Central Florida Koi Show 2007: Walking Around

[MikeM]

When you have such experienced hands as Joe White and Rod Lawton co-chairing a show, Henry Culpepper as Show Director, Joe in charge of water quality, Rod handling the seminars, Merle Deland in charge of all the equipment, Sherri White handling registration and judging results, and the hardest working jack-of-all trades Don Hellard handling everything electrical or mechanical (as well as Show Treasurer), a show has to do well. CFKS 2007 was the best yet.

I'll be putting up pics over the next several nights. (But I'm skipping all the set-up/break-down stuff. I know fish is what K-B'ers want to see.) I hope folks who attended jump in with their comments about the fish and "events" as I post.

For me, the non-work start of the show was the ZNA judging seminar on Friday morning. Ray Abell supplied 5 old-style sibling Showa... 4 males and one female with a conformation issue. Ron Goforth led the seminar. He judged the fish in advance, and then learned from Ray Abell that the breeder agreed with Ron's judgment. Later, it was interesting to listen to the debate when Bob Finegan had different views of the fish Ron ranked best overall.

[MikeM]

BTW, their discussion focused on whether any weight is given to the future of the fish, or whether judging should be 100% "on the day". Finegan was solidly "on the day", with Goforth emphasizing quality that will show in the future. Very interesting discussion, however one felt about the particular fish.

[MikeM]

Ready to have your eyes blur? On Friday the ZNA Southern Koi Association members got to see their group purchase of Torazo tosai Shiro Utsuri supplied by Ray Abell. As I mentioned elsewhere, everyone participating submitted their top 10 out of a large group of tosai, plus a couple of Tancho Showa thrown in for good measure. Initially, all but a couple got their first choice. As it turned out, when seen in person, everyone ended up with their first choice! LOL...

[MikeM]

Those pics were taken on Saturday, but the final selection was on Friday. It turned out that my second choice (or was it third?) was traded in by the person who picked it first. So, I was able to get it also. [My selections are the very unfinished one moving at the bottom of the first pic, and the prematurely? balanced patterned one against the edge of the tub.] I selected based on intuition regarding sex of the fish, body shape and guessing future pattern. Discussing it with Ray later, I did not approach it right. All the tosai had acceptable bodies at this stage, pattern is irrelevant... select based on the shininess and depth of the Sumi. Based on Ray's view, all the fish were fine, but the couple of best fish were not either of mine! LOL. But, I'm going to enjoy seeing how they come along. I'll be bringing them back to CFKS 2008.

[MikeM]

And, now the fish that captivated me:

[MikeM]

I do not mean to take anything away from the wonderful Sanke that took GC... we'll get to her. And I don't want to be misunderstood as disagreeing with the judges' decision. Sue Emerick's Sanke was definitely GC quality and enormous.

....but, my heart was stolen by the quality of Lee Aronfeld's Reserve GC Kohaku. This Torazo-bred lady had the highest quality Beni I've ever seen in Florida. The luster was so strong that it was as if it was mildly metallic. I wish I could show a close-up of a scale... each had a crystalline effect. The Shiroji was pearlescent. I hope somone who took really good photos of Lee's grand lady will post them.

When the judges walked the tanks on Sunday morning, it was commented that her Hi was pale ... more orange than red... but that this was due to her being very young with immature Beni, as indicated by the hoshi in each scale; that her white was not as white as the GC Sanke and she did not have the impressiveness of size. It was also observed that she has a great future ahead. It made me wonder about the Goforth-Finegan discussion. Later I compared the Shiro of the GC Sanke with that of the Reserve GC Kohaku. They were quite different. On the Sanke the white was very clean and pure. On the Kohaku it had a pearly effect. Two very different fish. The day belonged to the Sanke. The future belongs to the Aronfeld Kohaku. I hope he puts her in the mud and lets her return to CFKS next year.

[MikeM]

BTW, the reason for the two pics of her through bubbles and ripples is that those actually give a better impression of her powerfulness. The "clean shot" is rather too plain... but just look at the evenness of the pigment.

[MikeM]

...to be continued.

[KoiCop]

another quality thread from you with loads of insight to leaven the pix. Thanks!

Quote: Originally Posted by MikeM BTW, their discussion focused on whether any weight is given to the future of the fish, or whether judging should be 100% "on the day". Finegan was solidly "on the day", with Goforth emphasizing quality that will show in the future.

Re: the above, Goforth would appear to be the one with the 'evolved' Japanese approach to judging -- wherein future is an important component in judging a koi's Quality today.

Or so I've heard.

[PapaBear]

That is one very powerful Kohaku. Easy to understand how she captured your attention. It is hard to believe that she is "immature" with that wonderful frame, but it does give everyone a LOT to look forward to as she continues to finish. Wouldn't it be nice to own a fish like that and still be able to call it Tategoi