Hi all,
I'm waiting for my 1st ever buggy (a flexifoil mk1) to arrive by post and when it gets here (maybe tomorrow?) I want to get going. I have a Bullet 3.5 which I can fly without wheels. Can anyone give me some basic tips on how to buggy safely and effectively?
Thanks.
Andy

Go to the search section:
Type or paste this:
Scoop's Guide for Newbie Powerkiters

Best bet is to go to one of the local beaches and talk with someone, 5 min of watching and then having someone to watch you and give you some freindly advice will cut massive time off the learning curve.

The #1 cause of problems with most buggy/boarders is they travel straight at the kite, when you do this you don't keep the needed line tension, the kite will just sort of sit at one side of the window like a sack of potatoes until it eventually decides to hit the ground, what you wanna do is start with the bug on a 45deg angle to the wind. If your properly powered up you just have to bring the kite to one side of the window and it'll start pulling you that way, as soon as you get moving with a little speed you want to try and cut straight across the wind, if you end up slowing down but the kite's still flying good your going upwind too much, if you find the kite's really slack and having trouble controling it your too much downwind.

If your underpowered wich most people are for their first attempts, you'll need to dive the kite to get moving, Start with the bug on a 45deg, say to the left, bring the kite a little to the right, dive it hard to the left, you'll get a big burst of power, it'll turn into some decent forward speed, if you stay traveling down wind though your kite will die and fall from the sky when it hits the edge of the window, before this happens you'll have to cut across wind.

Pablo - thanx. Buggy not here yet, but will do as you suggest if it ever arrives .

Tigger - thanx but the search comes back with 'no match' - could it have lapsed?

Andy

check this out http://www.powerkiteshop.com/how-to/howtokitebuggy.htm

Hey Scoop!

Please give this fellow the link to your beginner's post.

Hi guys,

thanx for advice and as soon as the wind blows something like the right strength I'll get out there.
Thanx again.
Andy

Good luck Andy, it's great sport to get into. It took me ages to get up to speed (pun intended) with buggying, but it is well worth it.

Hope it goes well

One other thing, I was reminded of this today, if you go out a little underpowered, it'll make learning a little slower as you'll be forced to develope proper habits and tecnique, but it's pretty safe. If you go out powered up, it'll make learning easy because you just put the kite to one side and haul off in that direction, but things can go bad real fast. I think you're better off on the underpowered, normal powered side of things.

I've been buggying for well over a year now, and just got reminded of this the hard way again today after getting launched out of the bug 4 times in as many minutes. As I limped back to the kite bag I decided it'd be best to head home while I could still limp to the car.