CROSSLINES
Résumé 1998-9

Summary

Crosslines will be a four-person team in 1999.

Work commitments have taken Allan Wakefield to live in Zurich. Crosslines will therefore be:

The teams aims for 1999 will be:

• To improve on 1998’s competitive results.

• Qualify for and do well at World Cup.

• Enjoy the challenge of producing exiting routines for four kites following many years of thinking about five.

• Participate in the development of sport kiting.

In 1998 the team achieved some but not all of its objectives.

A place at EuroCup was secured but results of 3^rd at UK National Championships and 6^th at EuroCup were equal to the previous year’s results.

Crosslines did however take the opportunity of making more trips to continental Europe including a long, paid for, Weekend in Istanbul at the end of the season.

What did we do last year?

Diary

1998 was a busy year for Crosslines. We introduced Susanne to Masters team flying following Leigh Williams departure from the team in 1997. We intended to widen our audience by attending more continental events. We were also able to capitalise on the advantages of the Flexifoil Matrix kite, which we believed would enable us to push a few technical and aesthetic barriers.

At the back of this document is a diary of where we went in 1998. You will see that we managed to get to most of the top sport kite events.

Results

3^rd in UK and 6^th in Europe. Whilst these results matched those of 1997, its no secret we were disappointed with the outcome. Our ideas for the ballet were probably better than our ability to execute them and our pride made us stick with the ideas instead of playing the percentage game. For Eurocup we reverted to the 1997 routine and got a much better score, indeed a better score than we ever got with that routine the previous year.

What we learnt in 1998 was that well executed simple flying is going to win more points than less well executed intricate flying. In 1999 we intend to play the percentage game to attempt better results as well as further developing our individual and team flying expertise.

Comment

Generally we were able to spread the word so far as our sponsors, Crosslines and Sport Kites are concerned. We did that by demonstrating, competing, talking to people at the events we attended and where possible getting news media coverage. We also made use of the following aides:

Commentary Sheet – Examples of this year’s commentary sheet are attached. These are generally laminated and handed to event organisers or their commentators. These sheets ensure that commentators know something about the team and its sponsors.

Web Site – Crosslines web site has pages about the team and what we have done, together with pictures and pages about our sponsors. Lack of time in the summer has meant that there is some updating to be done. This is no bad thing because we can attract visits to the site by announcing "new" photographs (World Cup, Turkey etc) and updates.

Calling Cards – These small pieces of card have proved invaluable. It’s surprising how often people need a contact telephone number. We also use them to write information on such as the make of the kite that we are flying or the name of a local shop where kites or spares can be bought!

Banners – Crosslines joined with Evolver (the Robertshaw brothers) and Flyboyz (Andy Phelps and Tony Ferraro) to produce a set of Matrix style banners. Carl Robertshaw designed and made these. Crosslines customised one of its two banners, which are in the same colours as our kites by adding the team logo. Crosslines also had other banners for various of the companies that have given us assistance.

What do we intend for 1999

As you may know Allan Wakefield is moving to Zurich. Crosslines intend to become a four-person team in 1999. The line-up being:

Moving from five to four will introduce new routine writing possibilities and challenges. Those challenges will however be met enthusiastically to help the team meet its objectives for the year. New moves, transitions and shapes are already being formulated and will soon be brought together into flyable sections for try out. 1999 could be very interesting!

The team’s objectives for 1999 are follows:

To improve on this years National and European results - implementing what we learnt this year and enhancing our ability to get more out of the Matrix should secure this objective.

To win a place at World Cup - A good performance at World Cup ensures maximum exposure for Crosslines and the teams sponsors.

Rise to the challenge of flying as four – This could be Crosslines "road to Damascus" experience as we throw out the old five man ideas and bring in the new ideas.

Participate in the development of sport kiting – A new rulebook has been introduced for 1999 and a European Ranking system is been discussed in great detail. STACK the European organising body is now ten years old and the sport is maturing. New personalities are starting to emerge at organisational and judicial levels and the sport needs to be moved forward for the benefit of all involved. Sport kiting was for example recently featured on the BBC South East News. Their evening programme has a weekly slot for emerging sports.

Diary of Major Events in 1998