Posts Tagged ‘Peter Lynn Kites’

Ivanpah Dry Lake in Nevada has, since 1994, been a haven for kite buggiers, skaters and landboarders who  gather on the dry lake bed and do their damnedest to break records!

The conditions are perfect. On March 26, 2009, the world land speed record for a wind-powered vehicle was set here by the Greenbird, clocked at 126.1 mph (202.9 km/h).

The Ecotricity Greenbird (greenbirdproject) is a land yacht that is described as being “a very high performance sailboat”. It uses a rigid vertical wing, instead of the conventional sail, to generate thrust, in the same manner that the wing of an aeroplane generates lift. The only metal in the vehicle is in the wheels and the wing bearings; the remainder is made of carbon composite materials.

This little lady is seriously high tech, but this year another record has been broken and this time by a Peter Lynn kite buggy.

A week of kite-powered buggying and racing began at the beginning of April. The event was known as the Spring Break Buggy Blast (SBBB) and introduced formulated kite traction races to the American desert.

More then 150 registered participants were looking forward to a week of riding, racing, partying and most of all, having loads of fun with like minded people. Peter Lynn Products hosted the Friday night-after buggy party which, since they had something to celebrate, was a humdinger…

PLP were well represented with an international team of riders: Adrian Lavelle (UK), Alison Summersfield (UK), Arjen (AKA faster Arie) van der Tol (NL), Jeroen (AKA Ozzy) Potters (NL), Ricardo (Little Asian guy) Lui (Can) and their very own local freestyle guru Brian Holgate (NZ), and there was great hopes for his new specially designed speed buggy…

Steve Gurney, of MadWaySouth fame, tries out the specially designed buggy. However, it was’nt this one that broke the record.

On the first day of the week long trials, Arie van der Tol got out of bed early, and, in ferocious winds, smashed his own record of 124 km/h set the previous year with a staggering 133.4 km/h (82.9 mph). Most people were still in bed or thinking of their breakfast, but fortunately the event was witnessed by a small group of people including Peter Lynn himself and 4 GPS tracking devices. Arie was flying a 2.7 m2 Peter Lynn Vapor. Credit also goes to Michel Dekker, the designer of the Vapor… the fastest kite on earth.

184 years ago, George Pocock invented the kite buggy.  Twenty years ago, Peter Lynn took it to the next level and is now considered the father of the modern Kite Buggy.  The development of the kite buggy has been almost exponential in recent years. The sport is now known as Kite Traction.

Craig Hansen and Steve Gurney, both MadWaySouth vererans, did a presentation about the Sahara Challenge and there were loads of buggy movies. Arie’s 133 km/h record run was shown with a cool beat backing it up which made the crowd go wild.

Hats off to everyone.

Snowkiting for many will be a natural progression from snowboarding. Hey, you’ve already got the board so you’re halfway to trying out this new extreme sport.

But where to, and how to, progress from this point?

There are places to learn and clubs to join, but below are a few simple facts that might help. But before that here’s a fabulous teaser from mwiemarkus which highlights the surrealism of this wonderful sport…

This isn’t a sport restricted to snowboarders – skiers cross over just as easily.

But back to the question of how to start…

Besides taking instruction, any snowkiter would advise you to watch as many videos as possible and pester other snowkiters with questions. Make sure you understand what and why people wipe out. You can teach yourself but you must take advantage of the videos that are out there. There are some really good ones like:

• Real kiteboarding: Zero to Hero
• How to Snowkite: Vol. 1, The Basics
• Kiteboarding 101 and 102

While you are doing this you will no doubt be consumed with the desire to buy your own kite. So what sort of kite are you looking for?

Money obviously comes into consideration – how much have you got and what is your budget going to be – and as that is obviously up to you, I will give you some rough outlines of what you should be looking at.

You should start with a small kite, 4 – 6 m. Some people go even smaller to a Trainer kite (less than 5 m) but you can skip this phase in the interests of saving some money. Many people choose to skip the enxt phase too, the 4 – 6m kite, buy an intermediate kite and thus save some money. It’s been done before and it can certainly be done again – but be aware that your road from Zero to Hero will be a lot more painful!

A foil kite is a good way to start as they are stable and tough – very forgiving when you crash them and easy to set up and take down. They use ram air to inflate the kite and keep it filled as its flying. And since they will be crashed very regularly when you begin, then HQ is a good brand to look at as they make low-cost quality kites. The advantage of a kite of this size (4 – 6m) is that you can fly it in low winds – between 7 – 10 knots which allows you to learn about the kite and how it works without being seriously yarded, but yet it is big enough to use in stronger winds (12 – 18 knots) which you cannot do with a Trainer kite. To be even more specific, an HQ Apex I 5m depower kite is a steady, reliable kite to learn on and can cost anywhere from $100-$400. The de-power allows more rider control at very little extra cost.

