The story of the RUM Table Tennis Athletes…
Villa Pesquera Isabela with the Mayaguez University Campus Table Tennis Team. And it is that the friend and coach of the Team, Madeline “China” Ramos, had a surprise for her students / athletes, since they had been able to do very little sportingly or share as a group with this situation of the Pandemic ☹️. And what better idea than to coordinate the Demo flight with Luis Ruiz, former member of the Table Tennis team of Mayaguez University in other generation 💪…
So from 8:15 AM the athletes began to arrive at the Villa Pesquera roundabout. Being the first person present, the Coach, “China”. Later, the athletes, Jerry Arroyo, Wilfredo Aponte along with their parents, Naomi Cuadrado and Gabriela Diaz, were arriving from different parts of the island. This in addition to a large audience that was saying present to the activity of Team Kamikazes, but we will talk about this later …
We had a situation that threatened that plans to be suspended for other day … The wind !!! And it is that since early in the morning they were 18 mph + with gusts that even reached 25 mph !!!, and it was barely 9 AM 😲… In fact, the plans to fly the athletes were CANCELED at one point , but everybody stayed in the area for a while chatting and the winds started to stabilized a bit … There was pressure on Luis… It was a hard work and very difficult for China to coordinate that everyone was present and postponing the activity meant having to coordinate again and everything that this decision involves … Other people appointed for Demo flights in the day, such as Sergio Lebrón and his family, were already postponed…😑.
Then, Luis Ruiz decided to make a “solo” flight through the area to verify how strong the wind was and if it was possible to carry out the flights taking the necessary precautions. He used his sporty paraglider, Apco F1. Resulted that everything turned out fine on his flight. The wind was hard but laminar, so we decided to give it a try. Also, the young athletes were light in weight, so Luis could use a small paraglider (31 meters) to carry out the Demo Flights.
After the rigorous instructions and safety measures, Luis carried out the flights one by one. The first to go up with Luis was Jerry Arroyo, then Wilfredo Aponte, Gabriela Diaz and Naomi Cuadrado, (who will even be studying aviation soon, so she was in his habitat 🙂).
Thanks to God, and of course to the help and assistance of the Team Kamikazes pilots in the flight area. Thanks for the Kamikazes Pilots, Darwin, Hermes, Pablo, Alberto, Sammy, Gregoire and Edgardo to be pending of the flights. Everything went perfectly, each of the athletes really enjoyed their flight around. They also managed to get their cameras out and take their own videos. All of them were very happy with China for her great farewell detail!!!. What a great detail !!!! Priceless …😍.
After Naomi’s flight, the winds were already steady at over 20 mph +, and the flight activities for the day were terminated. Ironically, and despite these conditions that could not be flown, we had a great participation of pilots and students of Team Kamikazes during the day. Sometimes when you can fly, not everyone who can come to fly arrive, and today, that it was “impossible” for fly, there was a Full House of Pilots, Go Figure 🤔😄…
Pilots and family of Team Kamikazes present …
Pablo Cruz and his wife Millie
Hermes Ferrer, his wife Neisha and children Yaniher and Katelyn
Noel Vale and his wife Tata
Deron Freeman and his wife Carla
Iván Torres, his wife Pamela and son Caleb, plus Pam’s niece
Gregoire Bobo and his girlfriend
Luis Ruiz, his wife Jessica and son Noah Enrique
Wilson Suzana, his wife and children Efrain and Alejandro
Robert Rodríguez and his wife Elba
Danis Rodríguez and his daughter Kyara
Ricardo González and his wife Ermelinda
Edgardo Rivera, his wife Wilnelia and “Blue”
Sammy Badillo
Luisito Lopez
Alberto Sabah
Alex Disla
Darwin Hernandez
Gilbert Avila
Miguel “Guelo” Colon
The strong wind prevented it from goes flying, but that did not prevent it from kiting the gliders. Edgardo, Darwin, Hermes and Ricardo practiced with the small training paragliders, BGD Seed of 14 meters. And there were a couple of drags in the sand, but that was part of the challenge 😄… Inclusive, our friend, Wilson Suzana arrived with his Kids, Efrain and Alejandro, who were practicing with a mini Paraglider of 2.5 meters. Noah also join the practice as some of the athletes that looks for try it…
During next week, Deron, Darwin and Gilbert need to return to the USA to fulfill professional commitments. So, is probably that they may not be able to fly until have the chance to return to the island 😑…
At the end, was an excellent day… The flights of the RUM athletes were made, all of them were very happy, leaving with a very positive experience. Also, we spent the afternoon in the area taking the opportunity to plan new activities.. That is what it is all about. We are blessed… Thank God 🙏.
Miscellaneous Video from the Activity…
Photos…
