Slowly but surely Beach Ultimate is getting into Asia… Recent developments in China and now in India are heartwarming to see 🙂
Adding to the excitement is the fact that in two week the hosts for the 2009 Asian Championships Beach Ultimate will be announced. Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, China, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Currier Island, and Pakistan have all shown interest in participating. No word yet from India and Taiwan but we hope they will join the championships as well.
That there is Beach Ultimate in India is certain. Just look at this invitation:

Burla Beach Cup video 1

Burla Beach Cup video 2

Last September saw the seventh edition of the Burla Beach Cup take place on the beach of Viareggio, near Pisa in Italy.
This tournament has been growing in numbers each year, with 82 teams taking part this year in 3 divisions. It’s easy to understand why: you’re guaranteed 3 days of beach ultimate, good weather, perfect beaches, great accommodation and a good party atmosphere all with an Italian style.
Viareggio is becoming like a second Rimini, 14 fields, increasingly high level and, to be fair, some of the disadvantages too! Paul Bernier, Max Vitali and the rest of the hard-working Tuscan team have done a fantastic job of expanding this great tournament, and they have committed to continuing to improve the experience for all comers.
In the open division CUSB Bologna (IT) beat the Rimini finalists SEXXXPENSIVE in a close final. The young Italians were perhaps less tired than the international thong legends and made slightly fewer mistakes with some tight defending. The Bologna junior team also won the third division; perhaps we can expect CUSB to start challenging for the Paganello title in future years? Cota Rica might have something to say about that, although they didn’t make it to Viareggio this time.
A special mention should go to Glasgow Open, who, having made a wrong call that decided a game, realized their mistake overnight and asked for the result to be changed! Spirito del gioco.

Full Results:
OPEN_1 div.
1. CUSB Bologna (IT)
2. SEXXXPENSIVE (Intl)
3. DJI SAM SOE (AT)
4. INEXXXPENSIVE (Intl)
SOTG
1. FREEZZZBEEZZZ (BE)
2. DJI SAM SOE (AT)
3. 4 STAZIONI (DE)
———————————-
OPEN_2 div.
1. COBRA KAI (UK)
2. INNERCIRCLE (AT)
3. SKYHAWKS (CH)
4. ULTEAM (NL)
SOTG
1. RADICAL (CH)
2. XLR8RS (BE)
3. SPIN (AT)
Another special award to GO (Glasgow Open)
———————————-
OPEN_3 div.
1. CUSB JUNIOR (IT)
2. NO FRILLS ( UK )
3. MYTHAGO ( UK )
4. BASIC ( UK )
8. Best women team: WOODCHICAS (DE)
SOTG
1. LES COLLEGUES (FR)
2. WOODCHICAS (BE)
3. LEAMONGTON LEMMINGS ( UK )

With the Porro Open this weekend in Barcelona it was perfect timing to get coverage about Spanish Beach Ultimate on TV3 from Catalunya.
The 2 minute report last Friday showed that in heavy winds there can still be a game. I wish TV3 would allow for others to embed the video (why not?), but that doesn’t seem to be possible so you will have to click here: http://www.tv3.cat/videos/768109

With the 2009 Asian Championships Beach Ultimate in sight, we are discovering more Beach Ultimate in Asia. In Beijing there was even an artificial beach that saw the arrival of many players. Here is an excerpt from a blogger in China:

The sand was artificial and, at places, hurt like hell to land on (more on this later), but it was still a fun day at the beach, even if there was no water. Organized by the inimitable Jeff Orcutt et al., we split into four teams — names drawn out of a hat — and played four games each. More…

Have a look at the possible future World Champions Beach Ultimate: footage of the 1st Boracay junior Beach Ultimate tournament. 54 students from elementary and high school participated.
Wicked!

Slowly but surely the Asia Pacific is waking up to Beach Ultimate.
Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines have been on the forefront for many years, but Singapore started with a Beach Ultimate tournament last year and now Hong Kong is doing it too.
This is great news for the 1st Asian Championships Beach Ultimate that will be held in 2009.
In the meantime, if you are in Hong Kong on Sunday 7 September, go play!

SUNDAY, July 27th 2008.
Yes, there were 300+ teams. The beach, a good 400 yards to the ocean, was packed. You couldn’t see the end of the fields. Not too long ago Wildwood had 150 teams and that seemed large. How many teams will the tournament cap it at?
“We haven’t found that number yet,” says Mike Adlis one of the tournament directors. “I suppose we could add another day if we get more teams, and maybe keep adding days.”
Its appeal is accessibility and lack of pretension. Everyone is welcome. Anyone can come. All levels of play are encouraged. There are sweet trophies for 40 teams. You can win your loser’s G bracket chumpionship and walk away with hardware.
Sunday’s weather was cool. A thunderstorm with lightning snaps came midway through the day and held off games for an hour and change.
The top pools were headlined by the usual suspects, the many-headed Horned Melons who fielded teams in both divisions and the octopus-like Yellow Submarine. Both are Philly-based teams and Wildwood is their backyard sand box.
The Melons lost to Yellow Sub in 3-1 semifinals, but advanced in semis over Sexually Considerate (New York) in the 2-2 division. Yellow Sub won the 3-1 again, practically a birthright for this team, over Do The Deed (DC, I think). In 2-2, Atlanta’s No Limit Pandas, one of the few teams to have actually taken a plane flight to Wildwood, won the 2-2 over the Melons after having defeated Big Fish (Boston/ Slow White) in the semis.
According to one of No Limit’s players, most of the team hadn’t even played on beach before.
The rain delay sent plenty of teams packing. Two teams, Death By Misadventure and Thunder Punch, set to match up in the finals decided to determine the winner realized they couldn’t play because many folks left. Instead they competed in a boardwalk carney watergun-shoot-the-target race, won by Thunder Punch.
To get a copy of the 2007 tournament DVD, email kenne DOT hemphill AT gmail DOT com.
To see some tournament pictures, check out briancanniff.smugmug.com

