Gibberish or.. ? (02-04-25)
It has been more than 20 years since Belgium was startled by the performance of a compatriot who returned from Taiwan. Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, he was there. Michel Vanlint. He did not shine in the regional club in the sprint but in the Nationals, with an entire nation as a competitor.
And what was remarkable? He mainly did it with Dutch pigeons. His De Br birds pigeons won three Nationals in a short period of time.
One of them ('Anita') stems from a son of my 'Ace Four' who W de Br was allowed to borrow after a disastrous race.
His already legendary 'Murphy's Law' also stems from the same borrowed pigeon.
STRIKING
Vanlint not only stood out because of his performances:
- He was probably the first Belgian who thought that good pigeons should be able to handle races of more than 400 km every week and he put that into practice. Vandenabeele claimed the opposite, he thought that was 'Dutch style', but the winner is always right and Vanlint was a winner.
- He was also (one of) the first in Belgium to practice total widowhood. So raced both cocks and hens. Again in the 'Dutch' way. Michel (90 years old now !!) also thinks:
- That you should mate as much color with color as possible. Blue with blue, chequered with chequered and so on. It would increase the chances of breeding good ones. According to him, that is.
- He also claims that you should keep 'White' out as much as possible. It indicates degeneration (decline). White flights would also indicate this.
TRUE OR NOT?
Does he have a point? His views are not shared by many. It would be prejudices or even myths that put algorithms 'to work'. Are those myths and algorithms an accurate representation of the facts? Hmm. I do not know. It is known that eradicating algorithmic biases or myths is just as difficult as eradicating human biases.
Some can't get it out of their throats to say 'I don't know', according to Socrates the first step towards wisdom.
DIFFERENT
Vanlint is/was different from most of his generation. As a 70-year-old, he dared to leave the path already trodden, to deviate from what was thought to be normal. Why do I say in his 70s? Progress is usually the domain of young people.
Take a look at the faces of champions at a ceremony. They seem to be on average about 20 years younger than the average fancier.
INSTINCTIVE
Pigeon fanciers do not like innovations. The industrial revolution has brought a lot of progress, but it took some getting used to. 'The beginning of the Apocalypse', some feared. Like with the first cars. People who could move around without doing anything for it? Was the end of time in sight? My father-in-law, believe it or not, always said wearing long hair was the first indication.
I predict there will come a time when you can see each other when you are on the phone’, he predicted. We laughed so much. 'Just not crazy enough for the madhouse.’…
MUST FOLLOW'
The ambitious fancier has to come along. Initially, there was a lot of resistance, especially in Belgium, to electronic clocking. Now it is as obvious as the rising of the sun. Administrators in particular tend to be of the old school. 'It always went well.'
Today we can see to the second when a pigeon, where ever, arrives.
‘Too much too soon’ even the youngl chairman of NPO claimed. It cost him his head.
WRONG
Having success in life and in pigeon sport is also a matter of keeping the right pace. 'If you run too fast, you will overtake the misfortune. If you walk too slowly, misfortune will catch up with you.
'Was Vanlint ahead of his time or did he have too much imagination when he said that it is best to mate pigeons with the same colours and that you should avoid white plumes as much as possible?
As far as playing weekly at distances of more than 400 km of which Vandenabeele was such an opponent, history has already proved Vanlint right. Here it is fair to say that he may have been a forerunner. But only in Belgium.
In the Netherlands and in Germany as well they had not done anything else for years. In Germany you have no choice.
'Birds must handle all distances, or you can forget about titles'.
It is not impossible that their dominance in the International One Loft Races has something to do with this. They sometimes dominated to such an extent that it is embarrassing for Belgians in particular. They would have the best, wouldn't they?
THE BEST?
We talked about standing still and progress. But there is something else: Going backwards. In 2024 it was striking that so many Belgian NATIONAL Ace pigeons and winners descend from the northern neighbours. Was Vanlint another forerunner with his 'Dutch pigeons?' In a report about Kaier, the Chinese who bought pigeons for many millions, you can read that his right-hand man Pascal was not very keen on Dutch pigeons. Chinese Kaier does. And he bought them.
Now we are a few years later. Whole or half 'Dutch birds now dominate for the same Pascal and his rich boss.
L, a famous Belgian: 'It seems as if the Dutch pigeons are now not only better in the extreme long distance, but also in the middle distance.' 'And later also on the sprint if you continue with 10 or more releases of not even 1.000 birds from the same station every ten minutes with all the same final destination' I responded.
'Street by street' is what you sometimes hear. A bit exaggerated but 'village by village' comes close in ...