Flat Out on the Beach - Nelson 2001 - Tournament Review
The activities on Friday afternoon were limited due to the poor weather, but that evening at the Ocean Lodge the numbers keep picking up as more arrived in town, with Karaoke, dancing and drinking games prevailing throughout the evening. There was only one notable late arrival the next morning... no names here, but we did have an extra by the name of JT joining us for the remainder of the weekend, possibly as a consequence of the previous nights "entertainment".
When we arrived on Friday there was a little concern for the weather, the entire week had seen nothing but grey skies and rain. The sports fields were more lake than grass, but the local Ultimate crew ensured us that the weather would pick up for the weekend. How right they were when we got up on Saturday greeted by blue sky and sun. The 95 players were sorted out into their teams, the names of which were all from strange place names around the world. Captains chose their shirt colours, and the first of 8 rounds that day was under way at the scheduled time of 10am. The fields were lengthened after the first round when it was obvious that those marking the fields had paces shorter than that of a dwarf. The rest of the day ran reasonably smoothly (I only took 2 people to A & E), the tides worked in quite well, with the sea just encroaching on the fields during the last couple of rounds. Field one saw a nice bit of ocean intrude down the middle of one endzone, which gave Craig Bennison a fantastic opportunity for a glorious layout into the sea. I'm not sure if he surfaced with the disc still in his hand, but they gave him the point anyway!
The dinner and tournament party on the Saturday night brought some interesting costumes out, credit once again to Aaron who followed up his stunning performance in Christchurch by dressing up as a satellite for the "Around the World" theme here. Other notables included Callum in a very attractive dress complete with makeup, a couple of Osama bin Laden's, one of which managed to drink out of his bazooka for most of the evening, Craig Roberts did such a good impression of a pimp that anyone would think he'd had life experience, and thanks to Rachael for bringing along her friend Britney. The Edge radio station was there, providing some most interesting games. It was probably the first time ever Snow was offered money to show us his arse, something he of course proudly did. Lurch and Liz astounded all with some hot sexual positions to easily take the prize over some locals. Another of the locals got very anxious when the blindfold was taken off and he found that the girl he had chosen as the best stroker turned out to be a male Frisbee player in a skirt (Penny, I think your camera should be banned from all future parties... please!). One of our American friends who shall from now on be known as "Horse", impressed all when the sheet was pulled off at an opportune moment during the "Swap all your clothes" game, the guys were impressed with the staunchness of him standing there seemingly without a care in the world and without a single strip of cloth to cover him, and the girls (and JT) were just as impressed! The undie-run race had the locals tongues down to the floor when Agie took off her grass skirt to reveal her tanned bod in a 2-piece swimsuit, she would have won the race too save for Snow shamelessly shoving her aside to overtake around the last corner. He was however gracious enough to share the winning $50 bar tab with her. Plenty of dancing, drinking games and various other activities abounded throughout the night, finishing up at the Ocean Lodge at closing time with a couple of old favourites, "I wish that all the ladies" and "Superwomble". However, the party did not conclude there, with a number of people that hadn't yet had enough (and some that had had too much!) heading down to the beach. Karen Burgess would have indeed been proud of the numbers that stripped off and ventured into the ocean, before warming themselves around a bonfire on the beach and singing songs well into the night.
On Sunday morning Big Ben seemed intent on taking out the competition by providing some homemade (or should that be homegrown?) cake to the opposition. I'm sure Lurch will think twice before indulging in Ben's quick hangover fix next time! The games started on Sunday at the slightly more relaxed time of 10:40am to finish the remainder of the round robin play before lunch.
At the end of the round robin, Climax, the only undefeated team the first day, had failed to achieve in two of their three games on Sun morning but had still just managed to top off Dongo on the leader board. Wankendorf came next and was but a single point from Nobber. Arsoli was just behind, failing to quite make it to the semi-finals ending up fifth after a tight contest. Pretty close to Arsoli was Muff, with Intercourse on the same score as Muff, but Muff in front after having got the best of Intercourse in an earlier encounter. Shitlingthorpe was hanging around near the bottom, but hadn't quite dropped all the way to the floor. Beaver and Tittybong had a great time and showed good spirit despite having to finish up a little unsatisfied with the overall result.
During the lunch on Sunday (thanks to KB's for making 100 rolls for us) the much anticipated basketball shootout challenge over a longstanding dispute between Coach (otherwise known as Mieke's husband) and Big Ben finished with Coach taking it out 4-3, proving once and for all that Big Ben did indeed lose Coach's socks at a laundry in Australia.
After lunch the semi-finals were both hotly contested, with Dongo vs Wankendorf tied up when the hooter sounded, requiring a skied catch in the zone from a dodgy throw for Dongo to make it through. Climax reversed the round robin result against Nobber to snatch the second spot in the final.
