Pair and team flying in the UK - an update

About a year and half ago, I wrote a blog post on pairs and teams in the UK, and I felt it was time for an update, given that some new blood is emerging into the sport. And I'm going to do this overview from a perspective of 'tiers': fun, event, or competition. Pairs or teams in the fun tier essentially get together on a Saturday or Sunday (or whatever day of the week) and fly together, purely for fun. They may or may not have a specific routine choreographed to music, and there is no interest in flying public demos. Next is the event tier: pair or team has at least one routine, and performs at kite festivals, village fairs, or other public events. And then we have the competition tier, be it national or international. Guess this speaks for itself: pair or team competes at the UK nationals, EuroCup or WSKC. Compare these tiers to different divisions in other sports, with the big difference that there is no promotion or relegation from one tier to another. Essentially, pairs or teams 'promote' or 'relegate' themselves (e.g. by deciding to start flying at kite festivals, or retiring from competition), depending on their ambitions and ability. The only exception is that in order to compete internationally, a pair or team has to be nominated by STACK.

OK, let's start with Dual-line teams

  

First we have the reigning World Champions, the Scratch Bunnies, who retained their world title earlier this year. Following this, they retired from competition, and I don't know whether they'll still fly together as a team at events or just for fun. Next there is Flame, the current UK champions. Obviously a team in the competition tier, and they have also competed internationally (they came 10th at the last world championships). Another team that used to be in the (international) competition tier is Airheads (shown in the photo). They have retired from competition this year, but are still very much flying in the event tier. And they haven't ruled out coming back to competition in the future. Sky Symphony has, as far as I'm aware, never flown competition, and have no plans of doing so. So a team firmly in the event tier. Pallas Family Flyers also has not flown competition so far, but they haven't ruled out doing so in the future. Until that happens, they're in the event tier. The Flying Squad is mostly known as a quad-line team (see below), but they occasionally fly dual-line routines, which warrants them being included in this section. Not flying competition, so another team in the event tier. And then there is L-katz, the team we're part of. L-katz has flown at a few kite festivals last year, but, for various reasons, decided not to do so this year. They may fly again at festivals in coming years, but for now they're a team in the fun tier.

Here's a table summarising the seven UK dual-line teams and their current tier (C = Competition; E = Event; F = Fun):

Scratch Bunnies	?
Flame	C
Airheads	E
Sky Symphony	E
Pallas Family Flyers	E
The Flying Squad	E
L-katz	F

OK, on to Quad-line teams

  

First of all, there is The Flying Squad, already mentioned above. They've flown competition in the distant past, but are now very much a team flying at festival and events, so firmly in the event tier. Also in the event tier, and also having flown competition in the distant past are The Decorators. Then we have Fusion (shown in the photo), which, to my knowledge, has never flown competition, so again, very much a team in the event tier. The Haven Flyers are, again, not a team that has ever flown competition for all I know, but flies at festivals and events, so yet again, a team in the event tier. And finally, the Free Jays, which, to my knowledge, also only flies at events. Which gives us the following simple table; note that there is not a single quad-line team flying competition in the UK at the moment?

The Flying Squad	E
The Decorators	E
Fusion	E
Free Jays	E
Haven Flyers	E

From teams we go to pairs, and I'll first look at Dual-line pairs.

  

Unlike the teams, which can often vary in exactly who is flying, I will now mention names, as pair compositions are pretty much fixed. Phoenix, part of Flame, consists of Fran Burstall and Tony Shiggins. They are the current UK champions, so clearly in the competition tier. Ex-Grads consists of Keith Griffiths and Vee Griffiths. They have flown competition in the past (up to UK national champions), but have retired from competition, and are now flying at festivals and events, so in the event tier. To be more precise, Ex-Grads is part of the Airheads, and since retiring from competition have abandoned the name Ex-Grads, and are flying under the name Airheads at festivals. Close Encounters (shown in the photo), consisting of Allan and Marilyn Pothecary, have flown competition in the past (making it up to Experienced Class champions), but are now firmly in the event tier. Team Spectrum, made up of Bryan and Carl Wright, have never flown competition and have no intention of doing so. Another pair in the event tier. Dave and Angela Green don't have an official name for festivals, though they sometimes refer to themselves as "The Greenies". They've flown at at least one kite festival, so another event tier pair. Four Bi' Two is a new pair, consisting of Josh Mitcheson and Graham Lockwood. As far as I'm aware, they're flying at a festival in the Netherlands as this blog post gets published, so most definitely an event tier pair. Competition flying will be a bit more difficult for them, as both are flying two kites, and 'multi-kite pair flying' doesn't really fit in the existing competition categories. The Weekend Pilots is a pair within the Brighton Kite Flyers; as far as I'm aware they don't have a routine for festivals, so I'll regard them as a fun tier pair for now. Wings on Strings is our sister pair within L-katz, and consists of Roger Backhouse and Tony Vella. They've flown at two festivals last year, but have decided not to fly at festivals any more for the foreseeable future, so another fun tier pair. And then last, but hopefully not least, Flying Fish, made up of yours truly and Irma Adriaanse, and also part of the L-katz team. And, as you may know, we recently took the plunge and became a competition tier pair. Here's the helpful (?) summarising table again, with the tiers of the nine active UK dual-line pairs:

Phoenix	C
Flying Fish	C
Ex-Grads	E
Close Encounters	E
Team Spectrum	E
The Greenies	E
Four Bi’ Two	E
Weekend Pilots	F
Wings on Strings	F

Which brings us finally to Quad-line pairs. 

  

Smallest of the four categories. First of all, The Flying Squad. They have flown competition in the past (up to becoming European champions), and are now flying in the event tier. And then we have a new quad-line pair: Quadrilateral (shown in the picture), consisting of Mark Brackenridge and Teresa Brackenridge. A fun tier pair at the moment, until they get a routine under their belt. I hope to see them move up to festivals, and possibly even competition (nudge, nudge). For completeness, a table!

The Flying Squad	E
Quadrilateral	F

The above gives you all the pairs and teams active in the UK. Clearly, I know of all current pairs and teams in the competition tier, and sadly, there are only three of them .... I probably didn't miss many (if any) in the event tier. As to the fun tier, it's difficult to tell how many pairs and teams are flying in the UK outside of festivals and other organised events, because by their nature, you're unlikely to hear about them unless you see them flying or happen to know one of the members. So there may well be more that I'm not aware of.

Three teams (all quad-line) were mentioned in my previous overview, but I've not heard anything from them, and in one case the web-site appears to be dead. So, unless I hear anything to the contrary, I'll assume that Flying Colours, Team4Mation and Snuff are no longer active.

If anyone reading this notices any errors or omissions, please let me know and I'll correct/update; thanks!

Credit for the picture of Quadrilateral: Ian Forsey