Photo by Lisa Coons
left to right Mario Pierre,Andy Selzer,Pierre Gregoire,Mike Coons,Paul Peters
After 3 or 4 emails to Mike Coons, we setup a meeting for Sunday, June 10th, 2001 at Frisbee Field (Albany, NY). The NE Regional Fighter Challenge was born (NERFC). Montreal,Sunday morning, 6:15am Mario Pierre and I left for Albany, NY (US customs didn't even bat an eye, when I told him, we were going to fly kites). When we got to Frisbee around 9:45am, we spotted a lone flier flying a fighter, we knew we were at the right place. I hadn't met or flown with Mike Coons since Verdun in 99. Paul Peters (buka man) showed up around 10am. And out of blue (I didn't know) Andy Selzer (4.5 hour drive from New Jersey) showed up around 10:45 with his wife Viola. We did the picture taking thing, this being a special event in Northeast fighter kite history, a meeting specifically for fighters and not part of a festival. This made us 5, perfect for a little round robin comp, every match, flying 5 points, with total points determining the winner. Paul set up a random set of matches and because he had to leave early, he would fly all his matches first. Lisa, Mike's wife showed up around 11:15 and we did another picture taking thing with Mike's digital camera (hope yours turned out better than mine).
At around 11:15 Jeremy Johannesen (NYKE president) and his father Jim showed up. Frisbee field is NYKE's (New York Kite Enthusiasts) home field, today is fun fly day. NYKE had just got an EZ UP tent, and EZ is exactly the right word for it, in about 30 seconds, the tent was up (200.00US at SAMS). NYKE setup a table, chairs and a 3 gallon liquid dispenser filled with cool spring water. Even Lisa and Mike's black labrador dog had a special doggy water dispenser. All day we had an almost clear blue sky but the winds were very uncooperative, shifting direction 90 degrees sometimes. Wind range zero to 10mph. Temperature around 80. A tangle could start with 10mph and end with zero, with wind shifting all at the same time. I volunteered to judge, with Andy teaching me the finer points (like I need to smoke big cigars,lol). We had to call some wind breaks between tangles. At around noon and a half, Lisa treated us to some submarines, we all sat in the shade of the EZ, exchanging fighter info and some discussion on the validity of the fly 5 point per match, round robin, total points wins, system. After lunch we resumed our matches and around 1:45, Paul left us. We flew all the remaining matches, with some water and wind breaks.
Before I announced the results, I decided on some post combat awards, these awards have been established to embarress as well as create good enemies amongst bad friends, so here goes. Of course they were audited by the general accounting firm of We Dont Bal Ance & Associates. - Most lost points goes to Paul(try indian kites, stop listening to those people out west). - Patience award, goes to Mario, how to stay out of trouble and survive a tangle. - Best natural pesticide award goes to Andy, that cigar, saved us during those low winds. - Most verbal taunting award goes to Pierre, he thought it helped, but somehow his competitors, decoded his messages. - Last and least, Mike, you get this award, by special proclamation, by a secret vote of the other award winners, - Paul wants you to use a buka - Mario wants you to get less patient - Andy will fumagate your kites (venting also available). - Pierre will teach you a new secret taunting language, that everybody knows, results not guaranteed Results: total matches 10 (50 points) Flyer Name Points Placement 1 Andy Selzer 8 4 2 Paul Peters 3 5 3 Mike Coons 16 1* 4 Mario Pierre 11 3 5 Pierre Gregoire 12 2 * = winner Meanwhile during the whole afternoon the NYKE crew were teaching some new fliers how to fly a stuntkite, quite a task considering the wind conditions. Lisa an ESL (English as Second Language) teacher had invited one of her Indian students Dharmash(11) and his two cousins, Dhaval(13) and Harshil(14). Dhaval and Harshil had never flown kites before. Paul and Andy gave Dharmash and his cousins some Stafford Wallace fighters. They didn't seem to have any problems getting them into the sky. After the fighter comps, we all flew some fun tangles, with each others kites. Good time to exchange building, design techniques and ideas. Andy and Mike had their boxes full of kites to try. I particularly liked one of Mike's kites, an original design that he later gave to me (thanks Mikie). We started to pack up around 4:30. We said all our goodbyes and vowed to do this again soon!
Mario and I headed back to Montreal, and 4 hours later, I sat back watching the Montreal F1 race replay and remembered what Jeremy said to me "Pierre write this one up". What a Day, Pierre GregoireBack to NERFC Index Page