The final was a fantastic game, with some great match-ups of players providing some awesome entertainment and another sterling round of fantasy. An alternative game also sprung into creation, based around heckling and the various responses gained from those being heckled. The final was almost point for point the whole way, finishing in style with Penny down on the ground giving it up to Big Ben in the dying moments to end with Climax victorious.
The prize for the winners was a chance to set the record for a timed event with a giant disc filled with beer (a dozen cans) and two straws, which will become an annual event for the winning team. Climax reached the goal in 1 minute 37 seconds. The spirit prize went to team Beaver, who must have really impressed scoring nothing lower than a "fantastic" rating for each game they played.
A few thanks are required, Kim for the shirt/hat design, Adam & Phil for helping with funding and accommodation discounts etc, Q & Mark for all they did up in Nelson, Mieke & Rachel for helping out with TD duties (when I was naughty and played a couple of games...) and Kelly for practically giving me her car for the weekend. Thanks also to the NZ Community trust, the Ocean Lodge and Rainbow Flight in Nelson for generously providing us with prizes. Thanks to all those that turned up for making Nelson such a fun tournament, if it continues to grow like this we'll run out of room on the beach in a year or two! Finally, thanks to Dave Cross, without whom this tournament would have never existed. We missed you Dave.
Cheers,
Dave S. (TD)
And the teams were:
ARSOLI - White
Bruce Saunders (Chch)
Damian Chatfield (Nelson)
Dave Lane (Chch)
Francis Lagrutta (Nelson)
John Fouhy (Wgtn)
Kane (Akl)
Simon Kates (US)
Adele Stanton (Chch)
Perry (Dunedin/US) |
BEAVER - Dark Grey
Bruce Meyer (Akl)
Damien Edwards (Nelson)
Dustin Schmidt (Chch/US)
Jason Chin (Wgtn)
Matt Shannon (Chch)
Simeon Smaill (ChCh)
Carmel Murphy (Chch)
Polly Thomas (Chch)
Tracy Scott (Chch) |
CLIMAX - Black
Adam Ferrea (US)
Ashley Walker (Chch)
Ben McEwen (Dunedin)
Chuck Shoemaker (Nelson)
Greg Dryden (Nelson)
Ki Mansell (Chch)
Phil Hunter (Chch)
Amanda Setty (ChCh)
Penny Jackson (ChCh) |
DONGO - Evil Green
Colin Gravett (ChCh)
Dave Rigby (Wgtn)
Evan Johnson (Nelson)
Jason Aaron (Chch)
Mark Ryan (Nelson)
Nigel Keeley (Nelson)
Tim Cummings (Wgtn)
Anna Ritchie (Chch)
Kelly Crombie (Chch) |
INTERCOURSE - Royal Blue
Brett Carlyle (Wgtn)
Duncan MacLeod (Nelson)
Marc van der Poest Clement
Pat Maher (Chch/Canada)
Rohit Setty (Chch)
Shane Delaney (Wgtn)
Travis Nieman (US)
Rachel Monks (Akl)
Rachael Walker (Chch) |
MUFF - Natural
Adam Lyness (Chch)
Ben Eastman (Dunedin)
Craig Bennison (Palmy)
Dan Barickman (US)
Gareth Lawson (Chch)
Mat Adams -Lurch (Chch)
Gretchen Brownstein (Chch/US)
Kristjan Selvig (Wgtn)
Liz Borberg (Wgtn) |
NOBBER - Red
Adrien Chase (ChCh/US)
Gareth Taylor (Chch)
Mark Dopheide -Snowy (Akl)
Nik G (Akl)
Olivier (Dunedin/US)
Quinton Gately (Nelson)
Shawn Ramberg (Canada)
Mirina Leonti (Wgtn)
Kerry Hippolite (Nelson) |
SHITLINGTHORPE - Duck Poo Green
Andy Muscroft-Taylor (Chch)
Grant Mitchell (Chch)
Jason Smith (Nelson)
Justin Smith (Chch)
Marcus (Germany)
Mike Robertson -Dingle (Akl)
Tama Taipua (Akl)
Carolyn Roberts (Wgtn)
Jen Hay (Chch)
Rebecca Owens (Chch/US) |
TITTYBONG - Light Grey
Aaron Roydhouse (ChCh)
Adrian Duncan (Wgtn)
Ben Knight (Nelson)
Craig Roberts (Akl)
Hayden Glass (Chch)
Rosco Burns (Akl)
Marie Morgan (Dunedin)
Michelle Moller (Chch)
Terri Brandt (Chc/USh) |
WANKENDORF - Navy
Callum Thirkell (Wgtn)
Dennis Thomas
Kevin Earl (Nelson)
Simon Cowie (Chch)
Steve Scott (Akl)
Trevor Hildebrand (Chch/US)
Emily Thomas (Dunedin)
Katie (Chch)
Lis Kairae (Wgtn) |
