RETIRED From Competition In The Spring Of 2005, It was a good run!
Page Contents:
The story begins with the end of Pairs team Dos Avispas. Dos Avispas was comprised of Miguel Rodriguez and Kobi Eshun, the name means "two wasps" Wasps referring to the California Wasp and the kites they flew ...... made by Miguel himself. Dos Avipas flew a very dramatic routine and took first place almost every time they competed. The pair took home the top honors at AKA Nationals three of the four years they flew together.
Kobi left the team after the their last Grand Championship in Ocean Shores, Washington in 1998.
Miguel asked me to join with him to form the new pairs Avispados. The name, an obvious play on words, actually means "wasplike" or "in the wasp mood", ready to sting!
Avispados competing at the
Golden Gate Challenge VIII
I was more than ready for the challenge, having been disappointed several times on different teams, I was once even sort of "left at the alter" after flying a fun and successful season as team Air Berkeley (we were defeated only once, and that was by Dos Avispas).
When we got the invitation to compete at the Nationals my partner didn’t want to play anymore and quit after one season....sigh!
After several more attempts I was ready for a "Serious and dedicated" partner.
Unfortunately my new and seriously dedicated partner fell at work and tore the rotator cuff in his shoulder and was not able to fly from like December till April or May when we started to get together. After a couple of months we settled on some music and started to choreograph. By the end of July and just in time for the Berkeley Kite Festival, in fact the week before we added the last minute or so!
We competed anyway, and placed a third with a bare bones routine. This event ranked us third in the region and garnered us an invitation to compete at the Grand Championships in Muncie Indiana.
We worked hard, changed things, added elements, and went off to Muncie in October where we took a third place of nine pairs!
With this third place, we also cinched a spot on the U.S. Team going to Malaysia in February to compete in the first ever "World Championships?!!!! Cool!
Check here for more info on Malaysia
Remember that fall my new serious and dedicated partner had that kept him out for months? Well Miguel had surgery on that rotator cuff on the 7th of November and will be unable to practice for 6 to 8 weeks .....which leaves us only one month to prepare for Malaysia. One month to sharpen our routine, develop a Freestyle routine and learn to fly pairs precision................NO problem! For sure we will be spending some time flying with sticks this winter!
See below for updates on Miguel's progress and how Avispados are doing.
"Avispados"
(a-vis-PA-dos)
Spanish word for "like wasps". Avispados is
Miguel Rodriguez and Brian Champie.
Miguel has been flying since 1986 and custom crafts the kites they fly, the California Wasp. Miguel and his kites are responsible for the "Berkeley style" of flying. Miguel and Kobi flew as "DosAvispas" and took home AKA top pairs honors 4 out of 5 years.
Brian has been flying kites since 1992 and is know as a freestyle flier, and has invented several tricks that are now seen around the world. Brian has competed at the National level for 9 years.
SkyShark Rods and Laser Pro line have generously sponsored Miguel and Brian both individually and their Pairs team for many years. Their first competition as "Avispados" was July 1999, placing third in Region and third place at AKA Nationals.
Miguel
Rodriguez
cawasp@pacbell.net
..\wasp\wasp.htm
Brian
Champie
brian@kitefart.com
http://www.kitefart.com/
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Sponsors
Konrad Krauland of Laser Pro Flylines. Thanks for your support!
After a six or seven week recovery, Miguel and I resumed practice on December 17th 99. We were both a little rusty but after a short while it all came back… NO problem! Even Miguel, only six weeks from his shoulder surgery had no limitations....none!
We plunged into an accelerated practice schedule .. Fridays if I could get em off and Saturday and Sundays we even flew Christmas Eve and Christmas day as well, plus an additional 15 or 20 hours over the New Years weekend.
Ignoring the ballet and concentrating on developing a freestyle routine and working on the figures.
We finished choreographing new years day and spent Sunday, Jan 2 drilling it into our heads..
Pleased with our progress we packed our things at dark and set our next practice for Saturday. It's less than 4 weeks till Lankawi!
On Monday we heard rumors from Malaysia that the event may be postponed.......surely this is a false rumor! We dismissed it! Wednesday it was made official with this announcement from the AKA.
Important Information Regarding The Malaysian Festival
With deep regret, the Organizing Committee of the World Sport Kite Championships in Malaysia announces that the event has been postponed.
At year end, the government of Malaysia changed. The new leadership has decided to withdraw funding. This unfortunate news was a surprise to the Malaysian event organizers and to the WSKC committee. Up until last week, everything appeared to be on track.
The good news is that a new sponsor has agreed to host the Lankawi event in late May, June, or early July. We are now negotiating a date which will have the least impact on other scheduled competitions.
We apologize for the inconvenience this news is sure to generate for those of you planning to attend. We share your great disappointment and frustration. However, finding a new sponsor was a significant
accomplishment and we are pleased that the Championship has been postponed rather then canceled. Thank you for your understanding.
