Kite_Buggy_Adventure - 10-8-2012 at 09:53 AM
Hi all,
A couple of you may have heard about an expedition my brother and I organised in Brazil last year - 1000km along the coast without any support.
Having never sat in a buggy, or even used a traction kite until a week before departure; many thought we were mad, and the rest thought we'd kill
ourselves. However, I'm pleased to say we lived to tell the tale and a short video is now on facebook!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CkSANlEnf4&feature=youtu...
One of the best (and definitely hardest) experiences we have ever had.
Check it out if you have a spare 10mins. (Turn up the volume!)
Interested to hear any thoughts.
revpaul - 10-8-2012 at 11:39 AM
very cool and well done you two.
what's next? :smug:
pongnut - 10-8-2012 at 02:06 PM
You guys are crazy, but rock! I applaud your success. :o
Now that you have met your goal, you probably wont be needing those buggies and kites anymore, right... ;-)
WELDNGOD - 10-8-2012 at 02:13 PM
you two might be slightly addicted.......I'm thinking it's a terminal case of "Ican'tgetenoughkitebuggyitis":wee: Great job guys! :cool2:
And yeah, what's next?
soliver - 10-8-2012 at 04:56 PM
good job guys, that was pretty awesome.
So your kite was "properly powered" right 
wiers - 10-8-2012 at 11:03 PM
Great video. Congrats on your trip. Just curious how many kites you brought?
ChrisH - 16-8-2012 at 11:49 AM
Wow, great job guys!
Kite_Buggy_Adventure - 17-8-2012 at 02:36 AM
Thanks guys!
In answer to a couple of your questions - unfortunately we had to sell our kit upon our return. Although we absolutely loved the sport and the buzz it
gave us, we firstly didn't have any space to store two massive buggies and all the kites, but also we needed to pay a little money to our sponsor's,
therefore selling the kit was the easiest method of doing so.
Next expedition? I really fancy kiting across the Atlantic! How amazing, maybe from Cornwall (or Canaries for trade winds) over to Rio in time for the
next Olympics. Very long way, but would be epic. If anyone has any thoughts please share! And that was the other reason for our kit sale, we like to
do further expeditions but with new sports every time to keep it interesting (and unfortunately slightly more dangerous).
With the above expedition we only actually had one opportunity to kite before hand. It was one lesson with SB kites down in Poole. This was primarily
because all our kit only arrived a week before the expedition, and then unfortunately the wind totally died! Couldn't get the kites in the air at all,
therefore you can imagine us getting the kite in the air through trial and error on our first day in 40 knott wind, let alone sitting in a buggy and
powering alone with so much gear on unknown terrain. It was insane, but one hell of a buzz.
We brought 5 kites. Ozone gave us 6, however the 6th was a 13m Frenzy - luckily we knew enough to inform us we wouldn't need that out there. We brough
2x4m Access, 7&9m Frenzy (mostly used due to the thick sand and heavy buggies with luggage - Que OBE's!), and a 11m frenzy (only used once, then
rapidly folded away again after being dragged off into the sea on day 2!). For more info on the kit see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zAT9xaZaGg
Thanks for the interest! Great to know people followed it a bit!
Bladerunner - 17-8-2012 at 08:42 AM
While I am in awe of what you accomplished I worry about your approach? ( going in without experience or support vehicle )
This is truly a game of life and death. We recently lost a Loved Leader in our community to the sport. He too was a kite buggy pilot who took to the
water. And had skill in both.
I am not sure what to advise when taking your next advenrure to the water accept sharks don't offer up high vis' vests ! :dunno:
I am not trying to come down on you for pushing the limits. I am sure you know it is a different game on water. Just feeling concerned with losing a
friend still raw in my thoughts.
Kite_Buggy_Adventure - 28-8-2012 at 05:38 PM
Hi Bladerunner,
Very sorry to hear about your friend. I'm sure words can't describe.
We went without a vehicle due to cost primarily. Also, in truth we didn't totally understand what we were getting ourselves into. We went with (no)
experience as I was on crutches until around 4 weeks before the start due to a downhill mountain biking accident. Also all the kit didn't arrive in
time (only around a week before the start); we were too busy with day jobs, writing dissertations, and quickly finalising trip details and sponsors,
and finally the wind totally died the week before the trip. We couldn't even get the kites in the sky! It was the perfect storm.
However this was certainly not ideal. In fact, it meant the first week or so of the trip was nearly impossible. Lots of difficulties, arguments,
tangling lines, and to be honest, parts were very scary. 40 knott wind on our first day, unknown terrain, unknown buggies, and only half a clue of how
to launch the kites, let alone buggy! We learnt an awful lot however if there was one regret about the whole trip - it was the lack of experience.
Someone likened it to attempting to swim the British channel without learning to first swim... and they had a point.
Any future challenge, we would take our time to plan, so we could factor in as much training as possible. It is paramount to the safety, success and
enjoyment of any challenge. There is no need to make it needlessly difficult and painful. We certainly learnt a lot though - and in hindsight, loved
every second! I would do it again in a flash, and often find myself day-dreaming of the many varied experiences we had out there. As it happened, we
were lucky though - very lucky!
jamtmann31 - 1-9-2012 at 09:32 AM
Awesome! Great work guys...
pbc - 1-9-2012 at 07:21 PM
Thanks for this inspiring adventure. I would love to do a trip like this but figured there was no place to do it. I never imagined how wrong I was.
Philip
pyro22487 - 2-9-2012 at 08:44 AM
I would love to set up a trip like this one myself.