RAID

OK guys and gals, I make that 9 people who have expressed an interest but we need to book before this Sunday. Does anyone have any dates in mind in Feb, as this was the most popular month in the poll? If we can set a date by tomorrow night and then agree to make our own bookings. In the meantime I'll check tide data for mid to late Feb in the Normandy area. Remember if all goes pear shaped with the weather etc then just look at it as a very cheap booze and fag run!

I was personally thinking of Feb as it's my birthday which means the misses has to allow me to go over! Looks like a few of us may be interested. I think we should give it until this Thursday evening for others to respond to the thread then perhaps we'll set a date. It would be nice if we could all get the same ferry over as this would give us a great opportunity to meet everyone and have a drink/chat/get to know one another. They can't take anything off you now Gizmo. Brussels are currently investigating our Customs and Excise personnel at major ports due to complaints they are illegally confiscating cigarettes and booze. There are no limits at all, although our government would have you believe there are. Dude, I also like the way you have checked every option in the poll! You must really want to go!

Got this promotion from Brittany Ferries today... http://www.brittany-ferries.co.uk/index.cfm?articleid=1983 Quite simply you can pop over to France for 24 hours for £5, plus £19.99 if taking a car (larger vehicles extra). You can book any 24 hour period up to 13th March 2005 but you must book it before the end of this month (Oct 04), so only a week to go from now! If anyone fancies getting a group together to go over and buggy for the day let me know. It's a great price and means we'll be able to use some of the best unpopulated, unrestricted beaches in Europe. After booking it however we'd have to just keep our fingers crossed about the weather. Enter your preference for date of travel in the poll and we can see who is serious.

Glad to be back kidda. The whore houses in Amsterdam are bloody hard work and tend to wear you out somewhat.

I thought that was only you and KB?

Trev grooved some BF's for me before a trip to France and they performed brilliantly. Thanks Trev, you were right, I'll need a wider axle and I'll give you a shout when I need to order. The SS spacers he made for the V-Max are just fantastic. Very well machined and keep the front wheel solid. I was getting some movement and knocking before he weaved his magic!

Shadows? No, France and Amsterdam. Sorry if you've missed me but we can't all be gay can we?

£6500 fine for flying a kite? What a load of bollocks. Stop exaggerating!

Darkwater, there isn't a shovel in the world big enough for you pal.

If you insist on wearing a drysuit be prepared to get hot. They're pretty wind resistant too so bombing around at high speed won't help to cool you off. You can get breathable ones but these start at around £180 for anything decent in my opinion. I have the Gul Solent but I never use it for buggying, too good to get messed up by sand and OBE's! Gul also do an all-in-one fleece undersuit (£30) that wicks away moisture but to be honest you'll be sweating so much your expensive breathable drysuit won't be able to expel the excess and you'll be soaking in an hour. I have a specific buggy suit that was made by Cunning Stunts before they folded. Waterproof, breathable and all-in-one, nice cosy fleece lined neck as well. Sadly, they're no longer available.

Lingreville La Plage nr Granville (1 hour 20 mins from Cherbourg) is 5 miles long and 1 mile wide at low tide. Deserted during the day. Some deepish tractor tyre tracks and broken shells but altogether very good. Just got back from there this weekend. Lots of other good beaches in this area as well. Tide times are not good at the moment though, early morning start perhaps. I have a 30MB video of me buggying on this beach if you've got the bandwidth and mailbox size! I can't host it at the moment so you can't download.

It's called an E111 form but it only covers the basics, not helicopter rides to the local general hospital!

FYI I called Asda today to get a quote and they told me they do not cover kitesurfing or buggying on any policy.

Thanks Rob, nice one.

Just as well 40 bucks isn't £40 then isn't it! By the way, why do you keep badgering people for money on here, not enough members yet? Or are your numbers dwindling because you have to keep kicking them out for being pulled down the main road by a 4x4 making your efforts with CCC a complete waste of time?

I would personally ban them, then ban banners from saying kiting is banned so that the banned come back and get banned again. Then we could ban the councillor who started the banning and get him banned for not banning the already banned bannee.

Can anyone recommend an insurer which will cover me while I'm buggying in France. I've got my BBC cover so 3rd party liability is fine. What I'm after is cover for accidents to myself and family in case we're carted off to hospital and are presented with the bill to fix my broken fibia! Will any single trip travel insurance cover this? Or do I need to specify I'll be buggying?

Well put Will. Unfortunately no matter we do to improve the image of the sport we'll always have dog walkers and football team managers of the kind you mention who will want the area to themselves. I had the same problem when I used to mountain bike across bridleways. The ramblers, dog walkers and horse riders all thought they had more right than me to be using the path, no matter how many times I said it was a 'public' right of way. You just cannot win mate unless you live in a huge country like the US where space is not a premium. There are too many people in this country, all trying to do their own thing on such a small piece of ground. Couple that with the fact there are landowners who own too much land and you can see why the space to do what we want is dwindling. Like me we'll all probably end up paying huge membership fees to a local farmer just to have a dedicated piece of land to play on. It's pretty sad but it's the only way I can see we'll be exempt from the efforts of lefty do-gooders who unbelievably get jobs in local government, or the compensation claim culture. I'm certainly one person hoping to emigrate at some point in my life and that's not just to get away from bad dad!

You could get away with 300lb over 200lb if you're not a heavy chap.

What size C-Quad's?

I used to fly C-Quads a few years back. If I was static flying the C-Quad bar was always my choice but I always went back to handles if using the buggy.

Wow, I'm moving! Any jobs in your area mate? According to the video not only can you fly kites and buggy but you can take your car onto the area. For God's sake don't invite anyone from Carmarthenshire County Council over. They'll either close it down or start charging you 'fun' tax like they have here.

Agree with Steve J about the cliff face. It plays silly buggers with the wind, especially onshore. You may find that if your kite is upwind towards the cliff and you get too close you'll get massive uplift. Can be quite dangerous in fact as the rising pressure hits the kite unexpectedly. This is rapid vertical air and something you very rarely come across. As a result your kite will not cope with it very well, or you! Offshore is also interesting in that the down draft over the top of the cliff immediately luffs your kite. Very confusing trying to pull it out Other than that a good beach at low tide. Watch for the rocks, some are fairly large. Extreme Academy don't seem to like people using the beach if they are training people on their many kitesurfing or buggy courses. Personally I prefer the grilled sardines doused in balsamic vinegar.

Would you say that all areas to the West of Cherrueix are good for buggying? Any odd or dangerous tidal characteristics in this area?

Thanks for that Plane pour moi. I may give Mont Saint-Michel a miss. I'm actually staying in St Jean-des-Champs which is NNW of Avranches. The beaches seem more suitable for buggying around there although quite a bit smaller.