That’s right, the eighth World Sport Kite Championships is scheduled to take place during the 26th annual Berck sur Mer Kite Festival in Berck sur Mer, France on April 7-16… A grand total of 14 teams from six countries have confirmed, all coming to duke it out for the coveted championship title.
The Championship consists of three days of full competition – precision and ballet disciplines, and the best two of each ballet scores are carried forward to calculate the final scores for each team.
Historically the primary competition days are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday… The Precision disciplines are flown in the morning and the Ballet discipline in the afternoon after lunch, and Friday is the reserve competition day in case of weather or other delays.
Past WSKC Competitions:
- 2002 / 9-11 April / Berck-sur-Mer, France
Champion: Overdrive (France) - 2003 / April / Berck-sur-Mer, France
Champion: Overdrive (France) - 2004 / 21-23 April / Berck-sur-Mer, France
Champion: Element d’Air (France) - 2005 / 21-23 June / Lincoln City, USA
Champion: Cutting Edge (USA) - 2006 / 11-14 April / Berck-sur-Mer, France
Champion: Cutting Edge (USA) - 2008 / 8-10 April / Berck-sur-Mer, France
Champion: Air-Rex (Japan) - 2010 / 13-16 April / Berck-sur-Mer, France
Champion: Scratch Bunnies (UK)
Scratch Bunnies – Day 3 Ballet – 2010 WSKC
No doubt, the thought on everyone’s mind is…
Be vewy quiet, we’re hunting wabbits…
So with no further adieu, let’s see the line up of teams coming to Berck sur Mer in 2012!
** All photos reposted with permission from the WSKC Facebook page.
Colombia
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Bogota 2600
- Jorge Beltran
- Andres Bolivar
- Nilza Riveros
- Sebastian Galindo
Team kites – Fury by Carl Robertshaw, Masque by l’Atelier
2008 / WSKC – 10th
2006 / WSKC – 15th
France
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StartÁir
- Maxime DESAVOYE
- Alexandre ZIEGLER
- Frederic DEBRESSY
- Benoit FLAMENT
Team kite – Self-made and Fury by Carl Robertshaw
2011 / EuroCup – 1st
2010 / WSKC – 3rd / EuroCup – 1st
2009 / EuroCup – 2nd
2008 / WSKC – 7th / EuroCup – 1st
2006 / WSKC – / EuroCup – 4th
Red Bull Kiteforce
- Yasu Numata
- Ramlal Tien
- Samuel Roddier
- Mathieu Mayet
Team kite – Blackbird 2010
2010 / WSKC – 2nd
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Tatoueurs du Ciel
- Denis Maille (Leader)
- Philippe Bailleux
- Jean-Charles Desquiens
- Laurent Vanlemmens
Team kite – Moa by Drôle d’Oiseau
2001/ France championship – 4th
2002 / France championship – 3rd
2003 / France championship – 3rd
2004 / WSKC – 7th / France championship – 2nd
2005 / WSKC -10th
2006 / France championship – 2nd
2008 / WSKC – 13th
Cerfs-Volants Folie
- Jeremie MATON – leader (also profesional kite builder)
- Lucie DOLBECK (also National Kite Monitor and manager of the LUCIEL kite school)
- Nicolas LORMEAU
- Christophe GOBIN
- Xavier LECLUSE
- Clarence LORMEAU
Team kite – Blackbird by Blackbird Company
2011 / French cup – 3rd
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Cerfs-Volants Folie Filles
- Sabrina GRUSON (leader)
- Fabienne LORMEAU
- Ludivine MATON
Team kite – Blackbird by Blackbird Company
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Cream Team
- Philippe Machuel
- Vincent Bayard
- Henri Dancy
- Stéphane Beurrey and Christophe Perry
(replace Stéphane Beurrey on WSKC’11 only)
Team kites – Quantum Pro by Prism and Pro Dancer by Skyburner
2011 / EuroCup – 2nd
2010 / EuroCup – 3rd
Pilotes de Ligne
- Bruno BERTHEBAUD
- Philippe FONTAINE
- Thomas RENAUD
Team kite – Diablos, self-made
2010 / WSKC – 6th
[/box]Lithuania
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The Dealers
- Jurgis Pauliukas
- Mixas Aurimas Petrevicius
- Ricardas Matacius
Team kite – Krystal by R-Sky
[/box]Russia
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Red Alert
- Mike Loskov
- Sergey Chernyshev
- Alexander Malaev
- Timour Bourbaev
- Viacheslav Mishchenko
- Olga Bednova
Team kite – Fury by Carl Robertshaw
[/box]UK
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Scratch Bunnies **2010 World Champions**
- David Morley
- Richard Pellew
- Chris Goff
- Carl Robertshaw
- Sash Reading
- James Robertshaw
- Robin Smith
Team kite – Fury by Carl Robertshaw
2003 / WSKC – 5th, EuroCup – 3rd
2004 / WSKC – 9th, EuroCup – 2nd
2005 / WSKC – 12th
2006 / EuroCup – 2nd
2008 / WSKC – 5th, EuroCup – 2nd
2009 / EuroCup – 1st
2010 / WSKC – 1st
Airheads
- Peter Taylor
- Keith Griffiths
- Virginia Griffiths
- Doug Irvine
Team kite – T5 by Airdynamics (Peter Taylor)
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Flame
- Barry Savell
- Fran Burstall
- Tony Shiggins
Team Kite – Fury by Carl Robertshaw
2011 / EuroCup – 3rd
2010 / WSKC – 7th / EuroCup – 4th
2009 / EuroCup – 3th
2008 / WSKC – 8th / EuroCup – 4th
2006 / WSKC – 9th / EuroCup – 3rd
2005 / WSKC – 13th / EuroCup – 4th
2004 / WSKC – 11th
2003 / WSKC – 7th
2002 / WSKC – 8th
2001 / EuroCup – 8th
USA
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AirZone
- Darrin Skinner
- John Gillespie
- Aaron Champie
Team kite – Fury by Carl Robertshaw
2010 / WSKC – 4th
2008 / WSKC – 9th
2006 / WSKC – 10th
2005 / WSKC – 7th
2004 / WSKC – 10th
I’d be remiss if I didn’t also list the staff for this year…
WSKC Chairman
- David Gomberg
Event Chairman
- Gerard Clement
Judges
- Andrew Taylor (STACK – UK) **CHIEF JUDGE**
- Pascal Martel (STACK – FRA)
- Scott Davis (AKA – US)
- Lisa WIlloughby (AKA – US)
- Martinia Hardtung (STACK – GER)
Field Director:
- Andreas Hardtung
Scorer:
- Susan Skinner
A full line up indeed, rich with talent on both the flying and judging fronts – it should be a good throw down this year, and we’ll do what we can to find and share any highlights or scores as they become available to us… Sadly, we won’t be there ourselves but I know some folks will be posting daily in various places on the web.
In the meantime, please be sure to visit both the official WSKC web site and their Facebook page for more info.