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A couple of weeks ago we had three flights up through Christchurch and Wellington en route to the NZ Open 2005, in Tauranga, Bay of Plenty, North Island, New Zealand (flickr photo set of the weekend). We got on the final plane only to promptly get led off. The engine failure allowed us to, besides realizing that our tent-bag hadn’t a tent-pole to its name, meet Gary Jarvais, a.k.a Gazza, and wife Chris, who were playing for Christchurch and Wellington, respectively. Gary has been to six ultimate frisbee world championships, 1992-2004 (Worlds are held every two years). He is undoubtedly the best player i’ve ever had the priviledge of meeting; I only wish I could have seen him in his prime or against topflight competition. Charlie and I had the great pleasure of eating with him and Chris at Piccola Italia, Italian Restaurant in Tauranga. By the way, if you ever visit this restaurant, make sure to ask for “the guy from Invercargill who pretends he’s Italian” — they’ll know exactly who you mean. Recounting rediculous old ultimate stories and having Gazza divulge his massive amounts of frisbee knowledge and experience was unbelievable and sobering. The guy, quite literally in the Harold and Kumar-sense, is extreme. He’s also rather smart about ultimate. He’s the author of, among many coaching drills and articles, a really nifty article on ‘The Ultimate Pull’. Check it out.