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CoffeeWaffle
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Friday, 31 December 2004
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I've been a bit down in the dumps the last couple of days. The Tsunami disaster has been part of the reason. I just can't fathom it, and I feel powerless, in that I can't do anything directly to help. The effect was seen in the tides here in NZ. We sit on the same fault line and there have been a couple of significant quakes near here lately, thankfully deep out to sea of our southern coast. I also feel lucky. It could have been us.
Also contributing to my mood has been our unseasonable weather. Dark grey skies and steady rain for the last couple of days. Today it cleared and with the sun came a Northerly breeze... time for some kite buggy therapy.
I made it out to Rabbit Island by about five o'clock. The low tide was due about 6.45pm and the sun didn't set till 9pm, so a big buggy session was on the cards. Marty from the kite club was there, along with one other buggy pilot and about half a dozen land yachts and blo-karts (we're starting to be out numbered regularly by these guys now). The wind was coming in at a slight angle so it meant a slow zig-zagging tack all the was to the East end, then a fast run back to the West. After all the rain it was a very wet beach today, so everything (and I mean everything) got coated in wet sand. In my ears, up my shorts, all through my beard, and up my nose. In my eyes (even around my sunglasses), in my hair, and down my back. Its actually rather invigorating. I buggied so long and hard that when I did stop, I had a bad case of buggy knees. That's when you go to leap up out of your buggy only to realise that your knees don't work anymore and refuse to straighten. It looks really funny as you waddle around in a half crouch, for the few minutes it takes to wear off.
This is my buggy helmet caked in sand after the 3 hour buggy session. Imagine what my face looked like.
10:43:59 PM 
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Monday, 27 December 2004
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I've been very busy the last few days. Not because of Christmas, though. Christmas is not much effort at all in a bachelors lifestyle.
Tide and wind. The forces of nature have combined this week to provide me with almost perfect kite buggying conditions for three days in a row (three holidays no less). Mid afternoon low tides coincided with smooth Northerly sea-breezes. Rabbit Island beach on a one meter low tide is as wide as a rugby field is long, and about 8km of hard packed sand. I was out there for about 4 hours on into the evening on Christmas Day (after lunch at Mum and Dad's), most of Boxing Day afternoon, and back there today for more. Today I was joined by three other buggy pilots, including Bill and Marty from the Nelson Kite Club. There were also 4 or 5 blokarts there (looked like Christmas presents), which we had fun racing.
I haven't taken a single photo of any kites or buggies, but I did get a few landscapes in the late afternoon light on my way home yesterday.
10:12:18 PM
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Friday, 24 December 2004
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Its been really strange weather here today. It's really warm but we've been getting sun showers all day. Everything smells musty as the moisture evaporates almost as quickly as it fell.
Theres a nice Northerly breeze and I was about to go to Neale Park for a Kite Buggy but another shower just began. Instead I'll tell you a kite buggying story about Neale Park, golfers, and kite buggying.
I have a little on-going game with the golfers that use Neale Park for practise. They are unaware of this little game, but are participants none-the-less. As far as I'm aware golf practise is not allowed on the park. There are plenty of golf courses and driving ranges around but many choose to use the park anyway, and thats fine by me, as long as they look out for kite buggys. To be fair, I've never been hit by a ball and they always give way (some begrudgingly).
My little game involves collecting the golf balls they have hit, as I whizz by them in the buggy. It has to be done quickly and with enough stealth to leave the golfer completely unaware of his loss. It takes skill and timing to cleanly snatch a golf ball off the ground at 30kph or more, and do it smoothly enough so that the golfer does not see it. All they know is that when they get home their bucket of 30 balls, now only has 29 (or 27, or 25 on a good day). The game is easiest when the grass hasn't been mowed for a few weeks and the white clover flowers make it difficult for the golfer to tell how many balls he can see. Some of them use bright orange or yellow balls to combat this. These special coloured balls are worth double points and are the coveted prize of the kite-buggy-golf-ball-grabber.
Its not as easy as it sounds. First you must spot the golf balls, then pilot the buggy close enough to them to grab them, but not too close, so they pass directly under you, making them impossible to reach. There is a window of about 8 inches, to one side (the side away from the golfer) where retrieval is possible. Then there's the timing. At 30kph the snatch is very quick. To slow and your wrist gets bashed by the back axle. At 45kph the golf ball snatch is something a martial arts master could be proud of. "When you can snatch the golf ball from the grass at 50kph, you will be ready grasshopper."