AKA, STACK, and AJSKA remain committed to forming a world championship and bringing the best competitive fliers in the world together in the near future.
We elected to report this news as soon as possible in fairness to all of you that are making plans, scheduling vacation, and practicing maneuvers. As new news develops, we will immediately inform you.
Good Winds,
Richard Dermer, AKA Helmut Georgi, STACK Masanobu Komuro, AJSKA
David Gomberg, AKA Jeremy Boyce, STACK Yutaka Fukuda, AJSKA
Well I guess you could say that we now have 4 or 5 more months to practice...that’s a good thing, but so do they! Sigh!
Its been over 20 days since any word on the World Championships in Malaysia, I sure hope that this event doesn't blow away like the second annual. Guadeloupe event did ..... no one has heard another word about that one.
Still Miguel and I practice, practice, and practice even more. We are both serious about our pairs team and want to be on top! The days are starting to be longer an longer and soon the new season will start with our first competition March 18th in Berkeley....we will be ready!
The kite trading cards are here! Check these out! Avispados trading cards, the Malaysian series. More and more kiter's are having cards made, and they may become the new kite collectibles, like kite pins!
Ron Despoajdo designed them and some of the people going to Malaysia had the cards made to trade and to commemorate the event..
Kite cards can be use as "calling cards" or business cards or just for fun! I have to admit that I giggle when I see myself on one of these little cards.... that jacket tho......that nice purple jacket......is really blue! I don’t know why it turned out purple...
OK what do you have to trade?
The winds are slowly starting to pick up here and after practicing for several months flying pairs with wind is kind of a novel thing...and changes things dramatically! But I gotta say for me NOT running 3 or 4 hundred feet backwards every few minuets is way preferable!!
Miguel and I are working on a new logo for the team, maybe you noticed the new one top of this page.... Andy Williams made that one (thanks Andy) That new logo is a hint of the one we are working on, so watch for the new logo.
By the way Andy made the first logo found on this page... Remember the one with the two American flags and the stinging bee.... it was nice and captured the idea of The US team going to Malaysia, however we were looking foe something we can live with for a long time, something a little meaner looking! Again, thanks Andy for your fine work! -Brian
Finally after weeks of silence the word is official the Malaysian world Championships is back on! Funny they picked Valentines Day to make the announcement, but no matter, its back on!
Below is the e-mail that came around 10:00 PM on Feb. 14th
Good news!
I received the call from Malaysia about half an hour ago.
We have now been officially notified the World Sport Kite Championships have been re-scheduled for July 15-21.
This information has been informally available for several weeks, but because of the previous changes, AKA and the WSKC Committee was unwilling to make a formal announcement until we had a complete commitment.
Travel information and pricing is promised at the end of February, or the first week of March. All competitors and staff who had previously been invited are still on the AKA roster. If you are unable to participate on the new dates, please notify Richard Dermer immediately at bkahuna@fullnet.net.
More news will be distributed as soon as we receive it.
That’s all for now.
Go practice...
See you in Langkawi!
David Gomberg
WSKC Steering Committee
Five months to practice! We should be able to fly those compulsories by then....you would think.....
No practice this week ...only rain, frog strangling, gutter clogging rain.
Next weekend, Sat the 19th is the season kick off with BASKL’s Spring Seminar, see the BASKL web site for all the info..
Hey guys. Check out our newest logo. Cool? Let me know what you think
Important
Information Regarding The Malaysian Festival
We received this e-mail
from Dave Gomberg on may 4th
Hello everyone!
I'm sure you are waiting anxiously for news on Malaysia.
While in China, I met with two of the organizers. They assured me that everything is still a "go" but that details are behind schedule. I asked for a formal letter that I could share with all of you.
Today, I received an email from Helmut, Chairman of the WSKC Committee, And also from Fuzah, one of the organizers in Malaysia. I've attached both for your information.
Let's hope we get good, firm, complete information soon.
When we do, I'll let you know.
Good Winds!
dg
>>>>>>>>>>
From: Helmut
Subject: WSKC 2000; news 3.May 2000
Dear friends,
Currently as we all realize the progress on information and preparation to the competition seems to be very slow.
There are sometimes moments for me when I am not convinced that we will be able to get it done; than there are moments when my thoughts about it are absolutely positive.
Let me assume that this may be the same with you.
Nevertheless there is constant communication with the organizer some in person such as at the Weifang festival when David met some of them face to face some on the phone or via e-mail or using the fax machine.
Anyway, I was promised last night on the phone that on May 8 I will receive at least a phone call
and that I will get ALL information; believe me I feel much better now and believe me I will be prepared to ask all questions I can think of if the issue may not be clear to me.
So, please stay a little more patient for less than a week I keep your fingers crossed that we will get all news we need to satisfy our members and get the competition well on the way!
Best regards to you all - and don't forget to keep your fingers crossed-
Helmut
S.T.A.C.K.
