Life...

This week life has got in the way of any thoughts of kite buggying, my wife has been away at a conference in Sydney all week, so I have been a single parent...

I have been working school hours 9am 'til 3pm, I have cooked (which I normally do anyway!), I have cleaned (I guess I usually do my fair share), I have done the laundry (I cant send the girls to school with dirty undies), we have been to the orthodontist, the dog has been to the vets, when I get home today I will do the weeks food shopping!

So this is my first opportunity to think about the weekend and the possibility of buggying! I needn't have bothered - there is going to be some wind, but also some rain and the direction isn't any good for the site in Singleton and there is a circus on the other potential site.

But looking on the bright side my wife is going to owe me big time after her week in Sydney - flights, accommodation, expenses and of course childcare!

Weekend

At present the forecast for the weekend is looking dry and bright - I'm hoping to get out in the buggy on the Laurie Stanford reserve in Singleton on Sunday. The wind is looking gentle but doable! And I need to buggy...

My daughters are going to an all night move marathon tonight, at the youth group run by the local church, so they are going to be loads of fun this weekend - so I am best of staying out of the way!

Why...?

My wife keeps asking me why I want (more like need) a new buggy, here are my reasons-

Sysmic S2 - my dream machine

  

1. Safety

This is my primary concern, off course! A new buggy would have a wider rear axle and a lower centre of gravity providing a much more stable and safer ride. Therefore reducing the risk of OBE’s and flipping it.

2. Speed

The lower COG and wider axle would allow me to hold down more power and hopefully push my speed.

Apexx Exxtreme

3. Endurance

Longer and more comfortable buggy sessions.

4. Longevity

I have always been a great believer in - you get what you pay for, the PL comp is a great buggy and was brilliant to learn and develop my skills in. Now I am ready for that next step and need a buggy that will allow me to keep pushing and will last me for years.

PPW Cougar

5. Sanity

Checking out new kit helps keep me sane while I am not getting out as frequently – it’s either howling wind and rain or nothing at the moment! Imagine the fun I would have with a shiny new buggy to put together, then I could sit in it in the garage (those of you who buggy know what I am talking about!).

6. Development

For me to continue to push my limits, develop my skills and go faster and harder, I need to upgrade my kit – buggy and kites.

Libre Dragster

7. Support the manufacturing industries during times of global recession

Ok, I maybe pushing it a bit now!

At least my wife is talking about it now - and the seed has been sown, which often germinates into something new for me!

Buggying?

After a few days of cyclonic winds battering the West coast, surviving 20 hours without power and living by candle light, the weather is calming down and my thoughts are turning back to the possibility of getting out in the buggy at the weekend...

Jetty, Rockingham foreshore -Picture from the West Australian

Kitson Street, Rockingham - Picture from the West Australian

But at present, with the Salt Lake out of bounds and the winds not looking to good for Sunday, I am not hopeful (but keeping everything crossed) - I am also guessing there will still be debris scattered around...

 

Though last night I did have visions of me breaking the kite buggy speed record with a plastic bag and a Peter Lynnn Comp in 120kph winds!

Winter Down-under

The first of July is officially the first day of winter; last weekend we were really lucky with the weather with warm days, blue skies and some wind (even if they were North-Easterlies). With highs of 24 degrees it was a pleasure to be out, even if some of that time I was just sat in the buggy waiting for the wind...

Sunday 3rd July 2012

Sunday 3rd July 2012

This week winter has arrived, we have wind - gusty and strong, but we have also have had a good dumping of rain (which is much needed!) but never the less it's still cold and wet! Though we still have a maximum of 20-21 degrees forecast most days (that's cold!). And the dark and wet makes it feel colder...

The wind for the weekend is variable with strong northerly's forecast for Sunday, with rain increasing- which means if I am to go out in the buggy I am going to need to try and find somewhere else (again) - maybe I should just have a doona day (doona = duvet) and spend the day under the blankets - fat chance!

