|
| |
CoffeeWaffle
|
Saturday, 29 October 2005
|
|
I declared yesterday a mental health day and took the day off work to go kite flying. The conditions were almost perfect at Rabbit Island with a gentle sea breeze which freshened throughout the afternoon and the low tide providing a big wide beach in the middle of the day. I took the opportunity to fly the 12m2 F-Arc I bought second hand at the end of last summer. The F-Arc is classed as an advanced kite-surfing kite (not specifically designed for bugging) and everyone I've talked to who has flown one says pretty much the same thing. Usually something like "oh... thats a scary kite". So I've been working up the courage to fly it for months. Dave, who I bought it off, was selling it because he was heading home to the UK for our winter. Coincidentally, Dave, having just arrived back from the UK, turned up at the beach yesterday just as I was gearing up to fly it. He gave me a hand to launch it. He was flying a very nice looking 10m2 Venom in a purple black and grey colour scheme. Anyway, I don't know what I was worried about. The F-Arc is an awesome kite. It seems to have endless speed. The faster you go, the faster it wants to go. The hard part is slowing it down! And the jumps....well. I've jumped with C-Quads and they simply pick you up and as soon as you reach the zenith of the jump they put you back down just as quick. I've jumped with a Venom which picks you up and puts you back down as soon as you tell it to by pushing the control bar away from you, thus depowering the kite. The F-Arc however, picks you up and floats you there, as if to say "I'll put you back down when I'm good and ready to put you down." You just seem to hover. I can see why the kite surfers love them.... and I do to ;)
Dave's new 10m2 Venom. I love that colour scheme!
As the wind picked up I also got out my old 6.3m2 bent-spine C-Quad for a spin.
The weather was pretty warm. Dave cools off in the surf.
I'm heading back out there today and picking Dave up one the way. I'm so glad it summer and the sea breezes have returned at last.
9:19:24 AM 
|
|
|
|
Wednesday, 19 October 2005
|
|
I just posted over at Kite Buggy NZ so go read that ;)
Especially for Briggsy, (who was moved by 90-mile's beauty, when she was there, as I am) heres me saying 'hello' to 90-mile for you, the only way I know how... video (1.8 mb)
9:54:34 PM
|
|
|
|
Monday, 17 October 2005
|
|
"There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot"
Steven Wright
Saturday afternoon I was cruising along Rabbit Island Beach on my kite buggy. It was the lightest of breezes so I was flying my big green 8.5m2 C-Quad. I was just sitting back, enjoying the ride, watching the waters edge slide by. I was trying to get the buggy wheels as close to the wash as I could without getting wet. Up ahead I spotted something splashing around in the shallow water. At first I thought it might be a ray feeding in the shallows, but as I went past at about 25kph I could see it was a large fish. I stopped the kite buggy, landed the kite and trotted back to the spot, expecting it to be gone. It was still there, flapping on its side as it if had just been caught on a line. I grabbed it by the tail and carried it up the beach. Inspecting it closer I think it was a Sliver Warehou, and a large one at that. It looked like it had been caught in a net and been released (often happens if the fisherman does not have quota for that particular species). It was probably exhausted and just wound up in the surf, then washed up just as I was passing. I tucked it down the back of my buggy seat and set off down the beach to put it in the van.
It was a great feeling to score a free feed of fresh seafood, literally out of the blue like that. Even better though, was the priceless look on the faces of the sunbathers who had been watching me cruise up and down the beach on my buggy for the past hour, as I pulled up, landed the kite, took the fish from behind the buggy seat, and cool as a cucumber, walked up the beach to put it in the van, as if thats how I always catch my fish. ;)
11:05:20 PM
|
|
|
|
Sunday, 16 October 2005
|
|
I cleaned all the dust and pine pollen off the kayak today by taking it for a splash down the Motueka river. Gorgeous day with the whitest clouds you've ever seen....
What did you do today?
6:57:23 PM
|
|
|
|
Tuesday, 11 October 2005
|
|
The kite buggy tour of the top of the North Island I was last week went pretty much to plan. We couldn't have asked for better wind and we all made it home safe without injury. Not everything went perfectly smoothly though. In fact there was a bit of a hicup one evening at Baylys Beach which wasn't part of the plan. A kite control bar went through the windscreen of the van. The kite had been attached to Sam when it got caught in a violent gust. Luckily Sam managed to pull the safety release before it got to nasty. This is supposed to 'kill' the kite but leave it tethered. In this instance the tethering lease broke and the kite got ripped away, dragging the lines and control bar below. These collected the front of my van as the kite dragged them several hundred meters up the beach to the road. Here is the result....
Sam was so apologetic. I told him not to worry, windscreens are replaceable. We drove to Whangarei the next morning and had it fixed in no time. He felt so bad about it though that he decided to give me his buggy seat. Its one he made himself and I had been admiring it earlier in the trip. He told me he was going to build another 'updated' version of it soon anyway. Now this is a BGS (bum-grabbing-seat)! It locks the hips into the buggy so tight that when I try to stand up the buggy wants to come with me. Thanks Sam... Its fitted my buggy perfectly and I think you'll agree it looks good!
Old Seat:
New Seat:
BTW the new windscreen was all covered by insurance and had a nice tinted strip across the top that the old one didn't have.
9:08:00 PM
|
|
|
|
Sunday, 9 October 2005
|
|
|
|
Saturday, 8 October 2005
|
|
I'm back from my trip up North. I've kite buggied my brains out and had an incredible time. We had screaming winds all week, a little bit of rain in between the sunshine. I've romped over the giant dunes of South Head at Muriwai, cruised down Baylys Beach on a tandem buggy with a video camera and sped down it at 60kph in my five wheeled buggy. And the trip highlight for me was a speed run up 90-mile beach in a howling 30 knot on shore wind reach 70 kph plus with just a little 1.2m2 Excalibur (delta) kite!
I have about 3 hours of great video footage to edit into something, and hundreds of photos to sort and publish. Look out for lots of kite geek ramblings over the next week as I relive it all for you in pictures.
Below is a shot of me (taken by Craig) playing in my kite buggy, at night, in the driving rain, on Baylys Beach last Monday. Not great conditions, but we had a great time anyway!
6:24:18 PM
|
|
|
© Copyright
2006
Murray Neill
.
Last update:
13/11/2006; 8:22:49 p.m.
. |
|
|
|