The golfers do sometimes get suspicious. If I notice one eyeballing me after I have liberated a ball or two, I may resort to another method. This involves a two stage approach. First is to run the ball over with the buggy wheel, sinking it into the ground, making it almost impossible to see when the golfer is collecting his balls again. Then ball can then be retrieved later when he has moved on. This method however, is nowhere near as satisfying as the purist ball snatch.
I wonder if I could start a league for my game? Who knows, maybe the Kite Buggy Golf Ball Grab could be an Olympic event one day...
5:26:33 PM
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Wednesday, 15 December 2004
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Whoops, I haven't posted for two days! I've been busy tinkering with new software. I just acquired Adobe Premiere Pro 1.5 for work and have to learn to use it, before someones asks me how. Anyone who has tried video editing knows how much time is involved. I reckon you need at least 1 hour editing for every minute of video you want to produce. My 4 minute video has taken about twice that, but its my first time with a new program so there was a bit of reading to do.
I've used video editors before, like Windows Movie Maker (uggh), I-Movie, and Studio DV, but Premiere Pro makes them all look like toys. It has all the bells and whistles so unlike Windows Movie Maker, (you do it Bill's way or you don't do it), you are only limited by your imagination and technical tenacity. It does, however assume a professional level of knowledge, which I guess is fair considering it has 'Pro' in its name. It assumes you know stuff like what de-interlacing is, and why you get combing (technical term for funny horizontal lines sticking out of anything that moves to fast in your video) when you don't de-interlace before you output to the encoder. I know this now after much wailing and gnashing of teeth reading.
On Monday I took a video camera from work, down to the Wakapuaka Sand-flats. I set it up on a tripod, set it recording, then went for a buggy, stopping three or four times to change the camera angle. I filled a one hour tape then used that footage, and a cool tune by Cake to produce this four minute video (15mb). (warning: lyrics use the 'f' word about 97 times, so if you're at Grandma's house, put the headphones on) .
7:08:30 PM
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Sunday, 12 December 2004
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Today was the monthly Club-day for the Nelson Kite Club. Usually it's held at Rabbit Island Beach but today the venue was moved to the Wakapuaka Sand Flats. South-west winds were the reason for the change. Rabbit Island is a North facing beach, so the SW wind there is coming off the land at a 45 degree angle, and it gusts badly. At the sand flats its a different story. On its way across the waters of Tasman Bay, the wind smooths out and hits Wakapuaka with steady force.
The surface at Wakapuaka is a hard packed, sun baked, crust of old tidal sand. There's very little rolling resistance so it is a very fast surface to kite buggy on. Because it's only 10 minutes from my place, it's like my 'home turf'. I feel right at home there. I've spent many afternoons out there, on my own, in a screaming southwester trying to set impromptu land speed records, laughing out loud where no one can hear me.
Todays wind was a little changeable for a start. I changed from my 3.0m Blade, to my 6.3m C-Quad, and then as the wind picked up again, back down to a pair of Excaliburs (which I re-bridled this morning after last weeks little episode here).
I had forgotten how much fun a simple two-line stack of delta kites, like the Excaliburs, can be. I fly them with no back-strap or harness, just a pair of padded wrist straps, so the power is very direct and my arms take the full load. I feel very in-touch with the kites that way and can feel every little ripple in the wind. The other great things about them (apart their relatively low price tag), is the speeeeed. The delta shape is very fast through the air, and has a much higher top speed than most other kite designs. This means that providing theres enough wind speed, and you've got your head on right, you can go as fast as you dare. I did a couple of very fast downwind runs out there today. I didn't have my speedo on but I would guess I was doing 65-70kph. The speed I like, its stopping at the other end that gets scary. The only way to do it is to throw the buggy into a slide to shave off speed. Great fun, and a great way to bend wheel bolts (aye, Marty).
Marty demonstrates the slow-me-down-quick power-slide method.
Bill, buggy pilot and BBQ chef.
Bill heading upwind with his citrus coloured 4.2m C-Quad, against a vivid sky.
A close up of an Ozone foil. I've haven't flown one (yet), but I really like the shape of these foils.
The pilot of that Ozone foil pulling some tricks.
Bills modified Quad-foil. Theres quite a few miles on this kite. It was rescued from a bad home where the bad owner had tried to convert it to a two line setup (duh... they call it a quad-foil for a reason). They must have then flown it through a barbed wire fence or two for good measure. Bill bought it for a bargain, rebuilt it and has been happily clocking up the miles ever since.
Marty showing off his 2-wheeling skills.