Video - Kite Buggy Mojave, Ivanpah Dry Lake

From Cliff - 

"Mine and Redskyhorizons trip to the States early in May 2012, each laden with nearly 100kgs of buggies, kites, tools, safety gear and clothes in order to experience Kite buggying on the legendary Ivanpah Dry Lake bed in the Californian Mojave Desert.

We weren't blessed with the greatest of winds but due to the rock hard surface there was enough to get us moving over 50mph. That didn't matter though because we were blown away by just being there!

One of the best sessions of the trip was on a fantastically chilled evening just cruising up and down the lake bed getting the first chance to sit back and take it all in."

Location - Laurie Stanford Reserve, Singleton

View Larger Map

I have been looking for an alternative location to buggy with the restrictions at Lake Walyungup - today I tried the Laurie Stanford Reserve in Singleton.

The wind was a Nor-Easterly, 18-20kph and gusty - as it turned out not the ideal conditions for the location as the wind was coming over the dunes and was very variable it also limited the amount of space I could use.

I parked in a car-park on the southern end of the reserve, which enabled me to get the buggy set-up easily and I left most of the kit in the boot as it was easy to grab whatever I needed - usually a luxury I don't have! With the conditions as they were I thought the safest bet would be to put up the 5m Ozone Flow.

The first hour was pretty frustrating, with the kite going from powered-up, to luffing and bow tieing. Then after a snack and a drink the wind came on a bit stronger and was a bit more consistent and I finally started to get a few more decent runs in. Though at times the kite would still float to the ground as the wind disappeared, before powering up again - but by the end of the morning the grin was back...

There are soccer posts on the reserve, but these were easily avoided. And given the right conditions (a westerly would be perfect, an easterly would also be more do-able) you could get some decent runs in. There were a few people around, walking dogs, on the play area and skate park, but there was still plenty of space to buggy safely. There were no un-expected dog-logs to avoid!

With the restrictions in place on the Salt Lakes, I think I will be back here with the buggy again, while still looking for more options...

Lake Walyungup - Restrictions

Further to my previous run in with the Rangers (Ok it was more a friendly chat), I have now spoken to the DEC and have had clarification of the issue…

“Land Yachting has also occurred mainly in summer when the dry lake bed is able to be driven on… DEC gives approval to undertake these recreational activities… Model aircraft flying and land yachting are only permitted in a designated area under dry lake bed conditions.”

Rockingham Lakes Regional Park, Proposed Final Management Plan 2010

Consequently, there is a seasonal restriction on access to Lake Walyungup and this is to prevent damage to the surface of the lake. The main issue being vehicles driving onto the lake, the locks have been changed on the access gates!

I have spoken to the DEC and even though as kite buggiers we don’t drive on to the lake, the restriction covers the land yachts and kite buggies are classed as the same. I do understand that they are unable to allow one group access and not another. The model aero-club also has restricted access and will now be flying close to the car-park.

Access during this time could lead to a fine or at worst a complete ban on use of the lake. So for the time being we are going to have to wear it and find other locations to buggy, which is pretty frustrating as the wind forecast for Sunday is looking good…

My plan now is to find an alternative location and I have a couple of places I need to check out, as well as keep playing lotto…

A couple of hectares of land; cleared, flattened and we have a purpose built buggy park which could be used whatever direction the wind is blowing – keep dreaming!

Newbie in a Kite Buggy – The Sequel!

Earlier this week I was re-reading some of the stuff I had written in my blog and particularly my Tale of a Newbie in a Kite Buggy…

I have now been buggying for nearly 10 months and when I look back to when I started and those first tentative steps, the concentration and effort that was required to roll those first few meters, successfully pulling off that first down-wind turn. The frustrations of stacking the kite and getting the lines and bridle tangled and the exhilaration of flying with the kite powered and increasing my speed.

Eventually venturing from the relatively confined area near the car park to the wide open spaces of the lake – and being able to buggy down there rather than having to walk.

