Kite Changing

[Sand-Yeti]

Last Friday's wind in the desert was terrible.
The wind forecast indicated nucleur winds easing off in the afternoon.

In anticipation of a great day's buggying , I was out at the ghaf tree quite alone before 8 a.m., unloading the UDB off my trailer & setting up my 3m Blade. The wind was very strong and gusting quite terribly. There were long lulls in the wind , so after a couple of kms buggying, I pulled out my new, never used and crispy 4 m Blade V, which was a pain because I had to waste lots of time putting on lines & handles. I only had 25m lines spare, which didn't help as I normally run on 40 m lines.
It was still gusting badly but with longer lulls, so out came my 5 Blurr, which is a bit more forgiving in severe gusting winds than my 4.9m Blade.

The wind continued to ease off, so by 11 a.m. I was changing again to my 6.5m Blade.

The Mrs. turned up with visitors from the UK, to show them what a desert looks like as well as to check if I was up to no good..
"Why don't you follow me on a run, I will keep mainly to the sabkhas so that you won't have to run with your FJ over the dunes," I suggested.
.
One more change up along the way to my 8.5m Blade due to winds continuing to slacken. Boy this was getting boring and in 10 years of kiting have never changed so much in a day. let alone in a morning.

25 kms from the ghaf tree and bang, my rear starboard Swiss made suspension broke. Well actually it just came unscrewed, My faith in Swiss precision engineering was suddenly shattered. Well at least my Swatch was working and could see that as there was plenty of time or rather daylight to get my problem sorted. There was no tool box in her car to fix it, so she drove me back to the ghaf leaving my English visitors who had only landed in Dubai from Manchester that morning with my buggy. Luckily, I locked their position in on my Etrex before departing.

Driving back with my car with my trailer in tow to my broke buggy and English visitors was exciting as a sand storm had blown up in the mean time. The visibility was down to about 30 yards, hence the value of the GPS. My visitors were so pleased that I'd returned because they hadn't a clue, which way they should have to walk had I forgotten them. It would have been sacrilege to abandon my buggy in the desert I advised them.

As I pulled out my tool box, the sandstorm abated as quickly as it blew up and not an grain of sand stirred as we stood in the peaceful quiet of the desert.

It was somewhat disappointing because I knew then that i would have to call it a day and be nice to my visitors.

Only a lonely camel came to sympathise with my plight. I think secretly, she was laughing at me. Can you see her sly smile? I'm just forcing a grin for the camera.


Maybe the camel just came by to see what English people look like , who knows?
Pic of what English people look like.


The weekend winds have on the whole been very poor this year and this coming Friday doesn't look to be much better.
Could it be due to Global warming? I think not what with the cold weather being experienced in Europe & North America

[fat Old Whimp]

So how often have you had a failure in the desert? That could be a bit scary.
I would imagine that from time to time you have to make some serious safety decisions. Have you ever had to abandon gear?

[Sand-Yeti]

So how often have you had a failure in the desert? That could be a bit scary.
I would imagine that from time to time you have to make some serious safety decisions. Have you ever had to abandon gear?

When I owned a PL , I would have a failure almost every outing but haven't used them for years. Failures are very rare now and I am better at buggying and manage to avoid sharp things on the floor, so don't even get punctures that often either. The biggest fear is if the wind drops and I can't move. Of course being better at buggying means I travel bigger distances. I carry a spare kite, lines & handles as I have had a few handles break in the past.

I have on a couple of occasions left my buggy and had to walk but it wasn't an issue because I just locked in the buggy position on my GPS so I could easily find it. Nobody is going to steal it because:
a) All the desert dwellers, frequent visitors, safari tour opertors and rangers around there know me & my buggies.
b) Almost impossible that someone would come across my buggy in the dunes.

Summer could be a bit naughty in the desert but I even have that base covered. In the heat especially in the dunes, you'd be lucky to cover 2 to 3 kms before dropping dead. If I was alone in some remote place during summer, I would phone the Mrs. or friends and give my GPS position requesting a pick up. They would just enter the position on their GPS and, push GO TO S-Y and they'd easily find me. Meanwhile, I'd make a sun-shade from my kite and wait. I always carry a 3 litre Camelback of water & some hydration powders with me, so dehydration wouldn't be an issue.
Now that I have it all figured out, it isn't scary at all.
I have been in scary places when I was climbing mountains but have never been afraid in the desert. It does get a bit lonely out there, when miles from anywhere and buggying alone. However, I don't do that much buggying alone and don't get problems that often so there's nothing to worry about.

The only safety decisons I make are when driving out to my playground because there are many nutters driving on the road that I honestly believe are trying to kill me.

