Bowcaps

Flexifoil Stacker 8 - £100 Blade 2 4.9 - £350 Flexifoil Viper 3.3 - £220 Flexifoil Viper 6.5m - £300 Flexifoil Buggy - £200 Ozone LD 2m - £180 Slingshot Fuel 13m - £800 Gastra GXR 19.5 - £950 Slingshot LFT - £250 Ground Dimension Landboard - £180 Cabrinha Prodigy - £250 but the missus thinks about £500.......

If you are coming down to buggy, you can't really beat Gwithian. Watergate is good, but because the Extreme Acadamy School is based there, it gets very busy with "learners". I know we all had to start, and perhaps by giving them space it will help them, and allow you to enjoy big beaches. Perranporth is good, but gets a little soft towards the east of the beach and half way along it gets busy with "tourists" from Haven holiday camp. Did you not enjoy Gwithian before? HTH Bowcaps

Winter 2002/2003 was a sad time as the gusting wind in Cornwall was often too much for my Viper 3.0 and the stackers just didn't have the movement for buggying, but I'm happy to report Winter 2003/2004 has been great 30mph winds and a LD 2.1 are a great combination in a buggy, the only downside is the sand blizzards, but a small price to pay. Having gotten into Kite Surfing last year, it's been great to get back into a buggy with wild winds over the stormy winter months. Bowcaps

I can vouch for the discount on kites, I came back with a fuel (13M), GXR (19.5M) and LFT board all new and for just over 1200 uk pounds! over here they add upto around 2300 uk pounds!

I don't know about the Maui Magic, but the Dakine Speedseat has an extra strap that is fed through the hook to stop it from riding up, it works pretty well too. HTH Bowcaps

I have a Dakine Speed Seat (from Coastguard kites) and use it for both Buggying and kitesurfing. For use in the buggy, a cut innertube around the belt clips stopped inadvertant opening whilst leaning out of the buggy (2 wheels) It's used with a hook, which allows a little resitance whilst on a "hooked on" aloowing you to wave at the onlookers as they marvel in your one handed 40mph runs down the beach - yeah right! But seriously great bit of kit in and out of the buggy. HTH

Whilst over in France recently, I spoke with some French guys who said a guy called mark from a shop in Leucate (100% kites) had a purpose built buggy and recorded a speed of 180km/h this year on a n 8 mile buggy beach!

1st day - massive grin factor, just starting water launches as sun went down - 40 - 50km winds using a 7m kite - WoW thanks for all the info guys.

Having read the comments on this forum, I have elected to take a course in kite surfing, whilst on holiday in France (south) the course starts Monday for 3 days, and I was wondering what I can expect in respect to problems I may encounter from being a buggy pilot (blades and vipers - handles) moving over to kitesurfing. Also what should I be asking of the instructors, are they likely to be biased to the kit they are training on (slingshot) and if so is the kit likely to be differnet to the rest of modern kite surfing equipment. I reaslise I will probobly get most of the information out of the instructors (if they understand my french), but any experinces you may have encountered (good or bad) during courses, please pass on. TIA Bowcaps p.s. 18 stone (ish) 6' 5" any advice for boards and kites?

I think most can be fitted with either hook or spreader/roller which I think can be purchased on their own! HTH

I have a small rip in one of my Vipers (about 1cm) what is the best way to repair it?

I purchased a flexi buggy last October and the box it came in was emblazened with "Flexifoil Buggy 2003". AFAIK it's the same as the 2002 model but with a splash guard rather than footstraps. HTH Bowcaps

Buggying - Viper Everything else - Blade oh and sometimes the blade for buggying..... (I think that says it all, but just in case - BLADE!) Bowcaps

I know it’s difficult and there is no perfect answer or simple pill that will cure all. Rules is good, but only if the other person flying the kite or in the buggy knows about them. I think it’s up to us who can and are to educate those who want to and will be. Numerous times I have been on Gwithian, Cornwall with 15+ buggies, and boarders, static flyers etc all doing their thing. It only takes 10 minutes time out to help someone who is new to it, and if we all spend 10 minutes each time we are out helping the new guys and gals then calm will overcome rant. I know it can be frustrating at times and some kid goes out and buys a big kite, gets dragged all over the hard sand are with buggies racing, but in general most people respond well to help and advice, and sometimes that’s all it takes. Remember, we all had start once…. Just my 2p’s worth

Perranporth is a little closer to Par than Gwithian (although not as firm as Gwithian) It is a long beach and plenty of room up the east end of the beach, 1 or 2 nudists in the dunes but the beach is mainly clear. Drive into Haven Holiday Park (Perran Sands), get an all day ticket (1-50), park up by the dunes and walk down onto the beach. Before you go check the wind is North / West as any offshore wind is hopeless for kites due to the high dunes. If you want quality though - Gwithian is your place. HTH Bowcaps