blowing. THE COMPETITION Individual Precision was the first event to be flown on Saturday morning. Patrick "Speedy" Guggenheim impressed by his very accurate performance, while Carl Robertshaw (no: it's not Bernhard Shaw) demonstrated that he knows to direct and control his kite in the air as much as on the ground. The mandatory figures (roly poly, froglegs, and squarecuts) seem not make difficulties to any of the pilots although the squares of the cuts got sometimes a bit jumbled in the unsteadiness of the wind. Pair Ballett followed as a rather short part of the competition as only six of the eight registered pairs actually competed and unfortunately two became victims to wind conditions, or ..... BUT: the pair Skyworks impressed with a perfect performance which was delightful to watch (and seemed enjoyable to fly, at least that's the impression one had after the event), underpinned by the right music. Or was it the right routine to the chosen music? They were followed by Team Drama which - as the name says - was quite dramatic. The Teams then flew their precisions with great accuracy by most of them and some mishaps with others. AirKraft had its usual spectacular take off - the sky filled not only with sail but with the sound that announces: WE are here. The Dike Hoppers were flying in a formation of six (all in pink) which was an impressive spectacle, particularly if one thinks that there was no dike and no beach but a 102mx102m meadow on an island in the middle of the Danube. Not that much space for all that much kite. Sunday started - in pouring rain! - with the Individual ballett where we did have some problems with the sound system which (similar to me and many others) took objections to the weather conditions. Gerhard Schroff for example had difficulties with his tape which, thanks heaven , could be resolved so that we could enjoy his performance. Simo Salanne flew in entire harmony to his music - is it a surprise to those who know that he has been recording it by himself? Patrick "Speedy" Guggenheim's performance was spiced by dashes of wind which added some highlights by being there just at the right time. Carl Robertshaw presented the spectators and judges with a string of exciting manoveurs which captured a lot of attention. The Team ballett started immediately thereafter - the poor judges had no break but I can't help suspsecting tha teverybody was eager get on with the flying. Flash Back, which had already proven its precise routines during the precision where it ranked first, made a very strong performance setting high standards for other competitors to match. Heaven Sent had obviously trained a lot after Berkeley and added some inspirations to its routine. AirKraft was ready to take the challenge of Flash Back with whom they had been competing throughout the season (and apparently had won over them more than once), but misfortune struck them: the lines of two kites got tangled in a way that one of them could not be relaunched to finish the otherwise fascinating ballett. They were out to win - but: maybe next time. Finally - Freestyle. Three competitors, one of which consisted of seven members: the Team Tangram. Everybody who knows the game Tangram can imagine how it works and how complicated it is. A square is cut into seven geometrical pieces (these are the seven kites) with which then figures of different shapes are put together. On paper it's already difficult enough (some say), but in the air it's even worse. The wind conditions needed are weird because all kites are of different size and shape and need different wind. Maybe that was the reason why winds were as they were. But at least all of the pieces flew - black ripstopp against a sky full of dark grey cloud formations: spectacular. THE RESULTS (I'm sending you the results of the first five. If need be, I'll do the whole lot upon request). INDIVIDUAL/MASTER/PRECISION Guggenheim, Patrick CH 70,820 Robertshaw, Carl GB 69,540 Schroff, Gerhard D 68,060 Salanne, Simo SF 66,340 Haring, Dieter A 65,660 INDIVIDUAL/MASTER/BALLETT Robertshaw, Carl GB 87,360 Guggenheim, Patrick CH 71,760 Leclerq, Peter B 71,160 Salanne, Simo SF 69,480 Schmitt, Torsten D 67,440 INDIVIDUAL - OVERALL Robertshaw, Carl GB 78,450 (average) Guggenheim, Patrick CH 71,290 Salanne, Simo SF 67,910 Leclerq, Peter B 65,900 Schmitt, Torsten D 64,450 PAIR/BALLETT Skyworks CH 69,320 Team Drama D 54,160 Kites 4.2 D 48,360 (kites for two) Blue Wings NL 42,680 TEAM PRECISION Flash Back F 69,880 Airkraft GB 65,100 Lucky Landing Albatros CH 59,330 Dike Hoppers NL 50,760 Heaven Sent CH 46,530 TEAM BALLETT Flash Back F 76,760 Heaven Sent CH 64,800 Lucky Landing Albatros CH 60,520 Airkraft GB 58,240 Kite-o-Holix A 50,880 TEAM OVERALL Flash Back F 73,320 (average) Airkraft GB 61,670 Lucky Landing Albatros CH 59,925 Heaven Sent CH 55,665 Kite-o-holix A 33,980 FREESTYLE Gottschlink, Holm D 64,400 Team Tangram A 59,850 Peter Leclerq B 51,950 Finally: SORRY TO ALL THOSE WHOM I HAVE NOT MENTIONED. EVERYBODY CONTRIBUTED TO THE EVENT AND MADE IT BECOME REAL FUN, and everybody performed to her/his best - under the given conditions. hope you all liked the report - difficult to describe what you ought to see and feel. Stay in sync! Caroline Heider atahc@unido1.bitnet = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1993 13:02:57 -1000 From: