Beaches aren't relaxing

My annual beach weekend is set back from the sea a good 100 meters. It involves a lot of flopping in the sand and chasing after plastic with my friends. This year it involved half-donkey, half-elephant, half-plaid, dancing machines. It's no wonder some people don't invite us to their beaches. Wildwood, New Jersey is not some people and they keep having us back. Some 300 teams, easily 1,000 Ultimate players, once again took to the sand and coated themselves in it.

Getting to Wildwood has never been easy, it looks closer than it is and traffic is always thick. This year my car found out that it is closer than it is. Or at least we found out that navigating is important. It was a hard lesson to learn, one we started to consider some hour or more after we'd missed our turn. The lesson was reinforced by one generous cop who decided that we looked pathetic or awesome or just not troublesome enough to ticket for speeding at 1 AM.

I found 3.5 hours of sleep were savory and delicious in the tent mansion, but longed for more. All that was soon forgotten as time stood still for the plastic chasing. Beach Ultimate, as long-time readers know, is wonderful for the sheer amount of diving that goes on. Look in most any direction and someone is bound to be flying through the air. This year was particularly special as it became a reunion of sorts. First, I was reunited with the disc, as I haven't played since about May. I was a little nervous, but nerves were calmed early as I cut up field and watched A fire a disc toward the back corner of the end zone. I couldn't believe how far out in front of me it looked, but it seemed almost reachable. I gave chase and silently begged for the disc to stay up in the air just a little longer. With a burst and a layout, I reached out my arm and felt plastic before crashing into the sand for a score. That was the last of the nervousness.

I was also reunited with teammates and friends. It was a joy to spend a weekend in the company of those good people and to make some new teammates and friends. Back to the action: One general highlight was the return of my Frisbee (man)crush on Alan. I felt so comfortable on the field with him. There were so many moments where I just felt like he understood where I was headed or went exactly where I needed him to go. Even when he skyed me late in the day on Sunday, it was only because he knew I couldn't find the floating disc due to my (otherwise awesome) team hat. I can't even think of a specific throw or catch that he made to make me say this, I just remember multiple times locking eyes and then going to get a disc or releasing one to him. I could probably gush some more, but it would likely only get more awkward, so I'll spare us all. I also really enjoyed being on the field with MB who has such a great sense of the game and his body in the air. I can't count the number of times that he managed to fake out his mark and drop a sweet pass right in front of me. We had a great give and go and he gobbled up almost everything I could throw. He even tracked down the longest one-pointer I could possibly throw capping it off with a wicked grab. The team as a whole really had some nice flow. I can't remember playing at a Wildwood event where we seemed so in sync. Almost every time I looked up, I saw someone in plaid making a sweet cut. I bet MD faked out so many defenders with cuts to my flick that their knees got tired and locked up. It was so awesome to see her and all the plaid working well together. I wish that I could outline all the highlights of the weekend for all my teammates, but I focus and remember mostly what happened to me and what stands out from there. (And even then my memory is short.)

I've already recounted my first layout. We went 3-1 on the first day, knocking off a ridiculously athletic Colorado team at universe point and then dropping one to a team that I believe we should have defeated. Our early games were pretty easy, although the first one turned out to be closer than it should have been. I had a manic-depressive game in our loss and I've already tried to block it from my memory. The wind had shifted and we struggled in it. We came into Sunday and I've already forgotten most of what happened. If I recall we came out fired up against a good tie-dye team in a battle of the patterns. We were clinging to a lead and then fell at universe point. The 4th next-point-wins situation of our weekend. We split them evenly. We then played a team that didn't see me. It was like I had on my invisibility cloak. I didn't though, it was the same red plaid skirt and modified women's darker red blazer with green trim. I had at least three catches on their first throw up the field, which led to a couple very easy 10-foot throws for scores. My favorite moment of the game though was on an up field pass. The cutter had broken behind me and the throw went up. I gave chase, launched my body into the air, stuck at my left hand and snagged it. I don't get to catch my layout D's very often. That felt pretty sweet. I almost matched it later in the game as I got my finger tips on a nearly perfect outside-in throw that unfortunately landed in the receivers' hands. We kept the points coming and managed to keep our lead steady in a game. As the rain and thunder came it felt like a nice way to end the day.

Only it wasn't. The storm passed and play was allowed to resume. Most teams had left and my body and my mind were halfway back to DC. Despite a quiet protest from yours truly, we returned to our field to wait for an opponent. None showed up, so I took to cleaning the trash that my beloved community had left behind. I was joined by MB and MD and I'm proud to say that we cleaned the sidelines of something like 10 fields. Ultimate players need to learn to pick up after themselves. As time wore on, I began to relax in the knowledge that a hot shower and rest were in my near future.

Only they weren't. Sam had brokered a deal which would allow us to have a rematch with the tie-dye team we'd lost to earlier with a trophy going to the victors. I was audibly annoyed about the mind shift this would require. It took a stern talking to from MD, but once the game began I was all in it and mostly happy to be a part of it. Tie-dye was not taking us lightly this time and the winds from the passing storm lingered. Our throwers struggled, but we fought on. Tie-dye took it to us with some very nice throws and plays. One guy in particular managed to fake me out of my shorts (I'd changed from the skirt) at least twice for scoring catches. Somewhere though, I managed to save a little face as I was on him again and managed to keep my shorts on and knock a disc down that would have been a score. My last memory from the game was a bid on a throw that I've since found out wasn't to me. It's a fitting way to leave the beach; with something more to grasp. MB whipped a pass down the line. I believed I was the intended target and launched myself into the air. I think I was as high as I've ever been horizontally. It was my only chance to make a play and I gave it all I had. The disc flew by and I thudded to the ground, probably swallowing just a little more sand. Tie-dye went on to win. The plaid Donk-a-phant Dance Party headed home, a little richer and a little sandier from the experience.