[fat Old Whimp]

I once had to abandon my buggy to the Whaingaroa Habour . I came out in a big wind and my buggy got blown into the water. By the time I got my kite sorted it was 50mtrs off the beach and floating up the harbour on an incoming tide. It was near dark in treacherous conditions and far too dangerous to expect someone to go out in a boat and get it. I watched it floating for a while and had to go home. My daughter was really young and quite upset by it. She asked if it was lonely out there on its own. The next day we had a meet and I had to go out in a boat looking for it. Trouble is there is 130kms of coastline to look for a buggy that is gray and black. We were just about to give up when I spotted it washed up on some rocks. Apart from some very soggy bearings it was OK.

[Sand-Yeti]

I once had to abandon my buggy to the Whaingaroa Habour . I came out in a big wind and my buggy got blown into the water. By the time I got my kite sorted it was 50mtrs off the beach and floating up the harbour on an incoming tide. It was near dark in treacherous conditions and far too dangerous to expect someone to go out in a boat and get it. I watched it floating for a while and had to go home. My daughter was really young and quite upset by it. She asked if it was lonely out there on its own. The next day we had a meet and I had to go out in a boat looking for it. Trouble is there is 130kms of coastline to look for a buggy that is gray and black. We were just about to give up when I spotted it washed up on some rocks. Apart from some very soggy bearings it was OK.

Glad to hear you could find your buggy.
Were you in the buggy when it was blown into the sea or was it just blown into the sea when you where sorting out your kite?
Sounds like you may have been a tad overpowered if you'd been in the buggy.
Obviously, we have no sea or any other pools of water in the desert , so the chance of that happening to me is about 'nil'.
From this discussion, I get the distinct impression that it dangerous to buggy on the NZ beach near Whaingaroa Harbour in big winds. I think I'll stick to desert buggying just to be on the safe side.

Your daughter sounds like a very caring young lady worrying about your buggy. You can be proud of her but I guess you already are.
Buggies are very important and I like to think that most buggiers treat this inanimate object as part of the family and give it the utmost respect .
When I visited the UK , I was privileged to used one of PTW's buggies . I was very concerned that I might scratch the the very highly polished finish on it with my boots that were covered with the abrasive sand of the beach. The buggy did indeed get sandy but PTW said that the high polish made it very easy to clean, just by hosing down with fresh water when arriving home.
Now & then I abuse my buggies but always have this guilty feeling that I shouldn't have taken off of a dune and smashed it down hard.
Some people are so attached to their buggies that they tart them up with shiny bits and fancy paint jobs etc. 'Bling' buggies!!! Some buggiers even give their buggy a name.

Have a nice day!

[fat Old Whimp]

On that particular day I got plucked out of the seat by a gust. I ended up snapping my leader lines. Not bad for a 2.5 mtr 2 line peel.
Riding at a harbour mouth has its moments. The beach starts on the ocean and turns into the harbour. Most wind other than south is ridable. Anything west or north gives great lines so we spend a lot of time heading towards the water even with onshore winds. Occasionally on very low tides we can ride half way out into the Harbour entrance where the kite surfers play. Its great out there. The wind is smooth the scenery is great and the sand bars offer a variety of surfaces from moguls and whoopdies to very flat. Gotta be careful riding on a small strip of sand surrounded by water with a big current flowing.
My buggy has lots of blue bits. It looks OK as I recently fitted a twice modified seat and a new set of pads. It does not have a name but I do talk to it.

[popeyethewelder]

Some buggiers even give their buggy a name.

yup...even you Dave, lol..like the Death Buggy, or the Ultimate Desert Buggy, great account of your day, I can imagine that you completely refrained from any colorful language when changing all those kites, and especially when the suspension unit went...I imagine that you were just humming a requiem or something

[shrimpo]

At least your getting some flying in Dave,, it's been either wet/Snow or no wind now for the best part of this year so far, it's wearing a bit thin now. only had one good buggy session this year so far.

Shrimpo

[Sand-Yeti]

Be happy you have had one good session Al.
This is the worst year ever for me
Looking back on the years
& kms done by this time , you can see how poor it is here for wind;

2007 by 9 Feb - 271.0 kms 7 sessions average 38.7 kms per session
2008 by 7 Feb - 494.3 kms 7 sessions average 70.6 kms per session
2009 by 12 Feb - 276.2 kms 5 sessions average 55.2 kms per session
2010 by 12 Feb - 199.8 kms 5 sessions average 40.0 kms per session

Next weekend looks to be terrible as well.

Where has the wind gone? It's just dWINDling away

[mick]

Thats very sad calling your buggy by a name isn't it? I wouldn't dream of naming mine. She wouldn't like it at all.

Supposedly we have 13 mph wind here which translates to about 50 up in the hills, so although I have a bad back, I'm gonna take my camera, stick it on my buggy and play.