Buggying...

I got to buggy today! The wind was a bit all or nothing but at least I had an hour and a half in the buggy and I even over took a butterfly!

Video - Snow Kite Australia

Winter down-under...

Snow kite Australia from Martin Brown on Vimeo.

Video - winter

My video from buggying at the weekend...

Winter... from Mark Crook on Vimeo.

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Winter...

I got out for the first time in ages, the winter weather is a nightmare, clear and bright = no wind. Rain = loads of wind!

Today we had clear and kinda cloudy, but there was wind forecast 15-20 knots, got to the salt lake at 8.30 and there was nothing, unpacked the 10m Manta and waited 1/2 an hour then the wind came in! Got an hour and a half of pure buggy bliss!

But it was bloody cold!

Video is edited but can't get it on vimeo until Wednesday!

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Winter...

The 1st of July and the first day of winter, only three months until spring!

The wind forecast for the week is pretty rubbish, looks like more free-ride mountainboarding and the kites staying in the garage (I guess it can always change)...

Winter winds..?

Looks like we have got a week of typical winter winds, not much unless there is a storm! Forecast for this week - after today it isn't going to get over 10 knots all week!

I didn't get out in the buggy or on the board, over the weekend, not much wind and had family things on (yesterday was Mother's Day!).

My 10m Manta II will get me moving in 7-10 knots, but maybe its time to consider one of these...

Flysurfer Speed 3 12m CE

Last day...

...of winter - tomorrow is spring.

Picture: Danella Bevis/Countryma

After a record breaking warmest and wettest August we are set for a few more days of showers before we get some sunshine and the spring weather really kicks in...

From the West Australian 30th August 2013
"The Weather Bureau’s history books are set to be rewritten tomorrow as Perth prepares to see off its warmest August on record.

If the mercury reaches 19.5C – the forecast top is 22C – Perth will have enjoyed its highest average August maximum since records began in 1897.

Barring an unexpected and dramatic cold change, four of the hottest five Augusts have come in the last seven years.

Earlier this month, Perth slept through its hottest August night on record, when the temperature bottomed out at 17.1C on August 7.

But it has also been the wettest August since 2004, with more than 160mm of rain compensating for a dry start to the winter.

Bureau spokesman Glenn Cook said the unusual weather was due to the unusually warm water off the WA coast.

“The winds have maintained their direction off the water so you tend to get warmer conditions, because those sea surface temperatures are a bit above average,” he said.

Perth had its biggest August downpour in a decade on August 8 when 45.4mm of rain fell on the city over a 24-hour period.

The deluge also reached most of the Wheatbelt and South West, lifting the spirits of desperate farmers and causing several rivers to flood.

The Bureau expects more warm weather over spring, forecasting a 75-80 per cent chance of above average minimums."

I'm just hoping after the rain of the last week that the lake is going to be dry enough tomorrow to buggy on as we have some wind forecast...

6 weeks to go...

 … until spring and then hopefully the weather will improve for kite buggying.

We have had another typical winter weekend. When it’s dry and bright there is no wind (and it gets cold), the wind only seems to come to the party when the rain comes (or is imminent) and we get some awesome storms here in Perth.

This also means that after the rain Lake Walyungup takes a long time to dry out and the surface is sticky and cuts up – so I don’t like to buggy.

But within a few days of the commencement of spring (the 1^st September) there is a noticeable change, we couldn’t believe the difference when we first moved here, as the change is dramatic. The days will suddenly start getting warmer and the wind won’t be dependent on the rain.

I will continue to try and fly as and when the weather gives me a break, and I have been out more this winter than the previous year (mainly thanks to a 10m Ozone Manta II) – but we have broken the back of winter…