Today was the monthly Club-day for the Nelson Kite Club. Usually it's held at Rabbit Island Beach but today the venue was moved to the Wakapuaka Sand Flats. South-west winds were the reason for the change. Rabbit Island is a North facing beach, so the SW wind there is coming off the land at a 45 degree angle, and it gusts badly. At the sand flats its a different story. On its way across the waters of Tasman Bay, the wind smooths out and hits Wakapuaka with steady force.
The surface at Wakapuaka is a hard packed, sun baked, crust of old tidal sand. There's very little rolling resistance so it is a very fast surface to kite buggy on. Because it's only 10 minutes from my place, it's like my 'home turf'. I feel right at home there. I've spent many afternoons out there, on my own, in a screaming southwester trying to set impromptu land speed records, laughing out loud where no one can hear me.
Todays wind was a little changeable for a start. I changed from my 3.0m Blade, to my 6.3m C-Quad, and then as the wind picked up again, back down to a pair of Excaliburs (which I re-bridled this morning after last weeks little episode here).
I had forgotten how much fun a simple two-line stack of delta kites, like the Excaliburs, can be. I fly them with no back-strap or harness, just a pair of padded wrist straps, so the power is very direct and my arms take the full load. I feel very in-touch with the kites that way and can feel every little ripple in the wind. The other great things about them (apart their relatively low price tag), is the speeeeed. The delta shape is very fast through the air, and has a much higher top speed than most other kite designs. This means that providing theres enough wind speed, and you've got your head on right, you can go as fast as you dare. I did a couple of very fast downwind runs out there today. I didn't have my speedo on but I would guess I was doing 65-70kph. The speed I like, its stopping at the other end that gets scary. The only way to do it is to throw the buggy into a slide to shave off speed. Great fun, and a great way to bend wheel bolts (aye, Marty).
Marty demonstrates the slow-me-down-quick power-slide method.
Bill, buggy pilot and BBQ chef.
Bill heading upwind with his citrus coloured 4.2m C-Quad, against a vivid sky.
A close up of an Ozone foil. I've haven't flown one (yet), but I really like the shape of these foils.
The pilot of that Ozone foil pulling some tricks.
Bills modified Quad-foil. Theres quite a few miles on this kite. It was rescued from a bad home where the bad owner had tried to convert it to a two line setup (duh... they call it a quad-foil for a reason). They must have then flown it through a barbed wire fence or two for good measure. Bill bought it for a bargain, rebuilt it and has been happily clocking up the miles ever since.
Marty showing off his 2-wheeling skills.
We rounded off this great afternoon of kite flying and buggying with a bar-q-cue (courtesy of Bill and Barbara). The Nelson Kite Club committee have been trying to think of ways to get more club members to show up for club events. Personally, after an afternoon like today, I'm sure they don't know what they're missing.
9:49:13 PM 
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