It’s Saturday night, 9pm. I will post again after pools are announced.
The Wildwood weekend is reserved far in advance for most ultimate players on the Eastern Seaboard.
Jake lives and Connecticut but comes down to volunteer at Wildwood so he can get a free ride. With the resort prices here, it’s a smart call.
“I spent all week doing homework in my summer classes so I could make it here. This is my sixth year in a row. So far I’ve spent most of my time regulating the registration line. It’s great because someone always brings you beers when you do the line.”
Boston. Providence. Baltimore. Dover. Washington DC. Atlanta, Georgia. Every player in the New York Metropolitan area, across all skills levels, makes the three-hour drive to this tournament. Philadelphia, just an hour and a half distant, sends swarms.
Saturday begins with a .99¢ breakfast: scrambled eggs, English muffin, hash brown. Games start 10am for half of the tournament, 11am for the other half. Temperature is perfect, humidity ideal, the sand is packed but not too tight. It’s a fast track.
It is impossible to try and recap the winners and losers of day one at Wildwood. The tournament is well-organized, for sure, so that teams choose their overall skill level and pick either 2-2 or 3-1 (ratio of men to women).
By the time it all shakes out there are tons of pools, tons of teams with random beach-themed names masking their city and club affiliation and tons of games, more than 75 per round, every hour, like clockwork.
At the end of the day teams move up or down in pool strength and placards showing championship and chumpionship brackets in new pools from A to S are posted on the side of a rented cube truck.
On that same side of the truck they hoist up a white screen and play an hour-long DVD of last year’s tournament highlights while players queue up at the trough of free beer like farm animals. 32 kegs, scheduled to last for three hours.
So I can’t really provide a concrete review of the top teams, because the pools haven’t been posted. In the meantime, some quotes from players across the spectrum of the tournament.
Question: What’s your favorite thing about Wildwood?
“Wack the Iraqi” – Drew, Brooklyn
“Crazy scenes on the boardwalk.” – Courtney, New York
“I love all the fried food and I love beach Ultimate!” – Annie, New York
“Seeing friends from all over. Oh and also babes in bikinis.” Brenton, Connecticut
“Seeing everyone you know from the Northeast.” Squeege, Albany
“Getting to see old friends. Tracy’s been to every Wildwood since the 2nd one [14 years ago]” Geoff, Boston
“I like that as a high-brow New Yorker I can come down to slum it out on the Jersey Shore and not feel guilty because it’s an Ultimate tournament. I get to go to the batting cages, eat all sort of fried food and stare at the 15 year old girls on the boardwalk.” – Brian, New York
“I like the deep fried Oreos” – Zar, Ithaca
First time at Wildwood:
“Two pointers” – Troy, Australia
“It’s a great showcase for the sport because spectators can see all of the action here. It’s also great for social networking.” – Steph, Boston

Wildwood XXVI begins in about 6 hours when the 308 teams (and counting) square off in 19 pools of 16 teams each for the world’s largest 4-on-4 beach ultimate tournament. I’m at the registration party on Friday night where the libidinous teenagers and savvy college kids match up on the party grounds of New Jersey’s finest boardwalk enterainment.
The boardwalk scene at Wildwood is pure Americana, battered in lard, fattened on easy living, primed for a weekend of low-effort entertainment. Large amusement park rides, silly little carnival games and an endless barrage of fried foods await the the packs of traveling Americans, groups of familes and friends who descend upon this sanctioned party land like schools of fish investigating a sorority cruise.
Enter the Ultimate scene. Its an uninhibited bacchanalia of well-bred manners, a frolicking of the cultists attracted to ultimate, the sport. Mostly college kids, some teenagers, a handful of oldsters but its basically the introduction to “this is Ultimate! We party like we dont care!”
One of the Tournament Director’s, Mike Adlis, is more than happy to accomodate the fun times. Here at Wildwood, you can be young for a long, long time and it’s all good.
“Some teams are coming down on a six to eight hour drive, so we keep the party open late. That way you don’t miss anything!”
Indeed, its 1:45 am when the registration packs it in.
OK, well, its 2:40 now and they are kicking me at the bar. Back to the hotel, one of the few not overpriced….
The good times flow freely. At the registration party where some (usually most) members of a team must come to register their team and thus be qualified to play tomorrow, the craziness is in the air.
“How do they fucking throw a frisbee that good??” explaims the bartender, watching the TV screens filled with the highlights of last year’s games
The Americans travel in packs, whether with their families or their friends. The wander up an down the wooden slats.