Croftland1

Bolton-le-Sands, near Carnforth, (Morecambe Bay.) About an hour north of Manchester.

There are one or two keeping an eye on BLS for Xmas Eve Martin

Given good weather and dry humidity it is possible that it will dry out enough. BenR, who's house also looks onto the beach, has buggied here in the Xmas hols before now. I've been buggying here for about the last 3 years and in that time I've never been able to use it at that time of year. Here's hoping though!

Awful news. So sad. His brilliant videos look so poignant now. 'Tis an awesome power that we play with.

Sincere condolences to all that knew Mark. We all think this won't happen to us. Poor Mark no doubt thought that too.

Great video. Just wondering what's wrong with wearing helmets

hi Jim,, damn i bet that took ages to write.. Hope you are feeling better n your arm isnt still feeling like its flying all over the place.. I wasnt insinuating that you`d done anything wrong with this thread, i was just trying to gauge ppls idea`s on the landings of kites.. Like you said,, it can happen to anyone of us. The clubhouse was a bit subdued when you left,,... Hope the missus aint ribbed you too much No probs Scud, I know where you're coming from there, don't worry. I think your 'staying in the buggy in high wind' theory has a lot of credence tbh The arm's stabilised a lot now. It still feels a bit disconnected (which it is obviously) but the sharp shooting pain has stopped, thank god, and it doesn't feel like its waving around at shoulder height anymore. The hand and arm is quite swollen now and tight in the cast. Sue's been great and very supportive. She was just very worried on the day and so may have looked as though she was miffed Sorry it put a downer on the day, cause it was great up until that point. Nevermind, there'll be more opportunities to sample Hoylake again I'm sure.

What he means is I could have unhooked the strop before standing up out of the buggy, then when the kite misbehaved, I could have just let go. I used to fly with a roller spreader, but the trouble with them is, they'll come unhooked unexpectedly sometimes and that can cause a whole load of problems of its own.

Cheers for all the concern and well wishes fellas. I've seen all sorts of launch and landing methods employed by a great many buggiers, boarders and static fliers. I've also seem all sorts of **** ups both in and out of buggies resulting from a wide variety of reasons. I, like most experienced fliers, can feel where the kite is and what it's doing without necessarily looking at it, so on this occasion, with it raised safely to zenith and holding handles close together infront of me, I was confident to walk forward to my stake glancing away from and back to the kite as necessary. (The stake that was left in the pits was one of those corkscrew dog stakes with nylon ribbons tied to the top. Conventional stakes are carried on the Bug for other unplanned stops.) Unfortunately, having just wet the kite moments before in some very shallow surface water, its characteristics were radically changed. It dived to one side and as much as I fought it, I was going! Whichever method you use and however safe you think you are, there is an element of risk from gusts, soft sand, worn equipment, public, other fliers, obstacles, wet kites as in my case, or just complacency or lack of concentration. Like all men think they're the safest driver in the world, kite fliers can suffer the same confidence issue. Just remember that we're only mere mortal lumps of flesh and bone. Kites can produce amazing acceleration and power us along at 50+mph. It therefore stands to reason that they can make a fine old mess of us if they choose to. I've got a long time to ponder that now unfortunately.

Sorry Phil, no camera found in my gear. Ditto - naff day for buggying, but a great social meet. The sun shone and apart from the flippin' money spiders crawling all over us, (could be a good sign though!,) we had a ball. Dave and Brig were great - they even supplied Moet & Chandon for everyone to accompany lunch! Plus, we met Carl's wife, Denise, (who called herself Olive Oil, lol,) her first time on the beach at a kite meet. It was a pleasure to meet you too Denise. And of course all the other famous names.......too many to mention. See you all again at the next one - it could be an annual institution.

you dont have to be shy, anyone with a kite,buggy,landboard,kite surf is your freind just go over and introduce your self, i sometimes stop halfway up the beach to help a kite surfer land his kite Or is that just insurance so they will drag you back out of the sea onto the beach when you need it Matt??

When I bought my RS I was told it was a copy of the Libre Special. A pm to Maverick440 will get you the answer you need though.

Just look up York Landyachting club on the web and give them a call for upcoming dates and other details. I've found them to be a very friendly bunch.

tell us more about this allowing us on the strip....we could arange a speed day... Carl - you have a pm

The York Landyachting club allow kite buggies to join in their sessions at Elvington airfield by prior arrangement (2 mile long concrete strip , where Hammond crashed the dragster). You can fly the kite over the grass at the side and buggy on the concrete, but as Trikbitz said, don't try to slide on the concrete cos its very grippy.

I use my 8.5 Blade from 8 to 12mph, then my 4.7 Rage up to about 22mph then my 3.5 Rage up to about 35.

Is this a new RS Buggy speed record? (see attached GPS photo showing 51.7mph.) I recorded it on my local beach on Sunday on firm flat sand with a 3.5m Rage in 28-30mph SW wind. I was with the Racekites North meet attendees at the time. Jim

Doh. Read my signature Hmm, perhaps that's why I can't afford a BMW, I paid for kites that someone invested time to develop. Very admirable I'm sure. You must drive a model T Ford or something then and I suppose your vacuum cleaner is a hoover. Gimme a break!

They won't and you define yourself as part of the problem. Hey ho, what's the advert about dodgy DVD buyers? On the contrary. Never bought a dodgy DVD cos they're **** and they don't work. As you can see, I fly Flexis cos I haven't yet tried anything that I like more - and yes I have flown Pansh. I drive BMW's because I prefer them to other makes of car. I don't have a problem paying for quality that can be demonstrated. But I hope that Pansh continue to improve at their current rate and offer even better value for money - it's called competition and it's very healthy in any market. If any manufacturers have a problem with copying I'm sure they'll tackle it head on - without your assistance. In the meantime, I applaud your plight to only buy your goods from original designers. You're obviously very priviliged as it's a very expensive way to live. Hey ho

Steve - I'm all for supporting new kite companies but stealing other peoples designs is illegal isn't it? FFS the new Pansh even has diagonal vents - they can't even be bothered to disguise the fact... We'll be photocopying tenners next and expecting Tesco to accept them as legal tender !! Yes, but if the new tenners perform as well as the originals, you can bet that we'll all be desperate to get our hands on them!

I started buggying nearly a year ago and was close to buying a Beamer II as my first kite. I flew a demo model at my local shop, then immediately switched to flying a demo Rage. The difference was amazing! They are so steady and controllable whilst delivering low lift and plenty of traction pull for buggying. Forget the 5m Beamer and go for a 4.7m Rage. If you get it in Samba it's much cheaper too. You won't regret it.

I stayed in Vallandry from 26/1 to 2/2 and can confirm that the Peisey Vallandry and Les Arcs area is fantastic even without La Plagne. Like you noelpilot we were just 150m from the Peisy Vallandry chair and couldn't fault the area. It wasn't too busy and we barely queued for a lift. There's so much variety too from high altitude mogul strewn blacks to narrow tree lined red and blue runs. We had an absolute blast. We did trade one day for a Val D'Isere pass but were disappointed with the runs there compared to Les Arcs. We will certainly go back. Didn't see any kites though - only lots of parascenders, especially in Val D'Isere.

Hard Fi - Living For The Weekend

Not even any need for an estate. Mine goes in a 3-series coupe quite comfortably with the buggy's axle off (4 bolts) and the car's back seat folded down.

They're just curtain rings on bits of string at the end of the day. A simple and cheap job you can do yourself.