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CoffeeWaffle
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Thursday, 24 February 2005
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I stopped at Neale Park on my way home this afternoon for a kite buggy blast. I was going to head out to Rabbit Island but the wind was looking changeable, and thats a long way to go for no wind. The wind was perfect for my 6.3m C-quad. Unfortunately the last time I used that kite, I removed the lines and put it away with what I'm pretty sure was a tangled bridle. This means that next time I get it out of its bag I'm probably in for ten minutes of cursing while I try and untangle them again. A little reluctant to use the 6.3 C-quad, I got out the 'snot-rag' instead.
I got about half an hours worth of good buggying with the little green kite, before the wind began to drop away. The snot-rag got to be too much work as I began working it up and down the wind to get more power. Ten minutes of that is worth a gym membership any day, and soon I put the kite down for a rest. Now I was faced with a decision. Get out the 6.3m C-quad and untangle its bridles (this would have been the safest choice), or tell myself I'm an experienced power-kite flier who can handle a big kite, and drag out the 8.5m C-Quad, effectively doubling my kite power in one kite change. "They're only little gusts after all", I told myself, puffed out my chest and began setting up the 8.5, the biggest kite I own.
I managed to get the thing in the air and sitting straight above me 'parked'. Between the kite leaving the grass and reaching its zenith, I moved about 100 meters down the park, in a very controlled and experienced looking way. There was a 'little' more power there than I had anticipated, but I still thought it might be OK. I tried a couple of little jumps to test the wind and to see just how 'little' those gusts were. The little jumps became what I've heard other kite fliers refer to as 'floaty' jumps. A floaty jump has a moment where the kite has picked up your full weight of the ground, quite suddenly, but then, at the apex of the jump, just when it should start lowering you down again, it 'floats'. The kite holds you there for a moment,like it could either, put you down, or boost you another 10 feet, but the gust hasn't quite decided yet.
At this point I decided that this could get painful in a hurry and I shouldn't push my luck.
A few minutes later as I was knelling on the grass packing away the big scary C-quad a golfer arrived at the park for some practise. As he wandered past me he looked at the huge kite I was stuffing into a not very huge bag, "not enough wind for you today eh?", he said wisely.
Yeah... something like that mate.
10:09:15 PM 
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Wednesday, 9 February 2005
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I headed straight for the Beach after work today. Rabbit Island was almost deserted at low tide, around four-thirty. John 'the sparky', the guy who bought my car, and fellow kite buggy pilot, joined me. Unfortunatly there was only the slightest of breezes. Between us we only had one kite that would develop enough power to buggy. My 8.5m C-Quad.
I did a run to the end of the beach and back. The West end of Rabbit Island Beach is changing. Near the end its almost all stone and shells now, where there used to be sand. Its a little different every time I buggy it.
Then I gave Jon a go at flying a big C-Quad; something he has never flown before. I took some photos as he got used to the freight train feel of 8.5m of brute force. Then we switched places and I showed off for the camera for a while. I must have been having too much fun, because I flipped my buggy and did a long chin slide that Briggsy would have been proud of (with the buggy on top of me). Luckily Jon caught it on film so you can all have a laugh at my expense.
I'm still well in control at this point...
...a little worried...
...whoops! I'm not wearing my seatbelt so how I ended up with the buggy on top of me like that, I don't know.
Still smiling after being dragged several meters while my jeans fills up with sand.
Your photographer, Jon, doing the two-wheel thing.
10:18:42 PM
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Sunday, 6 February 2005
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I recruited Mark this afternoon at Rabbit Island Beach to get some photos of my new (second-hand) kite, that I bought a few weeks ago. I have dubbed it 'the snot-rag' because of its colour and age. Also at the beach was Marty and Dave. I had several good races with them, particularly Marty, who was flying his 15m Phantom. My little 6.3m 'snot-rag' Arc was a good match, in fact it was all they could do to stay with me. A couple of times we raced to the end of the beach, about 5km away. We would leave at the same time, race full speed for 5km, arrive within twenty seconds of each other at the far end...close racing indeed, but he just couldn't get past me.
"No more head-starts for you", was Marty's only official comment.
In this picture of the "snot-rag" flying, it looks like Marty has had enough of a beating, and is packing up his blue Phantom in the background :)
10:29:35 PM
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© Copyright
2008
Murray Neill
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Last update:
5/10/2008; 3:31:12 p.m.
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