I started off with my humble Peter Lynn Comp XR+ and the 5m Ozone Flow and since then have added a 3m Peter Lynn Core (my preferred kite) and a huge 8.5m Flexifoil Blade III to my quiver and am now looking at getting my hands on some race kites.

I had my first (and so far only) OBE, thanks to a seriously over-powered Core and have gradually pushed my speed up to just over 60kph I regularly hit the mid to high 50’s.

I am now flying hooked in and what a difference that has made to my buggying, I am now able to hold a lot more power and can buggy longer and faster – how did I manage before? When cruising I can now fly one or no handed!

My buggy is still the standard Peter Lynn Comp XR+, I have added a home made belly-pan and foot-straps. The rear tires are now bald and have had punctures repaired – the surface of the salt lake has scrubbed them smooth coupled with my love of sliding! This buggy continues to take everything I put it through and has been a great place to start – ultimately as I continue to push my speed and limits I am going to need to upgrade and I have my eyes on the Sysmic S2.

Flying the kites in conjunction with piloting the buggy has become instinctive, I no longer need to be watching the kite to see where it is and what it is doing – the force is strong with this one! I can throw the kite around to get the most out of it, flip it through 180 degrees and use it to pull me through a power-slide…

And boy, do I like going sideways? Wether it is kicking the rear end out, setting the buggy sideways to scrub speed or throwing it hard in to a glorious huge power-slide – it is always guaranteed to bring a huge smile to my face! And remove another layer of rubber from my tires.

I am quite happy cruising around taking things easy and enjoying the ride, but of course there is also the part of me that likes to keep pushing harder and faster. I use my Garmin Etrex GPS to keep an idea of my speed and the Endomondo sports tracker app to track my route.

There are also now a couple of other guys who come down to the salt lake regularly and it is always good to have some company and I love seeing other kites down there. But also love a solitary session when I have the lake to myself! I am very lucky to have such an amazing place to buggy so close to home.

I think that in the 9-10 months I have been doing this that I have clocked approx 100 hours in the buggy! The fact that I dream about buggying – I reckon I am truly addicted!

As somebody once said to me welcome to tree watchers anonymous!

The pen is mightier than the kite?

I have always had a passion for writing about what inspires and interests me and hopefully some of that comes across in this blog. When I’m not in the bug I am often thinking what I can write about next.

I love writing and reviewing my kit and have added my reviews to various forums as well…

Flexifoil Blade III 8.5m

Ozone Access SB Harness

Peter Lynn Core 3m

Peter Lynn Competition XR+

Ozone Flow 5m

Tale of a newbie in a kite buggy

Racekites reviews – the latest and some old ones!

Extreme Kites Reviews

I have also had a couple of none kite related articles published in magazines - 

On The Road

Great Walks

Global Audience

I have just added a very nifty gadget to my blog...

Its over there on the right hand side, now you can view my blog in any language - all thanks to the boffin's at Google!

I'm still getting hits from all over the world...

There is also Malaysia, China, Latvia, Romania, Spain, United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands and New Zealand to add to the list! Thank-you for your ongoing support.

70 Million worth of dreams

Today is AusLotto's $70 million super-draw - what would you do with a share of $70 million?

A complete set of Peter Lynn Vapors -

A Sysmic S2 kite Buggy - 

One of theses to film my antics -

And one of these to carry it all around in - 

Of course, give up work (and become a kite bum!), pay off the mortgage - all the usual stuff!

17th Wedding Anniversary

What's one of the best things to do on your wedding anniversary?

A morning kite buggy session at lake Walyungup! With my wife's approval of course...

Endomondo sports tracker

South Westerly's, with clearing showers, that later swung around to southerly's and the 3m Core was powered up nicely. Was joined by Bones and Alfa75 who I know from extreme kites and there were 4 kites in the air (with Bones's wife static flying) - have to say I loved seeing all the kites down there.

