Walking on to the beach in the morning, the weather is beautiful. Hardly 5mph wind and bright and sunny. Team USA, Canada, France and Holland are using the opportunity to get in some practice before the event starts. Due to today being a competition day and not a performance based day, the first half of the day is dedicated to getting a feel for the field, and the second half to competition.
Before lunch and competition starts, there are a few last minute changes to the ruleset that starts to find its way across the kite field.
1. The warm up time of 2 minutes starts when the field director places you on the field in your spot.
2. If something breaks (kite, line, etc...) step off the field to the exit zone and you will get to re-fly your routine.
3. Entry to the field is on the left, exit to the right.
4. One ground crew allowed per kite, up to 4.
The wind picks up to about 18mph sustained from the North end of the beach.
Richard Debray of France kicks off the dual line individual competition with a slack line tricks heavy routine. A wing wrap catches half way through, but he pulls out a second later hardly missing a beat thanks to his ground crew.
Followed by Stephen Veerstegh of Holland who used every single inch of the wind window and field. Left, right, up, down. Crisp corners, and big shapes with some slack line tricks to accentuate and punctuate the music.
Next in dual line individual competing is team TAIPEI with Chuang ShouHo opts for the safety of the top half of the wind window in the strong winds. Making lines and moves without pushing too many boundaries.
Next up Team Columbia Michael Marquez backing the judges into the upwind corner so he can get the most of the wind killing power with running down field for his tricks. Kite is the 3J Project.
Team Germany fields Thomas Zygar keeping a tight wind window, and a few Insanes and back spins right down the center column, finishing with a superbly gentle landing.
Team USA represented by Paul de Bakker flies a strong choreography to a classic song and tosses a sprinkling of clean tricks punctuating the music.
Team Englands Josh Mitcheson starts with some solid ground work then cranks up the electro swing beat.... Keeping it short, sweet, and to the point. Kite - Fury Super Vent
Team Spain fields Xavi Garcia Castro punches those box corners and uses some paus s in the music to stall in this strong wind. Taking a chance to breathe.
Lastly, Team Canada's Lam Hoac comes to the field and starts his routine with soft hands well suited the building music, and finishing with his characteristic strong tricks.
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