Lack of respect

Last weekend one of the model aero club stacked his plane on the salt lake. Today when I was down there I found the remains of his aircraft dumped in the bush!

We are privileged to be able to use this area for recreation and it pisses me off to see it treated with such an obvious lack of respect. I picked up the pieces and took them home with me to dispose of properly.

Green light

I have got the green light for a buggy session tomorrow. So that means this weekend I'm going to get out twice!

The wind looks ok for tomorrow, which will be a warm up for Sunday which is looking epic!

My chance to get myself in the 1 hour challenge rankings...

http://www.endomondo.com/challenges/7223114

Custom GoPro mount - modifications

I have had some pretty good results from the chase camera mount that I made for my GoPro.

Since that picture I have shortened the arm to reduce bounce (the actual mount was made from the packaging the camera comes in!).

I had some time and decided to tidy up the  mount to make it look a bit better and also added some more holes so that I can change the orientation of the camera.

The pipe clamps works really well and makes it easy to attach and remove...

1 hour challenge - fastest and furthest

The kite buggy one hour challenge - who can go the fastest (top speed and average speed) and furthest, on land in a kite buggy in an hour?

You will need the endomondo app on your smart phone, come on join the challenge -
http://www.endomondo.com/challenges/7223114

Pick your location, pick your day and pray for the wind!

I don't take any responsibility for OBE's and crashes during your attempt!

Come on give it a blast! Fly at your local site and compete against the world!

Video - Carpe Diem

A video from Sundays session-

Another laid back Sunday session...

Low winds made for a cruisey Sunday morning session, the 5m Flow took a lot of work to keep me moving and I spent more time un-hooked than hooked in (and can feel it this morning!).

A good crowd on the salt lake (there were three buggys and one kite board) made for a great session - spent some time chasing Alpha75 with his 15m Matrix. Also met tinman who was on his first visit to the lake, I'm sure he will be back.

Endomomdo sports tracker

Can't wait until next weekend and do it all again...

OBE - the Vapor bites!

It was an interesting morning and a good day for OBE's it seems! Yes I did it again, and I was joined by Bones who also decided to fly today!

The wind went from nothing to 30kph + with stronger gusts within about half an hour.

The 2.7m vapor took some work to start with but I was determined to stick with it. As the wind strength increased I realized the huge power that this kite can deliver. And a stupid mistake when trying to untwist my lines lead to me leaving the buggy...

Only a few bruises and scrapes and was lucky to get away with just that. Decided with the wind blowing as it was that discression is the better part of valour and went home! Have to say up to that point I was absolutely loving the vapor and thinking I need more of these kites...

Sunday's Session...

I remembered to turn on the Endomondo sports tracker while I was out in the buggy on Sunday morning. Easterlies meant I could use a good length of the salt lake and rode some of the way back towards the car park...

Back in the bug...

After 3 months with only a couple of goes in the buggy on local sports fields, the last couple of weekends I have headed out on the salt lake...

The wind has been gentle but managed to fly the 2.7m vapor as well as the good old 5m flow, of course I had my new GoPro HD Hero with me. Got the video edited on Pinnacle Studio for the iPad. No banging sound track just some spring crusin'!

Custom GoPro mount

I have made a  custom mounts to attach the GoPro to the buggy in a couple of different ways...

The chase cam!

Attached with a couple of hose clamps

The full frontal!

amazingly it doesn't interfere with the steering!

More hose clamps!

My only concern is the flexibility of the pipe, which may mean the camera will bounce around to much and make everybody who views the footage sick! I think shortening will reduce that, hopefully will have some results soon...

The Godfather of kite buggying!

Just found a link to my blog on Popeye The Welder's website!

If you didn't already know PTW is the godfather of kite buggying!

http://popeyethewelder.com/

Video - A good day to die!

Another cracking video...

A Good Day To Die from charles on Vimeo.

Pinnacle Studio for iPad

Having recently got my GoPro HD Hero Naked I wanted some way of editing the footage on my iPad. After a look around I opted for Avid Studio App. This was the same price as iMovie ($5.49) but appeared more flexible and user friendly!

After downloading it I was given the option of a fee upgrade to Pinnacle Studio, which appears the same but can export in HD - so went for it!

Had a play around with it on Sunday and found it easy and intuitive to use and managed to produce a simply edited video in about 10 minutes. Imported the clips quickly and easily...

Included some transitions...

And added some back ground music off the iPad...

Now hoping to try more and spend a little bit longer on the result, the finished product was easliy exported onto 

Video - MG kite Soft Sessions

MG Kite Soft Sessions from charles on Vimeo.

Awesome video, I can't wait for the full version, I so need to get out in the bug...

C'mon wind!

Fathers Day...

Yesterday was fathers day and I officially received my GoPro HD Hero Naked! And was allowed to play with it - as we were away for the weekend I just did some filming around the farmstay we were staying at. Then when we got home downloaded Avid Studio for the iPad then with the free upgrade changed to Pinnacle Studio (which is the HD version).

Had some fun playing around editing the footage and here is what I produced in about 10 minutes...

When we got home attached the curved mount onto my helmet ready for a chance in the buggy...

Now just looking for an anglepoise lamp I can cannabalise to make a mount for the rear axle of the buggy!