Buggy Or Bust - CLSC Meet April 2011

Well, it has been over 18 months since my last buggy outing, which was the September 2009 CLSC meet at Pembrey. I have not picked up a kite or sat in a buggy since then! Various reasons have left me frustrated and wondering whether I would take part again.

With a new year upon us and weekend work rota sorted, it was time to see if I still enjoyed being out on the beach.....and camping! The CLSC Meet dates have been booked and the Wallop experience had to be tasted again.

I arrived at Pembrey Country Park on the Friday morning - the roads being particularly quiet (some wedding going on in London), set up the tent and headed down to the beach. The usual suspects were out and some new faces that I had not met before. The wind was pretty light, but eventually swung round to onshore and it was fairly tasty for half an hour before it dropped to a sedate 10mph. This meant the big kites could come out - more specifically the 10.5m Bora ll. Amazingly there were no moths in the bag or holes in the kite and within a couple of minutes it was flying like I remembered it. Sweet!!

All too soon the tide was approaching and it was the signal to head back to camp and fire up the cooking. Not many miles to show for the day, but at least the old motto 'You never forget how to ride' held true.

The Saturday proved a bit more challenging with the wind just awful. I sat and took in the rays as various people tried to fly but ended up snapping lines, blowing kites up and generally getting hacked off. I thought I would save myself until Sunday!!!

Yet again the Saturday evening highlight was the club BBQ, which was superbly cooked by the Southampton massive plus helpers. Talk about desperate for food - it was a bit like a stampede at times. Calm down, calm down!

Sunday, Sunday, what a day! Dai Wilmer suggested Pendine for a change as the wind was Easterly and Saturday had been a waste of time at Pembrey. Off we all chugged around the estuary to find the wind blowing across the beach at Pendine, however the beach did turn round the corner at it's Eastern end, so there were possibilities of a good run. Straight away I was out with the Bora ll 3.7m and continued to use this kite for the whole day. I set off to zig-zag up the beach in an Easterly direction to see where it went, not having buggied here before. Dai and a blokarter also made the long trek into the wind, avoiding the bombing area!

After a good hour or so, the beach curved round to the North and I was able to make some good speed heading up the estuary as the wind was now on the beam. Occasionally there were soft patches to deal with, but right across the middle was a hard 'dome' of runway. After a bit of a venture into some real rugged terrain, an emergency halt was needed before a:) I came out of the buggy, or b:) it tipped over!! After a brief respite it was time for a blast in a southerly direction. It was blowing pretty hard at this point (~25-30mph?), but with the rock hard 'dome' to contend with it felt safe.

A few minutes later I stopped before I entered the soft sand and Bristol Channel. "That was a good run", I thought, and looking down at my GPS saw that I had smashed my PB and hit 52.0 mph!! Well they did say that Pendine was the beach for Land Speed Records.

After that there was nothing else to achieve on the day so it was a quick downwind blast back to base camp. I might just have mentioned to a few people what I had done!

There followed a bit of larking around gybeing back and forth as the tide came in, and in no time we had to pack up and adjourn to the pub for a pint before heading back to Pembrey.

One of the best experiences in a buggy and so soon after spending 18 months or so on the sidelines. Thanks to all who made the weekend possible (CLSC Committee, BBQ'ers, fellow CLSC'ers and the welsh wind). Ciao.

Final CLSC Meet of 2009 – 18-20th September

(Do you remember the mozzies?)

After several months of “are we there yet?”, it was finally upon us. The final official club meet of 2009. With no Freast this year as Nickthechef had emigrated(?!?), this was the one that was most anticipated. It was going to be warm, clear skies, onshore winds and plenty to eat and drink.

As usual, I arrived on the Friday morning to find that there were heaps of members on the beach. Usually just a handful make the it for the best day of the weekend. It looked ‘busy’! Nevertheless, it was an interesting day with the beach suffering a tad from ripples and the wind running cross-shore and fairly light. It was big kite weather and you certainly felt that you had had a good workout when leaving the beach at the end of the day.

There was cloud cover in the evening and fairly warm. That was the problem. ‘Kin mozzies. Who didn’t get bit? Some of the members seemed tastier than others and suffered badly!!

Saturday arrived and it was ‘race’ day for those that fancied it. Still a rippled and wet beach and light, cross shore winds meant that only two races were completed taking about 30 minutes a lap!! Who did win?

At some point in the afternoon the wind went onshore so a few of us shot off down for a run towards the tower. A nice change after doing little tiny runs through the puddles.

Saturday evening was the bbq, with food and ale laid on by the club. As has been said elsewhere, special thanks to the chefs for the night, and for the committee for laying on the food and drink. Top volunteers. More thanks to all the members who contributed to the raffle and to Kitebuggybagman for supplying some terrific prizes for the winners.

Sunday finally arrived and most people eventually headed down the beach to see what was on offer. Not a lot initially as the sun shone (and burnt!), but the wind didn’t turn up. Many people left, but the ‘hardcore’ stayed on – in anticipation.

Finally as the tide turned, the beach was hard, the wind came and it was onshore!! This was a fine end to the weekend and those lucky enough to have remained had several hours of ace conditions and finally got some miles on the clock.

Another top weekend of buggy action and club fun with new faces put to forum names. Roll on 2010 for more meets.

I did say that Sunday was always the best day, didn’t I?

(Credit to Dai Wilmer for his photos)

Tarmac Action From Hudson's Field

Here is the first film from 2009 of myself and Mark (V-Max Rider) having some fun down the local patch one Saturday morning. It seemed to be a bit slow on the grass, so let's try out the tarmac road that runs down the hill!!

Quite tricky to keep the same speed and get the timing right, but it was fun trying. At times it was hilarious - that is what this sport is all about, isn't it?

Hudson's Buggy Chase from Big Daddy on Vimeo.

Roll on those warm summer evenings and some proper winds. (Not to mention the trips to CLSC beaches!!)

Wolf Boy Boarding Down Hudson's

Just found a previously made video of our friend Wolf Boy. Where did he get to? Not seen him around for ages. This was made a while back now, just experimenting one blustery day down my field. He gets some half decent height. I always said that he can jump higher than a house!

Anyway, see what you think....

Wolf Boy Boarding down Hudson's Field from Big Daddy on Vimeo.

Pembrey Video

Duckin' & Divin' from Big Daddy on Vimeo.

Check out the video from Pembrey on 13th and 14th September with the mobs from Salisbury, Southampton and CLSC. Cross on-shore winds at 10-15mph meant big kites and a lot of zig-zagging down the beach. Great fun and hopefully the video shows a bit of that.

Salisbury Crew Go To Pembrey.

This is what it is all about!

A weekend camping and buggying trip to Pembrey Beach in South Wales with a good smattering of the boys attending. Two days on the beach, and one night with a CLSC Club barbecue and beer to boot. Look at the weather in the piccy - what another perfect weekend.

Saturday was gorgeous with on shore winds meaning the full length of the beach was possible. Sunday was a lot different with cross shore winds, but still made for an entertaining afternoon. Generally it was 'big kite' weekend but that didn't hold back the fun. Some loonies even tried to get to grips with the 'suicide gybe'! It was caught on video, so maybe I will put it up at a later date! Good try Al, I think you have got it sorted!

The car and buggy trailer was overloaded with kit, but it seems to do the job perfectly. The trailer is definitely the way to go for anyone pondering the best way to transport these bugs.

I guess that I might just have to 'try' Pembrey again at the beginning of October. Let's hope for some late summer weather and autumnal breezes. Adios.

It's August - It Must Be Football!!

Seems like only five minutes since the football season ended. Been a lot of Olympics on TV, so something to keep the sports fan entertained. It seems that we have had 3 games already in the Premier League and the hammers are at 4th spot!! Do you want some proof?

	Team	Played	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	Goal Diff	Points
1	Chelsea	3	1	1	0	5	1	1	0	0	1	0	5	7
2	Arsenal	3	2	0	0	4	0	0	0	1	0	1	3	6
3	Liverpool	2	1	0	0	2	1	1	0	0	1	0	2	6
4	West Ham	3	2	0	0	6	2	0	0	1	0	3	1	6
5	Middlesbrough	3	2	0	0	4	2	0	0	1	1	2	1	6
6	Bolton	3	1	1	0	3	1	0	0	1	0	1	1	4

There is now a break while some Internationals take place. Was a good game yesterday with Blackburn and Paul Ince returning to the Boleyn. Stuffed them 4-1, that's more like it.

The buggy came out on Saturday after a month with no action. Brilliant afternoon down Hudson's Field as the weather picked up and was warm, sunny and breezy. Had a few hours bombing around with the 8.5 metre Bora.

Looking forward to the CLSC meet on 13th and 14th September. Should be a few of the local crowd going down for the weekend and having a few bevvies. That reminds me, must stock up on some Summer Lightning! I believe that a certain person (other than myself) is a bit partial to this fine brew. With a bit of luck, the wind should be Autumnal which could mean some new records for top speed. Here's to a fine weekend.