American Kitefliers Association

I am representing a significant portion of the Revolution sport kiting community (on the east coast) in promoting the addition of another activity to be placed onto the schedule for Nationals this year in Wildwood.  A fun event, strictly for entertainment purposes, our own as well as anyone else who happens to walk by! 

We are proposing a QUAD-squared Mystery Shootout (for pairs multi-line).  We need several hours' worth of time allocated on one field and a decent crowd (as judges).  The four variables are: the kite(#1), the music(#2), the partner(#3) and the caller(#4), plus the crowd votes and given the proper announcer (wire-less microphone capable & ambling around the field) that will make a very memorable activity for everyone involved.  The disorganized structure is the excitement for the fliers.  It all so random, we will laugh until our sides hurt! 

Folks sign up as one of 3 choices,.... A Caller, a Captain or a Partner.
Callers can be one or the other also (as Captain or Partner), but occasionally they will also need to vocalize other pairs group movements, from the sound tent.

The same identical pair of Standard, mid-vent & fully vented (1point5 sized format) kites will be used by all the participants.  You can fiddle with the handle tuning, but not change anything else.

Each Captain turns in a CD with three suitable musical selections (include song title & length on label) PLUS their name on the disk.   This music can be used by anyone except that captain.

All Partner names are placed into a hat and drawn-out randomly for each round.  After each 2 pairs battle it out, the crowd votes for who stays "IN".  The other names are eliminated from award consideration.  Yes, there's a distinct advantage in going second!  Hey!, luck of the draw, tough it out, life isn't fair either!

Each round new partners are randomly selected.  Each round music is randomly selected.  Each round the caller is named in the sound tent, but not known in advance to the participants.  Callers can also be captains or partners, as long as we have enough callers.  I assume we can at least get these 3 guys Weider, Smitty and Barresi to help us out.  Maybe Terry from Island quad and that IKE gang from Illinois might offer up another caller.  Dugard and Mosman from WOW would help too, we'll make it work, lets do it!

Somewhere in each music routine the fliers will be asked to place a "mirrored-box precision figure", other than that, they are to fly whatever they hear over the speakers, as it is called.  This way the crowd can also hear what's expected. And have something to recognize and compare during scoring (by applause)  We may have a count-down (field director style) based upon the music's overall length, in an effort to end the routine dramatically as the music quits.

Revolution has pledged a single gift certificate (value sufficiently good for a new B-series kite or an of equal retail valued item) to the winner.  I think every participant should also "discretely" wager ten dollars (we don't want this part to become a "problem" for the association, maybe not even published in advance).  The winning captain and whomsoever their partner is at that last heat, wins all that cash also.  This will eliminate some of the people who maybe should reconsider their own commitment to quad practice before signing up for such an event. That sounds awful but it is quite necessary, otherwise everyone will want a piece of the opportunity and it will take too long.  An entry fee will cut-down on the number of people in the event to a more manageable number.  I would imagine we could have 10 -to- 20 people interested enough to make this happen.  Ten pairs teams will take several hours to get thru, but what a howling time we will have during the event.
A sign-up sheet may possibly be circulated to gauge interest.  We may have to pick a selected few from a hat at random (a lucky pre-qualifier ?)  Or ask everyone to demonstrate their Mirrored-box precision figure as a basis of qualification.

I understand we have the AKA's approval to proceed with the event,. . . . just needing a defined time slot & location.  Since the booklet of activities has already been distributed, we are focusing exclusively on "word of mouth" advertising and possibly some signage at the registration area.

I guess I'm the event's coordinator and will bring along the WoW club's sound system, electrical cables, table, chair and awning or sport umbrella, (but NO generator or petro!)