posted Jan 17th, 2010 - There is one more topic of the Dubai Championship that needs to be covered before the NSL News will turn to other events with other stories.

The NSL News audience and visitors at the World Cup 2009 competition in Prostejov, Czech Republic, probably still remember the wild battles for the Fun Flag. It was one of the most exciting and thrilling events in the history of the flag. The flag even made a freefall and a parachute flight in Prostejov.

The British and French delegations were mostly involved in the Fun Flag battle of September 2009. However, neither of them eventually took the Fun Flag back home. The Hayabusa Defence members came out as the actual winners and presented the flag at the award ceremony, as the NSL News reported on 8 September 2009 (Archives > 2009 > News > Search for: "Fun Flag").

The NSL News still has no details how the Belgians eventually captured the Fun Flag at the World Cup. This story is still to come at some point in time.

Fact is that Hayabusa has a broad collection of experiences with the Fun Flag, as the team has been after it ever since Hayabusa entered the international stage of skydiving competition in 2004. It was not really a surprise that the currently most experienced Fun Flag hunter ended up in possession of the flag once again at the end of the World Cup 2009.

The Belgians also know their obligations as the current owner and brought the Fun Flag to Dubai. It was a difficult situation this time. The competition site was as flat as can be, a beach on water level with no solid structures anywhere near the area where the teams and competitors spent the whole day.

The Hayabusa members were flying the Fun Flag at a building right across of the competition site. However, the building was approx. 450 feet high, and the flag was flying on the 20th floor, on the top of the building. It was almost impossible for the other teams and competitors to spot the Fun Flag.

It was a dangerous adventure for Hayabusa, as the team had no permission to enter the building and get to the top of it. Earlier experiences with the Dubai authorities during the event had shown that you could easily get in trouble.

CYPRES rep Rob "Dutch" Kendall reported such trouble on January 8 at his Dubai Blog: "The French 4-way RW team were nearly arrested today after landing out from a long spot. The police thought they had base jumped off of one of the many tall buildings! Maybe they had not noticed the parachuting event going on not to far away!"

The Hayabusa members were careful enough and did not get in trouble. The Fun Flag was flying high, literally, and probably higher than ever before.

However, the Belgians knew that it was not the perfect place for the flag, as it was almost impossible for the rest of the teams and competitors to enjoy the sacred symbol of competition fun. Roy Janssen promised to find a better place next time:

"We hope to find a better place for it at the next meet."

The next meet for Hayabusa would be the FSL Shamrock Showdown 2010. DeLand has not experienced much Fun Flag events yet. There is always a first time for everything...