It was an awesome session, about 40kms traveled and a top speed of 56.5kph. Came home completely pebble dashed and would have been tempted to go on longer if another shower hadn't come along. The buggy's been hosed down and the kites are airing in the garage.

Happy anniversary honey...

Mark and Mandy - 6th May 1995

Adverse Weather Conditions!

As a dedicated kite buggier I am always checking out the weather forecast, looking ahead at the weekend when I am next going to get out. Yesterday the wind forecast for Sunday was non-existent...

Today the wind forecast for Sunday looked slightly better, with winds increasing - but it wasn't going to be record breaking! (though check out Monday and Tuesday!)...

But look at today's rain radar - we are having a very large delivery of the wet stuff! And that is set to continue tomorrow, with showers clearing on Sunday, so looks like if there is wind on Sunday I am going to get wet - either from the rain or blasting through puddles!

Blade III 8.5m - first flight

I have owned my Flexifoil Blade III 8.5m a couple of months now and only got to fly it for the first time on Sunday and then it nearly didn't happen...

I bought this monster as a low wind kite and because I've always wanted a Blade! It was bought second hand from extreme kites and comes in it's original ruck-sack and stuff sack. Initial inspection of the kite was good, it looks like the bridle is new, though was a bit twisted in places, the sail fabric was immaculate there is just some dried grass over the mesh covers to the cells. The handles and lines look hardly used.

The lines are 30m and when it arrived they were handle wrapped so I spent a great deal of time untwisting them and then re para-packing the kite (see here), I always get in a tangle with handle wrapping! the bags have some dirt but are otherwise huge and I love the fact it comes in it's own stuff sack.

I know the Blades reputation and have seen the videos on You Tube so there were a couple of things that I had some anxiety about before I got to fly this kite...

These are very lifty and powerful kites and have a reputation of biting and the spitting out unfortunate kiters!

Also the Blade III had a issue with bridle stretch that can distort the sail shape and effect flight - this can be corrected through re-tuning the bridle or by buying a bridle adjustment.

I was fairly confident the bridle would be OK as it looks new, but still had some nerves as I didn't want to disappear over the horizon!

Down on the Salt Lake Sunday morning, we had lots of rain the night before so there were large areas with a covering of water. More showers were forecast and with westerly winds increasing through the morning.

I started with the 5m Flow,but that was packed away rapidly as a heavy shower hit! Once that passed I thought now or never!

Staked out the handles then took the long walk, down wind, as the the 30m of lines unfurled from the bag. Unfolded the kite and I had forgotten how big this thing is!

Back to the handles, a quick tug and it sailed gracefully into the air and I was dragged (on my feet) about 10m! Wow - what a powerful kite. My usual technique is to put it through a few turns and figure 8's to get used to the power and speed of the kite - I was not disappointed, the kite held it's shape well, generated lots of power and most surprisingly turned pretty quickly for such a beast!

While the wind was pretty gentle thought I should try it in the buggy, as this is what I bought it for. I had about five minutes of gentle buggying until the wind completely dropped and the blade floated gently down. There were no nasty surprises, the wing tips folded a couple of times and were easily shaken out - this was more due to the very low wind rather than anything else.

Hung around for 10 minutes or so cursing the wind (or lack of it and it must have worked), until a more steady breeze picked up ahead of  some very dark and threatening clouds.

The kite was back in the air and flying (and pulling) happily - back into the buggy and off with some more speed now. The kite was pulling well and the speed increased, keeping it low in the window flipped it 180 degrees and made a perfect turn, with a nice slide thrown in!

A few more runs up and down the length of the lake, with the kite performing brilliantly - no scary moments just great fun, then the wind increased and a few spots of rain started...

The kite powered-up and the speed increased, but I wanted to stop and pack away before another drenching. A down-wind slide to scrub some speed and de-power the kite, as I started to bring it up to the zenith. The kite didn't want to de-power with the wind increasing - full on power-slide, pushed the kite higher into the window, started going backwards and then managed to turn around and stop the bug.

