But of Course! 10 open pairs teams and 7 mixed pairs teams (with 1 scratch)…WOW! A field so deep that teams not making the open pairs finals could make FPA Worlds finals…WOW! A large beach, huge crowds and Mikondo setting the stage…WOW! Jamming so hein, a bypasser was noted as saying “They just keep it going….it ain’t right!”…WOW! A birthday girl making the vibe special for everyone…MOM! All this and so much more made The Jammers 2004 the best yet. The special friends getting together was equally important to the competition. I would like to thank a few folks. First and foremost was Dan Berman. Dan is a crusty overaller many of us know. He did the lion’s share of the driving to and from the airport, taking a HUGE load off everyone’s shoulders and wallets. If you need a ride, refer folks to Jax Ride at 904 422 7433. Some of you who got a ride may consider giving him a call and thanking him as well. Others who gave a big help were local buds Sam Faber and Scott Hardy. Sam has sponsored for many years as has Scott. Scott also provided a banner and the huge poster we all signed. Of course, J.T. Rosenthal came through in a monster way by showing up last minute and surprising the group with an awesome and free catered meal on Saturday night prior to the Toddy invoked tribal beach cleansing. Carl Emerson (Emerson Signworks!) as always brings his big heart to the effort along with an awesome banner and stickers for everyone. Tito and Lori taped the whole event with Tito digitizing the whole tourney and putting it in .wmv format on CD. Gary Auerbach at www.spinningbees.com could not come out so donated water bottles to the event, timely with the big heat! Players package included an embroidered polo shirt, Gary’s bottles, an octopus shaped handheld massager, Carl’s sticker, special limited Mikondo Beach sand with signed and numbered certificates of authenticity and for a special few who “earned” them, tournament discs. Special jammer thanks go out to Lori and Lorenzo for making the long trip across their respective ponds to make this year’s Jammers the best yet. They have forced the event to raise the bar and I believe stimulated a bunch of other folks to make the trip out. Don’t forget the backbones of the tournament, perennial jammers Murf, Pipo and Jeff O’Brien as well as everyone else making the effort. Flying or driving is an effort to make it out and is supremely appreciated. There were many sideline jammers besides the great competitive field with Pat Carasco, John Cain, Darryl Allen and Rich Murray leading the charge. But enough of the preliminaries. Pipo wants to hear about his play 🙂 The jamming was incredible with most hitting moves they only previously thought of doing. Jeff O’Brien hit a gitis brush-gitis brush-gitis which was the move of the tournament. Pipo hit a few triples, Murf had some incredible groundwork and triple stuff that you have to see to believe. We brought Lorenzo over from Roma to help interpret Murf’s moves to no avail. I think he jams in Sanskrit or something. The TD even hit a triple scarecrow 🙂 Deaton continues to amaze all of us with his understated control and depth of consecutivity. Lori shredded and caught everything and carried her partner! Cindy is just so dang turbo it is ridiculous, hitting power moves guys only dream of! Jeff Kruger has a depth of game and is probably the most underrated top player today. Steve Hanes was his name as usual. Jambo jamboasted. Laerbs Laerbsed and had a cool behind the neck outer rim hover delay. Alan is expanding his game rapidly and showing he is to be reckoned with. Carl was his usual steady self hitting bread and butter moves all over the sands. Lorenzo has improved dramatically in the few days he has been out here and he peeled coming in! It was good to see Dan Yarnell come out and shred for the public again, hitting his patented moves even after a bit of a layoff. Contortion boy Hos makes everyone laugh whether shredding or just doing a comic show (we are laughing WITH you Gregg):-0 Rik and Craig were fun to watch taking control of the beach winds like the savvy veterans they are. Renee plays with a level of expertise making one believe she has had many more years experience than she actually has had. It was good to see first time Jammers competitors Anne and Berni come on out and quickly grasp the nuances of beach jam competition. Oh, and Sara BERGMAN played out of her mind and shredding even after twisting her ankle just before going out. I refuse to say much about Toddy or Pipo because they barely shredded incredibly leaving others in the dust. They almost didn’t hit huge move after huge move. Pipo may have hit numerous triples with some gitises thrown in but again just barely. Toddy is just not capable of not playing well which makes it difficult for his partner to not play well too. Actually it was a 2 team race for first between Murf-Deaton and Toddy-Pipo with both just CRUSHING their semi pools. The difference was Toddy and Pipo stayed right on it while Murf and Deaton, while still hitting ridiculous stuff, had a mild breakdown which was enough for Toddy and Pipo to eek out the W. There was a cool tie for third with PK and Lorenzo tying Laerbs and Jeff O’Brien. It was the first time Jeff has finished top 3 and the first time an Italian jammer competed in the states and also finishing top three! Amazing and very satisfying stuff for both. A Tutto Gas to my great friend and incredible jammer Lorenzo. A Tutto Gas to my great friend and incredible jammer Jeff. In mixed there were an amazing 7 teams to begin with a drop to 6 when Cheryl and Steve bowed out due to Cheryl’s TD hostess demands. It was an awesome round with all playing well. It was fun to see the newcomers Anne and Berni with the goofballs that were their partners :-). Renee and Carl are so fun to watch together and continue to grow together after playing with each other (jamming I mean) for many years. Jeff Kruger and Sara put on a fun show that got them a third place slot and good experience competing as the FPA Worlds come up in Rimini. It then came down to the 2 experienced teams. Laerbs and Cindy came out and hit some awesome moves, shredding outstandingly and worthy of a W in most events. But the Honolulu Hein, Lori, came out with her partner and put on quite a show. Playing up to their music with appropriate props they came out the box and hit huge moves on music cues throughout. Playing cleanly and with the big moments these 2 came out with Lori’s first mixed title. Making it the most special Jammers ever, it was Jammer Mom’s birthday that weekend. Happy birthday MOM, we all love you!!!!!