It was real and it was spectacular!

I wrote some of this during the weekend so a bit of it may mimic Larry’s article. I appreciate the kind words from Larry as well. First and foremost I want to thank Lawrence Frederick and the First coast Flying Disc Team (www.k9frisbee.com) for allowing The Jammers to trash all their hardware (tents tables and the like) and coming out to do some cool disc dog demos to start the tournament and draw spectators. Lawrence does this gratis even though the last few years he has been out of town during tourney weekend. Thanks also to J.T. Rosenthal who provided labor, tables and just being a go-to guy when needed. Larry Imperiale mentioned Carl Emerson as helping with the stereo. Carl also rented a truck so we could haul stuff, then he ends up doing the lion’s share of the effort to get things in place, torn down and cleaned.unbelievable. Also as Larry mentioned in his kind review, my extended family has rallied to elevate this weekend into a complete 24/7 experience (well maybe 24/5). Thanks Jeanine, Debbie, Cheryl. I also have a special atta-girl for the Tournament Mom, Pauline Kenny. She makes it a truly family experience. Although she claimed to be coming up to see me and share my joy, every time I turned around, she was hugging Murf.Hmmm.

The festivities got off to a wonderful start on Thursday for the TD as Toddy Brodeur took home the title of first jammer. TD and Toddy had an awesome jam under ideal conditions, light winds and low tides at Mikondo. Friday saw things elevate to a huge experience as most everyone showed up in time for a long Friday jam on the beach with again ideal winds and low tides. The view from the balcony of Mikondo as 4 or 5 mobups were going on was to die for. The stereo for the jams as well as the tournament was battery operated with a huge sound as three large boom boxes were linked together to provide a wall of sound.

Tournament Saturday saw again ideal conditions with low tide providing the perfect setting to incredible jamming. There were a number of highlights as the jamming went off and everyone played big. Three performances stand out from the tournament. First was the semifinal play of Tito Andino. He played HUGE. Double spinning this, big air that and hitting everything. TD has seen Tito before and along with everyone else was stunned by the incredible performance Tito displayed. The second performance was the coming out of first time competitor, our host Cheryl Kenny. Going out in mixed just to have fun with it, she turned in a performance that fired up the crowd. Mocking her partner with a bad attitude delay amongst other moves she carried the team to a stunning seed bust. Congratulations Cheryl!! The third highlight was the final round of Deaton Mitchell and Dave Murphy. With the theme “Jam By The Sea” (to the theme of Flipper), They call him Mur-Flipper, Mur-Flipper, faster than lightning, no one you see, can gitis like he.these guys turned in a magical performance. With one drop, and that was the last move triple planted gitis that was in Murf’s hand, these guys clearly separated themselves from their alleged competitors. Their play was built on big difficulty and clean play. I am not certain, but Deaton may have been dropless both rounds while not playing safely. Other highlights included Pipo and Anne putting on a mixed routine clinic to win and Larry and Joel’s final routine that took off the dust from their winning FPA Worlds routine. Congratulations to the winners and everyone else. The play was truly real and spectacular.

Saturday night saw the first of the freestyle takeovers this group is famous for. The local Mexican restaurant offered the freestylers discounted dinner and drinks and the vultures pounced. Further mayhem ensued as the dance floor opened up and the freestylers took over. Dancing and hopping around all night, there might have been more sweat generated there than during the tourney.

Sunday saw more jamming in front of Mikondo, again the same conditions creating big jams again. Sunday night was the traditional Jammers party at Mi Casa with filet mignon on the grill and undocumented events in the Jacuzzi. Monday saw more jams as everyone decided they needed one last beach fix. The final jam was a death jam with Murf (jamming maybe 21 hrs over 4 days) and TD. Murf said he hit something like 8 moves he has never before hit including a 5 spin gitosis and a 6 or 7 spin something. The final crew of Gary, Carl, Michele Murf Cheryl and TD then enjoyed a last supper of sushi.and then the TD slept.

A large collection of awesome photos will be made available in the next FPA Forum, the membership magazine.

Thanks to all for a wonderful time.we may have to do this again

Paul Kenny