Hard on the brakes and the kite drifted down all sweet and innocent! Packed the kite away and got under shelter before the full force of another shower hit! After that it was back on the 5m and before I Knew it out came the 3m Core!

The blade is an awesome kite - I knew it was going to be powerful, but was pleasantly surprised at the speed of it's turns. Still think I am going to sell it as I have vapors and prodigy's on the brain!

Back in the bug...

After a 3 week hiatus because of holidays, lack of wind and a flat tire, today, I finally got out in the bug again.

walking from the car park to the flying area

The forecast was for increasing westerly's and decreasing showers. I was hoping that with the low winds early on I may finally get to fly the 8.5m Blade. Overnight we had had the first real rains of autumn and I thought that there maybe a few puddles to play in - boy was I wrong, Lake Walyungup was looking like a real lake!

So it was the 1km walk down to the flying area, paddling as I went and there was now no wind so I wasn't optimistic that even the Blade would fly.

The flying area

Did you know that the wind often increases ahead of a shower? I'm sure I did but seemed to have forgotten this - as the wind gradually increased and the clouds look more threatening, I thought I should get a kite out and have a go.

Started with the 5m Ozone Flow as it was quite blowy. Flew for about 5 minutes before the first few big drops of rain started to hit.

Got the kite packed away and was heading to the shelter of the container used by the land yacht guys, when it fully opened up, I was soaked before I got there. By the time I made it to the shelter the rain stopped and the wind dropped off again!

Shelter

Headed back out to dry off and try again - this time with the Blade! I forgot what a big kite this is and how long the flying lines are! But it is great - I was a bit worried about how well it would fly as I have read that they can suffer with bridle stretch which requires some modification. The bridle on mine looks new and the kite flew well and held a perfect shape.

The wind was still a bit low but the kite did pull and I was surprised how quickly I could get it to turn on the brakes. A couple of times the wing tips folded because of the low winds but were easily shaken out and recovered. I even had the confidence to try a reverse launch and a few runs in the buggy before the wind picked up and looked over my shoulder and saw a rainbow...

This time I managed to pack the kite away and get under the shelter before another shower hit.

This one was heavier than before and I was amazed at how quickly the lake disappeared, behind the veil of rain and also under a layer of water!

Time for morning tea while I waited for it to pass. Which after 5-10 minutes it did - this time the wind stayed, don't you just love it when they get the forecast right?

The lake disappearing under a veil of rain

Started off again with the 5m Flow, blasting up and down the lake, through the puddles getting completely soaked and pebble-dashed (thinking I may need a splash-guard). The wind was pretty lumpy and gusty - so decided to pack the flow away and go for my weapon of choice, my 3m Core, this is quickly becoming my favorite kite.

The sky continued to clear the wind continued to blow, some of the water quickly disappeared. Had a great session then, just blasting up and down the lake, hitting the water, sliding the buggy and generally making the most of it.

Then I hit the wall, lack of food and drink and had been out long enough. Thought if my wife could brink some lunch and a cup of tea, after half an hour would of probably carried on playing - but didn't think there was much chance of that! So it was time to pack up and head back home.

Spent some time at home cleaning the bug and checking all the kites and lines were fully dry - ready for next time!

Tire trouble - part II

I have just spent two hours trying to put a tube into my tire! This time thanks to the advice from racekites and Extreme Kites it was a success.

I managed to get the tire off the rim by standing on it!

I got the tube in without any problems, but had a fight to get the tire back on the rim - but a video posted on extreme kites was very helpful...

I managed to get the tire back on using a hair dryer, washing-up liquid, some spoons and brute force...

But was then left with a big gap where I needed to get the tire centralized and back on the beading properly, I struggled with this for ages, posted on extreme kites, then had a flash of inspiration...

Using my 12v tire compressor hooked up to the car battery I kept inflating until pop! It was back on an looking good, ready for tomorrow morning!

I am leaving the other rear tire alone for now as it is still holding air!

What I used to put an inner tube in my tire!