Shister66

Hi All Please see my ebay ad for details. You won't be disappointed Chameleon Race Parakart | eBay Happy bidding!

For Sale: U-Turn Nitro Evo 1 Parakart Race Kites Gold and Black in excellent condition. Lines and handles included. Sizes 2.5 metre 3.1.metre 3.9 metre 4.9 metre 6.1 metre 7.7 metre 9.7 metre £1250.00 ono for the set. No silly offers - I know it's a bargain!. Feeling too old and slow for Racing Parakarts so the money would be greatly appreciated for new project. Its advertised on ebay if interested as I will not be checking back here to often. Successful bidders should pay within 24hrs or item will be re-listed, thanks. U-Turn may be a new name to many, but the Nitro has an impressive pedigree. In 1998 Ernst Strobl designed the AiREA Raptor, arguably the most significant development in race kite design. This was followed almost immediately by the Raptor II that brought stability and ease of use to the raw power and speed of the original. The U-Turn Nitro is the logical progression from these classic designs If you take racing and going fast seriously, or you’re the type that just needs to have the best toys, then the Nitro is for you! Technical Data: Built from water repellent Porcher Marine 40gsm PA6.6 high tenacity ripstop nylon with kevlar bridle. Power rings have been removed and binned!

For Sale: U-Turn Nitro Evo 1 Parakart Race Kites Gold and Black in excellent condition. Lines and handles included. Sizes 2.5 metre 3.1.metre 3.9 metre 4.9 metre 6.1 metre 7.7 metre 9.7 metre £1250.00 ono for the set. No silly offers - I know it's a bargain!. Feeling too old and slow for Racing Parakarts so the money would be greatly appreciated for new project. Its advertised on ebay if interested as I will not be checking back here to often. Successful bidders should pay within 24hrs or item will be re-listed, thanks. U-Turn may be a new name to many, but the Nitro has an impressive pedigree. In 1998 Ernst Strobl designed the AiREA Raptor, arguably the most significant development in race kite design. This was followed almost immediately by the Raptor II that brought stability and ease of use to the raw power and speed of the original. The U-Turn Nitro is the logical progression from these classic designs If you take racing and going fast seriously, or you’re the type that just needs to have the best toys, then the Nitro is for you! Technical Data: Built from water repellent Porcher Marine 40gsm PA6.6 high tenacity ripstop nylon with kevlar bridle. Power rings have been removed and binned!

Please see details in the EVENTS area ------>

Hi Moosehunter It is a Wind and wheels event and the club is a British federation club meaning that you will require membership to the club the Fed and their insurance to race. Contact: dom@ufopowerkites.com for membership and costs information. regards Stephen

Hi Andy Edits made to original thread and apologise for comment point 5. All lucid explanations available at sdg@shister66.f2s.com in reference to the Topic Thread Title - "PKA Insurance 2005". Thankyou for your support Regards Stephen

Hi Andrew Thanks for your reply and understand your points clearly. I agree totally the PKA has been it's own worse enemy in recent years and we are trying to irradicate this by radically changing the way we operate and what we provide. As you well know a lot of the discussion and agreement between parties happens offline and is invisible to the many. It is happening though and should not be rubbished at every opportunity. I do stand corrected by Stuart Maxwell (National Trainer) regarding the prices for rounds in 2005. He has instructed me that when the Rounds are published on the site they will be in fact the same price point for entry regardless of PKA member or Fed only member, so for that I apologise but it was my understanding that was wrong. It will become clearer when these are published very soon. The PKA will not however in 2005 cover the costs of pilots who qaulify for the British Team if they are not a PKA member. This is the same as last year! Just to continue the debate further.. 1. Firstly, I would say that Parakart racing in this country has been managed amateurishly in its entirety since I began in the sport. It is after all an ameteur sport with volunteers as officials. And in this criticism I include the British Federation themselves and the British Supercup, to which you are race officer. So, maybe racing quality has been lacking but it needs to change and that is what we are trying to do, including you at both National and grass roots level. 2. The PKA can quite easily begin to organise regional or inter-club competition. Do you want us to? Have you asked before? As the National body then I guess we can dictate how these races would be ran and in what format?? Something I will begin discussion with Garry Box about. 3. "The PKA do prefer a blurry future!!!" - Quite the opposite and find it insulting to think that I have spent the last six months trying to put this show back on the road only to hear this. Very Sad and not necessary but you are entitled to your tainted opinion in this respect and understand your history. 4. Pilot Race support has been poor full stop over the last few years. The PKA 2003 series was as well supported as any other event. In that without a majority of PKA members signing up for the Supercup it would have also been poorly attended so that argument does not hold water. I believe you will see this manifest itself this year as many pilots consider both options and weigh up exactly what they are getting. I expect the National and Club class series to be over subscribed to the detriment to all other racing formats purely because we offer licencing, training and Qualification. To me all racing is fun and I will attend as many events as possible - £300 is peanuts considering my kit , travelling etc etc. 5.More importantly though, I consider Ainsdale to be a particularly good site for Class 8 racing and welcome Jon Lewis's committment to the cause up there. Good on him. The Beach is a challenge to fly and makes for some different style of course. A bit like the Mud splash at Hoy a few years back - Remember this Andy?? General Comment All said and done I welcome this dialogue because it does generate new ideas / concepts and methods of achieving our aims. I do apologise however to the casual observer if these typings sound ominous or non freindly, This is not the ambition or goal - Racing is fun , the peeps are great and we all want the same things at the end of the day and I welcome Andy's constructive criticism and take note of his experience. The most important thing is that people understand what to do, have a choice what to enter and above all enjoy the experience. All the best Stephen p.s Are you a qualified Class 8 instructer yet? If not when is this happening for Hoylake?