Darrin.Skinner@ebay.sun.com (Darrin Skinner) Message-Id: <9310042302.AA28589@stuntkite.EBay.Sun.COM> Organization: Division of Applied Sciences, Harvard University Subject: Re: EURO CUP VIENNA 93 Caroline Heider writes: -] Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1993 18:31:00 GMT -] From: ATAHC423936NIDO1.BITNET@hsdndev.harvard.edu (Caroline Heider) -] Organization: Division of Applied Sciences, Harvard University -] Subject: EURO CUP VIENNA 93 -] -] Cheers to all the kite fanatics out there. It's a bit strange to me to -] write an email into a network - to as many as 15,000 communicators - -] whom I don't know. As you can notice: I'm new in this business. And -] not only the kites.rec but also to kites themselves. -] -] THE EVENT -] ...great stuff deleted... -] -] hope you all liked the report - difficult to describe what you ought to -] see and feel. Stay in sync! -] -] Caroline Heider -] atahc@unido1.bitnet Thanks Caroline, For your first effort on rec.kites you put most of us to shame. Not only is your posting interesting, complete, and timely, but you EVEN have the scores included! All I can says is WOW! Thanks for the news, facts, and figures. Hey you rec.kiters who attend festivals and DONT write articles (like me) -- this is how is should be done. :-) (now, if only I would write articles like Caroline, I could be real smug... :-) ) BTW: What are the mandatory figures roly poly and froglegs? Anybody out there want to give a try at ascii graphics? Darrin = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1993 22:55:40 -1000 From: salanne@convex.csc.FI (Simo Salanne) Message-Id: <1993Oct5.085540.11083@nic.funet.fi> Organization: Finnish Academic and Research Network Project - FUNET Subject: Re: EURO CUP VIENNA 93 In <9310042302.AA28589@stuntkite.EBay.Sun.COM> Darrin.Skinner@ebay.sun.com (Darrin Skinner) writes: >Caroline Heider writes: >-] Subject: EURO CUP VIENNA 93 >-] >-] > ...great stuff deleted... >-] >Thanks Caroline, >For your first effort on rec.kites you put most of us to shame. >Not only is your posting interesting, complete, and timely, but >you EVEN have the scores included! All I can says is WOW! I'll second that. Just imagine what kind of report you had got if I had tried. >BTW: What are the mandatory figures roly poly and froglegs? > Anybody out there want to give a try at ascii graphics? Darrin, didn't you have Roly-poly in Berkley? Unless my memory fails AirKraft guys said something like: "... in Berkley we had Roly-poly, but without landing, but we CAN do THAT ..." In Vienna the team Roly-poly (not shown here) ended with landing, where kite No 1 landed 1st, No 2 flew over and landed next, etc... I don't have rule book 3rd in the office, but I thought froglegs and roly-poly are there. Anyway here are accurate transcriptions of MY routines Vienna :-) remember what Caroline said about wind... Froglegs **************** ****************** < * * * * * * * * * * * * * * **************** ****************** > Roly-Poly (3 circles) > ******** **************************** O * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ^************************************ landing Heurigen Winds Simo P.S. "Heurigen" is a Viennese wine drinking happening; Euro Cup Heurigen dinner was turbulent, too. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Tue, 5 Oct 1993 03:20:17 -1000 From: reich@cod.nosc.mil (Ronald S. Reich) Message-Id: <9310051320.AA03643@cod.nosc.mil> Organization: Division of Applied Sciences, Harvard University Subject: Re: EURO CUP VIENNA 93 Date: Mon, 4 Oct 1993 18:31:00 GMT From: ATAHC423936NIDO1.BITNET@hsdndev.harvard.edu (Caroline Heider) Subject: EURO CUP VIENNA 93 >Cheers to all the kite fanatics out there. *** All Great Stuff Deleted *** Bravo !!! to you Caroline for such an informative report. I think Darrin said it best, and with Simo's second I guess I'm left with Thirds. Keep up the good work. I look forward to your next posting. NO WIND TOO LIGHT NO LINE TOO TIGHT RON REICH = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Tue, 5 Oct 1993 01:44:15 -1000 From: andrew@tug.com (Andrew Beattie) Message-Id: Organization: /usr/lib/news/organisation Subject: Re: EURO CUP VIENNA 93 [lots of excelent stuff deleted] >Finally - Freestyle. Three competitors, one of which consisted of seven >members: the Team Tangram. Everybody who knows the game Tangram can >imagine how it works and how complicated it is. A square is cut into >seven geometrical pieces (these are the seven kites) with which then >figures of different shapes are put together. On paper it's already >difficult enough (some say), but in the air it's even worse. The wind >conditions needed are weird because all kites are of different size and >shape and need different wind. Maybe that was the reason why winds were >as they were. But at least all of the pieces flew - black ripstopp >against a sky full of dark grey cloud formations: spectacular. In case anyone is confused, let me point out that the Tans are all quad-lined (they are like mis-shaped Rev's). I've only seen one, but would *love* to see the team in action. Andrew -- Work: gaffer@rec.com Phone: +44 793 614 110 Fax: +44 793 614 297 Play: andrew@tug.com Phone: +44 256 464 912 Car: +44 831 527 614 Interested in kite traction? mail kites@tug.com = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =