End of 2007

Well, still not much wind to enable a good session at the local field. On the odd occasion that we do get some, then it is chucking it down. At least I will be heading to the two massive beaches in South Wales in 2008. Definitely some good sessions to be had there. It looks like I have had my last fly this year, but popped down to see jimabbey having a lonely session on Saturday 29th December. Took one or two pictures, which can be viewed in my picasaweb.google album. Just click on the links to the right. This one I liked as it showed a beautiful day and our famous 'Old Sarum' iron age fort in the background. Jim was pretty much motoring with his 5m Bora. Looked fun though. Hopefully the next week will bring some wind and sun before returning to work. Hope y'all have a fantastic New Year.

Rubbish weather - watched West Ham thrash Blackburn Rovers!

Well, there was certainly a load of wind this weekend, but also a whole heap of rain! Waterlogged down Hudson's Field. West Ham travelled to the north west to play Blackburn and came away with a fantastic 1-0 win. Dean Ashton scoring again after coming on at half time. He is the business - a big strong centre forward. Shame England haven't got any games this summer!

What we need is a monster beach session before Christmas to blow the cobwebs away, and then another one just after Christmas and possibly a New Year one too. Looks like next year will be the year for South Wales beaches. Just waiting for the membership to arrive!! Rock on!

West Ham Draw

Well, a highly exciting game of football at lunchtime today ended with the Hammers drawing 1-1 with Spurs. I suppose that was better than last years 4-3 defeat. Nevertheless, we had our 'England' keeper Robert Green saving a last minute dubious penalty. Second time he has done that in a few weeks. Dean Ashton came on so good to see him back again. Still 10th in the table, bring on Chelsea next weekend.

Finally, some wind!!

Well, another weekend beckoned, but the forecast looked good. Sun was out, it was a bit chill, but the wind was promising 20-25mph. Okay so it was North Westerly, but we are hard! Flying inland, we can cope when it's gusty. Most of the Salisbury Crew who are in the country turned up at the local spot for a long day's flying on Saturday. I brought the video camera for a change and took some time out to capture the troops.

Having spent all day down the park, it was good to finally get some footage of buggiers and boarders doing their thing. I won't mention 'outinthesticks' getting his kite into a tree, and then pulling it out into a rose bush in a local garden. That would be unkind. Anyway, no damage done, and he then took out a smaller kite. I still haven't managed to catch on film 'V-Max Rider' getting yanked out of his buggy. He did it several times on Saturday, but still carried on with that beast of a kite. Get yourself a decent set of Bora's, matey.

No sign of 'kite mike'. Where have you been? You missed a cracker. 'jimabbey' seemed to be getting a bit excited with his new bigfoots and was getting into some terrific sideways action. The usual suspects were on the boards including 'Wolfboy' and 'KiteManiac77'. Good to see the crew having a riot. Check out the film above and TURN IT UP LOUD.

West Ham stuff Derby!

What a weekend for the Hammers! Having a huge injury list and lacking most of our first choice strikers, we headed to Pride Park to face bottom of the table Derby. Bit of a dull first half with only Bowyer's solitary goal, but then knocked in four more to truly stuff them 5-0. Terrific stuff. A good weekend for a change!

France Raid October 2007

Having sat around all summer with a whole bunch of no wind days, it was time to head off to France and visit one of my mates, Neil, who lived within easy reach of a plethora of beaches. The tides were low, the coefficients were low, the ferry was booked - all we needed was some sun and wind!

We arrived at Neils' at 2:30 in the morning, so a quick bevy and off to bed. Friday morning looked glorious in the countryside and the wind generators were slowly moving. Off we went to try a few West facing beaches and ended up at Saint Cecile Plage, north of Le Touquet. The wind was light and so out came the 10.5m Bora II. Mike went for 11.0m Century and Jim the 10m Bora I. Progress was middling, but we had some fun bombing to the water and back to the dunes. Miles covered were few and I believe Mike claimed top speed of the day (I'm sure his GPS was running in the van!).

Friday night was spent in the pub watching France getting stuffed by the Argies! Neil downed 3 bottles of wine and suggested we take the caravan and park outside a disco!! Needless to say the more mature of us, said "perhaps tomorrow".

Saturday was an offshore wind day and it had picked up a bit. This allowed us to travel parallel to the sea, so more space for cruising. No one else was on the beach, most of the sand was hard and once the rivers were avoided, we had the rest of the afternoon for chilling out. Jim and I managed to get to the estuary at le Touquet (pictured), while Michael couldn't handle it with his kite! You need some proper kit, matey!! Not a particularly good day for mileage, but very enjoyable just being out in the sun and cruising the beautiful scenery.

Saturday night was spent in the same pub watching England getting mashed by South Africa, so we headed home ready for an early start back on Sunday morning. The wind was non existant on Sunday, we made an earlier ferry and got back home middle of the afternoon for the final Grand Prix. That was rubbish aswell!

Introduction

Hi there, I have two hobbies in my life at present: West Ham United and Parakarting (kite buggying).

I have been a Hammer fan since 1965, and have supported the club through the good and bad times since then. After 'we' won the World Cup in 1966, this was the start of a wonderful, and often fraught relationship. With the FA Cup runs and cup final successes to the ups and downs in the league, the traditional Saturday afternoon down Upton Park or in front of the TV, has been a huge part of my life.


Kite buggying has been something I became addicted to in May 2003, when I visted my first Kite and buggy festival at Middle Wallop with my son. The incredible sight of all those power kites in the air, when approaching the airfield, will never be forgotten. Money has been spent on kites, buggies, safety gear, but the end result is an exhilarating sport, and when you are on a hard packed beach with the wind blowing 25mph onshore, there is no better feeling!