Hello Andrew Thanks for your correction re: (BFSLY).... Typo's im afraid. The PKA as an association represents the amalgamation, grouping or a collective of pilots (not clubs) wanting to compete in a National Series for qualification into International events as a National team. Remember that originally Class 8 had no permanent flying sites and that pilots had no choice but to join the PKA who could then provide flying sites around the country by means of negotiation back with the Land Yacht clubs specific. I understand that things are changing and that Federation clubs have seen large influxes of new members (predominantly Class 8) providing a better local landscape for racing and so yes things are changing - with hopefully more to come!! However, the PKA is still operated as a club. It requires annual membership and provides members with licencing and training etc, Ideally suited to pilots who do not have a local flying site (preferably Fed) etc. Socially though, I would admit that the PKA has to date provided very little social entertainment to its members other than maybe topical forum debate!. The membership fees obviously cover the costs of administration and the submission of teams to these international Annual events etc. I do not agree with your statement claiming that the PKA is running more and more closed club events and isolating club based pilots - Not at all!. There are two true club events in the Last Gasp and Icicles enduro , which have always been there and have accepted pilots of any origin. All events this year including the National and Club Class Series is open to non PKA members but entrants who are not members will be expected to pay a premium entry fee and provide proof of Fed insurance but will not be scored towards a final qualification position. Nothing has changed! I believe it is only right that if you don't want to join the PKA (£12.00) because you are not interested in qualifying for a British Team but would like to partake then fine but expect each round fee to be slightly higher in cost i.e. sum amount greater than if a member. The idea being to encourage membership and make it an acceptable part of your annual charges on the understanding that you are being provided a service. Maybe something that has been lacking in the past. The future is blurry!! If British Federation clubs begin to really cooperate with each other and the British Federation themselves start to fully appreciate the income and ground swell of class 8 then maybe, just maybe!, organisation of the National Series / leagues and so on could be conducted via inter-club fashion very similar to other classes but we are currently a long way away from this and infact only this year the sport splintered again with the Supercup pulling away as an independant and access negotiations happening on two fronts. This is not a problem though and in fact just improves the opportunities to race for pilots who have heavily invested in their kit. So Club /Association whatever !, we as members are now paying full fed dues (£8.00 each) providing the PKA with full fed members rights and we can also easily identify a few sites as being the basis for the PKA to operate from (If this is necessary) therefore maintaining its mantle as a club within the federation. In response to your "handing over to the Fed" claim. I believe you answered the question yourself i.e."BFSLY is just a group of clubs with a common interest not much more". Maybe one day! All the best and are you down for the Ho!? It would be good to discuss these things further with yourself as it would be interesting to hear how Wirral are doing things locally and take a slant from an old stalwart like yourself. kind regards Stephen

Hi Jon In reference; It seems that we need some kind of activity that will enable all pilots to enter. Without having to pay a lot towards fees. Are there enough clubs to now have a league? With clubs having their own races and then going forward to a play off? It would still mean some kind of national final, but I think that people need some way of getting into racing without having to pay out a lot of money. One of the core idealogies of the British Federation of Land and Sand Yacht clubs (BFLYC) is to provide local roots sailing, tuition, licensing and Racing to local pilots. Most other fed classes have club, regional, inter-club and National regatta's, organised primarily by each club in-turn. Maybe Ainsdale as a Fed club should have its own Race Series?. Wind and Wheels have had their series running for a few years and it is only just starting to attract pilots from further afield as the sport grows. A local club can keep race costs for pilots to a minimum and local pilots often prefer only to race locally anyway, We (W&W's) have a few pilots like this!. If 2005 was the start of an Ainsdale series.....Discussions could then at least begin Nationally for a 2006 inter-club league with Wirral, Camarthan, Westward, Weston, etc etc....Maybe!! Ive certainly often thought about an Open event competition (FA cup styley) and thought many times that this something that Flexifoil could start with. They have kites and buggies and could easily kit out a fleet for an Open event - would make for some fun all on Blades???. Certainly an OPEN could be held in a day, being based on 30 minute heats, 45 minute Quarters and Semi's and an hour long final, perfectly achievable because heats could be held simultaneously on seperate short reach courses. Anyhow's - All the best and good luck with the club Shister

