Grand Champion B – where the B stands for executioner of a fish – for Kinginrin Chagoi by Marudo
For three years Patrick managed to delight us with the highest honor for his golden yellow wonder from the Izumiya stables. No one ever scored a Hat-trick as Grand Champion B and certainly not with the same Koi. That we begin this news item with the Koi that didn’t make it is not surprising. A fish of this stature – one of the very best non-gosanke we ever experienced in continental Europe – is no more…. The now 113 cm Yamabuki Ogon died before the eyes of Makkes, just weeks before the show….
The hobbyist shared it with me in confidence earlier. This is not news you go around selling; this is pain, pure pain. For it did not stop with that one Koi. All hell gradually broke out in the pond of Makkes’ house when the hobbyist saw his water foaming and had to watch his fish die despite intervention and help, rinsing and skimming. Just weeks before the yamabuki, he had to say goodbye to his beloved Miss Rose, who even made it to a Grand Champion in Japan. Those who know Patrick know that it has nothing to do with money and everything to do with pure passion. The hobbyist appeared in person at the Belgian Koi Show; as a spectator where he would have so gladly participated again. His Koi heart is broken and the sympathy is great. This is every hobbyist’s nightmare. When I spoke to patrick was distraught. determined to pull through the fish that survived while the towel was already in the ring. The cause is not unequivocally known; investigations are ongoing.
Patrick had the courage to face his fellow hobbyists in Waregem and confront himself with the grief knowing that procrastination does not help. Filip Poppe received his congratulations when he took the Grand Champion B award with a fish more than worthy of the title. His miraculous Kinginrin Chagoi from Marudo Koi Farm measures 102 cm with an unprecedented size. It is a giant gliding through the water, a living dam in that blue barrel. Poppe estimates the Koi to be at least 20 kilos, but I think he underestimates it somewhat. What a monster:
What a spectacle to be able to watch this willow of a Koi swim and that for one Kinginrin. The head alone is bizarre. also Ket Kinginrin is correct and the even color of the brown. This is an up and coming Chagoi, in appearance and behavior and it is bizarre how Poppe is always able to get his fish to the show in gleaming condition. Is the Koi more beautiful than Patrick’s Yamabuki? Let’s not compare and sympathize with Patrick while we can feel joy for Filip.
sharing experience and compassion is where the hobby really touches people
What humbled me very much this past weekend is seeing from a distance as I stood taking the pictures, how they are there for each other; how one hobbyist immediately understands another and feels the magnitude of that pain. I hope Patrick finds strength in this too; this too is hobby, sharing knowledge is one thing, but sharing experience and compassion is where the hobby really touches people.