Equally there is nothing wrong with buying a secondhand kite to start with – saving your money for the next one. A good place to start looking is on vari0us snowkite forums such as:

• Snowkiting.com
• Kiteforum.com
• powerkiteforums.com

Now that you have the kite you need something to harness the power. Some kites come with handles, and some with a control bar and “chickenloop”. If yours is the latter, then you will most definitely want a harness and the starting price on these is $75 and upwards.

Fear not – there are alternatives. Perhaps you already have a simple rock climbing harness? Averaging about $30, this type of harness won’t provide the comfort or “un-hooked” riding ability of purpose-made kiting harnesses but they’re perfectly adequate at the entry level attachment point.

Once you get more advanced you can look into Ozone kites and Peter Lynn as well. And finally, as you reach hero status, you might want to consider an LEI (leading edge inflateable) kite. They are geared for water use but can also be used on land. But I’m jumping the gun here… let[s get back to basics.

I know I've already said that you can use your current skiing equipment, whether snowboard or skis, when snowkiting,but you aught to be aware that your board, or skis, will get dinged, so if your equipment is expensive, go to the beginning-of-the-season-ski-sales where last years' hire-equipment is being sold off seriously cheaply (in France anyway) or even carboot sales where you can always pick up a board for a song.

And last but not least - the safety angle. Remember our article way back last season about helmets and the need or otherwise for them? You ARE going to crash when learning to snowkite, and the chances are you're going to crash over and over again. So don't be an idiot and don't save pennies when it comes to your future. Invest in a decent helmet - priority number one. This could cost you anywhere between $40 - $125. You're also going to need goggles as you will only be snowkiting in windy conditions. You will probably already have goggles but if not they will set you back somewhere between $20 - $80,  and, if you're learning in icy conditions, you should invest in some crash pads, knees and elbows, that you can put under your winter gear. It is recommended because if you crash on ice it will be like crashing into concrete. Crash pads cost about $20 - $40.

I don't know if you've been doing your sums as you've read through this article, but getting started in snowkiting shouldn't cost you more than $300. And after that, you're all set and ready to fly and with no further costs - not even ski passes. For $300 you get immediate satisfaction and a few bumps and bruises! And your first kite will never be a waste of money - it can always be brought out and used in high wind conditions.

When taking your first 'steps' on your snowkite, particularly if you are using an intermediate kite, it is adviseable to start in very low wind - 10-15 mph and work your way up from there. ALWAYS KEEP THE KITE ABOVE YOUR HEAD!

Plus, always know where your kite is and know what your safety releases are and how to use them instinctively and you should be fine... and one day you, too, will be doing this...

… kindly brought to us by ActionSportsWorld. However, again I’m jumping the gun. If this is your first season you will spend a lot of time dreaming of doing this! But don’t despair … you will be one day.

Some awesome speeds and distances have been clocked up by kitebuggiers (is there such a word?) this year, 2009.

If you are a regular follower of our extreme sports blog you will have followed, avidly I hope,  the MadWaySouth team’s epic voyage across the Sahara on kitebuggies. They achieved a remarkable 2,160 kms in 26 days. They actually broke 2 world records – that of the longest distance for a kitebuggy and the second for the first wind-only form of transportation to cross the Sahara.

Speed records are of course something else and Arjen van der Tol of Holland holds the record for dry lake bed buggying with a maximum speed of 124kmh or 77.05mph.

The beach sand record is held by Windjammer of England who reached a documented speed of  109.59kmh / 68.10mph.

The fastest lady on a buggy at the moment is Karen Cutbush with a beach sand speed of  77.57kmh / 48.20mph. She was delighted to hear that she held the record adding, “By the end of the day I had covered close to 50 miles, but more importantly I reached a new personal best speed of 48.2mph….I am told that I am now the fastest recorded female pilot in a kite buggy in the world – Wow!”

And then there are the distance records.

We already know that the team MadWaySouth hold that one, but the solo record is held by Jose Maria Coca Rodriguez who managed a total of 441kms in 12 hours and 15 minutes moving at a maximum speed of 74.2km/h.

There is even a Backward Buggying Speed – what next! This record is proudly held by Paul Westlake, aka Pablow of Wales who achieved the remarkable speed of 58.42 kmh – 36.3 mph – backwards!!!

Of course, to be able to break records you need space, preferably with no sauntering sunset admirers and Romo Beach in Denmark is one place that definitely has that, as witnessed here with The Poland Buggykiting Team making the most of it (buggykitingpl):

The ideal space for buggying is hard-packed sand as it provides great traction and better control in a slide. Next best would be grassy lawns. Pavement and roads can be very fast, but a tight turn could flip the unwary buggier out.

Sand and grass require more power than hard-pack or pavement, but they are favoured because of the balance between grip and drag.

Buggies prefer large open spaces and smooth winds, but their small size and easy manoeuverability allows experienced buggy pilots access to areas that might have been deemed completely unsuitable – soccer grounds are frequently used in urban areas. Obviously, the more space you have the easier and safer it will be.

And if you are new to this sport, here’s an interesting video that dots the i’s and crosses a few t’s for you…with thanks to expertvillage for sharing it with us.