Sport Team and Competitive Kiting
>>>>>>>>>>From Malaysia:
Hi David,
How are you today? Had a good rest? After checking with the others, all the invitation letter and other letters should be out around 8th of May. You can check this with Helmut also because he managed to talk to one of them yesterday. I will try to get for you the letter saying that the Kite
Festival will go on. Give me another one or two days to give it to you. Can I have you fax number? I will fax as soon as I get the letter.
Okay have to stop for now and will get back to you soon.
Have a nice day and take care. My regards to your wife.
Fuzah
.......................... Well this is something! At least we know there will be an event ..........................
This spring has really blown in, the winds have been strong and bumpy. Miguel and I have been practicing endlessly (it seems).
Miguel's shoulder has been no problem though he suffers miserably from allergies, poor guy it really knocks the stuffing out of him.
We have competed several times this season each time with problems....sending us back to the practice field with new fever and determination to get it right.
This last weekend at Belmont Shores we attended the Southern Cal league event and we got it right! We got it so right, we managed over 9 points over the second place team....Finally we can see the profits from hours of practice
Our next event will be BASKL event at Caesar Chavez park in Berkeley California on May 20th then the San Ramon wind fest on Memorial weekend May 28/29
So the ballet is coming together, but we still need lots of work on those damn compulsories!
Efforts to organize the first world championships failed to come together the event was cancelled
Everyone was very disappointed after all the hard work that was put int organizing this historic event
In June we got team shirts, black t shirts with our new logo on them….team stuff can be hard even printing t-shirts. Miguel and I had a disagreement about them and the printer screened the logos on the front of the shirts!!! Logos are supposed to be on the back right…. sigh!!
Miguel and I worked very hard but had minimal success this past season.
We did however have a lot of fun traveling about; we even spent 10 days in Colombia! And flew in most every event on the west Coast, qualified for the Nationals in Florida. Where in poor conditions my kite went on its back and was floating about with Tom Stoner like some middle aged ballerina jumping about trying to bring it down………the music played on and all our work brought us in nearly last….. another sigh!
By the way thanks Tom!
Not placing in the top three at Nationals Avispados did not qualify for the new reorganized and back on World Championships in Malaysia.
For this I am most bummed, as I really wanted to go to this event. Miguel however did qualify as he was the over all high point for the Nationals….this guy just keeps performing!
A note about Florida.. HOT and Sweaty ! With goofy winds
I did try to go as a judge, I submitted my resume’ but my years as a kiter ,a judge, a organizer and producing judging seminars was just not enough to qualify……maybe another ten years ……………yet another sigh!
In October I was elected AKA director of Region 11, I replace Tom McAlister after 9 years at the job! I hope I can do as good a job of representing region 11 as Tom did…region 11 is in California, from Monterey north to the Oregon border and all of Nevada
Send me your calendar and questions and anything else you’d like to see in my regional reports in AKA Kiting Magazine. See the BASKL schedule in my California kiting page or at the BASKL site.
I also hold the title of BASKL president for the season of 2001 and look forward to a fun new season.
Miguel will have another shoulder surgery when he returns from Malaysia in February, this may put Avispados behind a little…..we will just have to see how he is when the time comes! I do wish him well and a speedy recovery!
Andy (our web guy) has updated the Northern California Kite Club pages check them out too; see the link on my home page.
The team is still at it, Miguel has a new job and limits out practice time but we do manage to keep it together and do pretty well considering! We have several invitations and will be headed of to Brookings Oregon soon and then the Toronto and of course another attempt at the nationals in Maryland
Its been years
since Iv written anything in here....sigh, Miguel and i have been
competing
with little practice and going to Nationals with results that represent
the lack of practice.
There has been NO other masters pairs in California to fly against so we
have been sooo lazy. We both have seen the fire in our guts slowly
diminish, tho neither of us will admit it! Miguel has a new life , in a
sense, with a new live in girlfriend and her 14 year old son. This in a
way actually has him in the park more , but alas he has even less
time for practicing. I myself don't spend any where as much time flying
dual line kites as i once did. It seems like i find more joy flying big
single line kites more and more. AND its not because its easier for an
old fart because I find its WAY more work!! unfortunately I also find
its impossible to do both at the same time...so I pick one or the other
each time I go out..
I'm not sure at this point if Miguel and I (Avispados) will go on any longer..... we talked about just keeping the routines in our heads for demos and no longer competing...... No decisions have been made yet.....Spring will tell.
WELL, as I suspected, Avispados did finally run out of gas. The Season started up and we were not ready and neither of us had the energy to go another season. So now Avispados is just another demo team, We have decided to keep it together to do demos at the occasional festival invites.
It was fun it was hard it was a good run. Id like to thank our sponsors for their help and confidence in us and Id really like to thank Miguel for taking me on after Kobi quit.I know i never filled his shoes and was a constant disappointment.......Thank you All