We rounded off this great afternoon of kite flying and buggying with a bar-q-cue (courtesy of Bill and Barbara). The Nelson Kite Club committee have been trying to think of ways to get more club members to show up for club events. Personally, after an afternoon like today, I'm sure they don't know what they're missing.
9:49:13 PM
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Friday, 10 December 2004
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I just made another post on KBNZ. If you have ever wanted to know how to make pads for your kite buggy, for just $8, you're in luck. If not you might like to look at the pictures anyway :)
7:25:44 PM
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Wednesday, 8 December 2004
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Today was a top day. A beautiful, crisp Northerly all afternoon. I was at work but just had to quit an hour early, to go kite buggying, (I'll make it up some time when the wind isn't so perfect). I got to Neale Park around 4.30pm and got out my buggy and the Blade II.
One hour in a 18-20 knot Northerly with this little kite, on a kite buggy is the best therapy, ever. The wind began to ease off a little as the sun crept lower toward the horizon. Just as I was thinking about changing to my 6.3m C-Quad, Ted and Sam showed up.
That's Sam. Don't panic if you can't see his legs... they're camouflaged ;)
and that's Ted. Now I must say something about the new helmet. I'm sure its very comfortable, and practical and everything... but the look, justs begs for a name. Alein? Cyclops? One-eyed Blowfly? Squadron Leader? Darth was the first to spring to my mind. I'm sure it'll grow on me Ted :)
We hooned around the park until almost 8pm. As I write this I have a very sore backside, because I decided, while I was having so much fun, I would jump my buggy. The City Council kindly left a big pile of top soil in one corner of the park several months ago. Obviously it was put there for us to ride and jump kite buggys all over. I buggyed off the side of it, without first checking my seat adjustments to ensure I had enough bum-to-ground clearance for a trouble free landing. I didn't. It hurt so bad I had to land the kite, jump out of the buggy seat and rub it... a lot. Anyone watching would have had a good laugh.
After almost 4 hours of buggying I was treated to a well-formed sunset on the way home. Heres a taste...
like I said... a top day.
9:58:49 PM
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Saturday, 4 December 2004
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The first post has been made to KiteBuggyNZ (www.kitebuggy.co.nz). I've put a new navigator button on the left linking to it. This was an idea of Craig's that I volunteered to help create. Its the first movable type installation I've done and I have to say it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.
KBNZ will be a collaborative web log. Authors will all be invited kite buggy pilots from around NZ (invites going out soon guys). To start with there's Craig and I, but we have at least half a dozen other experienced kite buggy pilots in mind whose exploits and expertise would make good reading. We'll post gear reviews when we try a new kite or buggy, trip reports when we go on a kite bugging mission and need to rave about it, guides to local spots, and links to any kite buggies in the news.
Next step, post a profile on me, a profile for Craig, and send out the invites...
10:00:40 AM
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Thursday, 2 December 2004
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I was dying to get away from work this afternoon. All day I've been watching the tops of the trees outside the office window getting buffeted by a screaming south-west wind. All I wanted to do was get down to the Wakapuaka Sand Flats and blast around in it with my kite buggy. Now some people might have said that there was too much wind. The fact that it was gusting badly would have put off others... but not me. oh no.
The sudden gusts that were catching the van and threatening to put it into the roadside ditch on the way home could have been a subtle warning. The fact that I almost lost my footing (twice) in wind gusts, while walking kites and buggy across the sand flats should have rang some bell in my head. I proceeded to set up two Excaliburs, thinking one might not go fast enough (yeah, right). When I turn around my buggy was 200 meters downwind travelling on its own. "That doesn't usually happen", I thought, but it didn't phase me. I retrieved the buggy and proceeded to launch a double stack of Excaliburs, slightly to the side of the wind to soften the blow as they lift off and climb...
The instant the wind caught the kites it snapped both sides of the front kites bridles simultaneously with a 'pop', as if the 150 pound braided cord was sewing cotton, and left me deflated on my backside. The kites went into a 'deathspin' around the single steering line still attached, which ended abruptly when they met the ground again a few seconds later. It's probably lucky they did break, otherwise I could have been in for a bit of a skate, on a surface that is not much fun to skate on. About then I thought to myself, "maybe it's a little bit too windy", and promptly congratulated myself on the understatement of the day.
I packed up the broken kites and lines, leaving the buggy upside-down so it wouldn't blow away again. I then sat in the buggy, put my kite (in bag) on my lap and buggied briskly downwind, back to the van... with just the wind on my back for power. Yeah... maybe it was too windy.
8:41:49 PM
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© Copyright
2006
Murray Neill
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Last update:
13/11/2006; 8:11:35 p.m.
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