INSURANCE STATEMENT 2005 The PKA for 2005 will be running its race events under British Federation (BFSLYC) insurance. Historically, the club has ran it's events under PKSF insurance and therefore accepted PKSF insurance alone from pilots to enter our events. This year all members expecting to race will have to have British Federation insurance either arranged via the PKA or through their local British Federation club. This insurance is simpler to administer for the club as it will run from January 1st each year and also aligns the PKA with all other British Federation clubs around the Country therefore better securing access to the primary race sites. However, we are still advising all pilots to also take out PKSF cover either through the PKA or via the BBC as British Federation insurance does not cover you for social flying away from Federation sites or events. We understand that this may appear to be duplication of insurance on your part but in fact the policies are different in terms of coverage for pilots and we need to ensure that all possible accidents and claims are fully covered. Steps are being taken by the British Federation and the PKA to get the two seperate policies aligned at which point the cost of insurance will be for a single policy that covers all class 7 and 8 activities in the UK. We apologise for these interim measures but expect all to be come clearer in the next few months. The PKA charges for 2005 will be as follows; 1. Single PKA membership - £20.00 (this incl. £8.00 full British Federation Membership) £12.00 PKA membership if you are already a fed member via your local club. 2. British Federation insurance - £20.00 3. PKSF Insurance - £15.00 (if you require) 4. Junior memberships (under the age of 18 or in full-time education and upto 21 years) - British Membership fee waivered so £12.00 payable to PKA. A Renewal letter will be sent to all existing members in the next few weeks. You may private mail me on sdg@shister66.f2s.com if you have any worries etc Best Regards Stephen Green (Secretary)

Or until u get a genie???? Which will appear as if from nowhere and give you a cameleon iguana!!!! Shister

Hi Garry No Problem W&W's as a club will need an allocation the same as most other clubs in the country but will probably get a redundant set held by the PKA much the same as ainsdale has. Talk soon Stephen

Hi Garry No, wind and wheels do not issue numbers. The reasons being that you end up with ridiculous numbers of side plates for each site you fly. My feeling is that if you are provided a number either from a club or a National Body, that number should be unique to your class and be recognised at all federation sites. The majority of W&W's members hold numbers as issued by the PKA. We have not requested any number range from the fed for the club and do not expect to in the future. Why have people got three or four different K numbers?? seems a little overkill. Cheers Stephen

Hi Andy Thanks for your note good to see you back on form. Firstly for the record, I managed to round that top mark 6 times without cheating. 4 intially and two finally when the wind picked up although the finish line was closed by two minutes by the time I got back on my final lap so scored only 5 laps. Walking with the parakarts is not allowed but then again a 4hr race is not allowed either (maximum of 2 hours according to my understanding of FISLY rules). The gasp is not a National Series race it is what is termed as a club event - a bit of fun (you know that) so running with a parakart to score a lap was also a bit of fun. Not that I enjoyed pushing the damn thing!!! I believe the people who raced the furthest and affected the top positions were afforded their suitable prize and cheating did not affect this so who cares? Please, please can I ask you to stop being destructive at every turn and criticising the efforts of the few for the many. A lot of good work , relations and bridges were built this weekend with all persons having a bit of fun etc and thoroughly enjoyed it to boot. In fact, I would say you have been the only detractor! It was good to see you turn up, pay your money and enter. Where did you get? I will enquire on your behalf and post your result here.... Now get on with it, stop digging from the past and I look forward to racing against you in the coming series/ events Mr PKD Tester (only jokin!) In fact, If there is anyone who entered the race and who is not happy that someone cheated and thus gained a position on them are free to contact me and discuss the details further with a hope of rectification. All the best and many thanks to Jon annd his team at Ainsdale KiteBeach club/ Sefton Council and especially the PKA commitee for running a smooth event. Stephen

Hi Boater A Cameleon is not a predesesor to the Barracuda - Cedric is still making them???? and they are certainly noy heavier by design than them. I weighed my 2004 Pro iguana against a Barracuda at the recent Supercup round (without weights) and I would say the BArracuda was heavier. Weights are subjective and will depend on the days conditions, size of kite, course layout and direction and speed of wind. It is probably best to start with a light and wide buggy and then add weight as the above conditions dictate until the Kart runs true against the wind and the kite is not trying to crush you against the side rails. All the best Shister