Golden Isles, Georgia; The Kite Buggy Tour

[soliver1599969029]

Hey Gang, I was fortunate this year to be able to piggy back our trip to the Jekyll Island Buggy Expo (JIBE) onto our annual family trip to Saint Simons Island, where my In-laws rented a place big enough for the whole family. We were able to do JIBE for several days and then another week on the neighboring Island/beach. We had a really great time and I got A LOT of buggying in.

 

I brought all my GoPro gear and even borrowed a second camera in order to be able to catch a lot of footage. I had a plethora of ideas and planned shots, however the combination of being too excited to ride to set-up, on top of some problems with my cameras, I really got an absolute minimum of footage at JIBE. I was able to iron out a few camera issues and get some additional footage on Saint Simons, so I combined it all together for a "Golden Isles, GA" video.

 

Enjoy the tour.

 

 

I should add that sitting down in the buggy on Wednesday at JIBE was my first time in the bug since my accident in December and it really was like riding a bike. The result also though was a good deal of going slow... so forgive me that.

[mick]

Well lets cut to the chase here straight away. The buggying was slow and very basic. I loved it !!!! What a great vid with shed loads of personality. And the family as well. Bang on Sol, that was great.

 

Now a lesson. Get a harness. How the hell you hold the kite on your arms is beyond me. All those arm pulling gusts will be converted to moving energy and you'll go quicker, smoother and a lot easier.

[soliver1599969029]

Thanks Mick, I appreciate the positive feedback...

 

I have a harness, a whole QR set up, strops on all my kites and was quite proficient with the whole lot... Unfortunately I was careless with it and then got lofted by my 5.5m Reactor about a week before Christmas, broke my left heel followed by thousands of dollars worth of surgery,... so I really don't think I'll be using it for a little while if at all... I had about 4 months or recovery watching my wife take care of my 4 kids with the minimal amount of help I could offer and I don't care to go through that again. Likely why you haven't seen me her much in the last few months.

 

I've changed out a good half of my kites to the Nasa Star 3's and am really just working on getting back into the buggy seat.

[mick]

OK Sol, I can respect that BUT I see you used the word 'careless' in your post. Respect, I think is a massive part of kiting as you know and I think you 100% realise now there's no place for 'careless'.

 

Have you considered depower? Its where I'd be looking. Something like, dare I say, the PL Arc type kites would give you massive gust munching and a certain softness in their flying. Softness may not be the right word.

[soliver1599969029]

Indeed, carelessness is no longer a part of the picture AT ALL... I had the bad habit of trying to "fit it all in" and doing so, in my rush, I didn't implement all of my safeties resulting in a great deal of pain... so yes, respect.

 

So far I'm super impressed with the Born-Kite Nasa Star 3's and am moving in the direction to be completely equipped with those. They are enhanced Nasa Power Wings with a "depower" feature that collapses the nose of the kite in order to quell the power produced. John Holgate and ssayre (both members here and other kiting forums) are both big proponents and I'm joining the single skin camp. They are UBER stable, exceptionally powerful out of the gate, and a great deal safer due to their very low lift. I had several sessions on Saint Simons Island (which I didn't get on film) and I've never felt so secure moving so quickly in all my kiting tenure. They are not as fast as the Reactors I used to fly, nor do they move upwind quite as well, but so far I'm pretty pleased... plus I'm keeping my smaller foils just for the fun of it

 

Here's one of John's vids:

Edited May 26, 2015 by soliver