Ok so the road here was long, and painful BUT completely worth it!


The buggy finally got here and I put it together like a kid with a new toy on Christmas morning only to realize I had to work the next couple of days. Mind you the wind was PERFECT those 2 days. (mumbles something about work) My boss was nice enough to let me out a few hours early today so I could get some seat time. WOOHOO!!! (takes back that mumble about work) I get everything ready last night for today, wake up this morning ready to GO, and go to pack everything into the blazer. Wtf??? Why wont my tailgate open???? You have GOT to be kidding me! Thats when I remember I have a roof rack! SWEET! I go looking for something to tie it down with....nothing. Take the rear wheels off in a hurry and squeeze it thru the passenger door, ok cool.

Get to work and check the wind forecast for this afternoon. 20mph gusting 24. NICE! My Viper 2.6 will LOVE that. Time passes ever so slowly at work today. (of course) Finally the time comes to GOOOO. I grab my clothes out of the truck, head into the back of the store, change, and hit the front of the store to clock out when a client comes in looking for me. Ok, no biggie, I'll just take care of her and bolt right? Wrong. She asks if I was on my way out, Of course I say yes, but I'm happy to take care of you ma'am. She tells me it will only take a moment. Apparently a moment is 45 min. I'm all about cust service but man, I have a buggy to break in! I get her taken care of with a smile on my face the entire time (I'd like to thank the academy, my director, etc...) and head out.

Cruising to my field getting more and more excited and all the sudden the 6 lane highway I'm on turns into a parking lot. NOOOO!!! 30 min later im thru it. Ok, not so bad. (at least thats what I was telling myself)

Got to the field, made sure I had permission to be there again, unpacked, and got to work on the Viper. The wind seemed to be spot on with the forecast. Got lines sorted, strapped on the kks, and up she goes! Holy cow, I think I forgot how to fly! (several bow ties, spaghetti lines, ets so I got to fool with that frustration for about an hour) No sooner do I get back in the rythem, the wind dies. (like thats never happened before) Wind comes back up to a measley 6-8 I would estimate so I unpack the Twister II 5.6 (now we're talkin!) Get it all set up, launch, BOOM! wind is back with a vengence! Wait, where did the ground go???? Get settled, aim the bug slightly down wind, park my rear in the seat and WOOSH! off I go! WHAT A RUSH! Cruising down the field and I realize im watching the kite and not where im going. (OH $#!@) almost out of field!!! Bleed some speed off and get a good turn in. (wait....did I actually do a TURN??? SWEET!) Start upwind and well, lets just say its a VERY good thing I bought that walk of shame line!

Oh yes, I almost forgot the 2, yes 2 near OBEs. Came to a dead stop truing to go upwind so I started working the kite and a little gust comes along. Kite raced behind me like there was no tomorrow so I try to bring it back quick. Somehoe I got dragged sideways and one tire came up off the ground. I leaned in the direction of that tire and it set down, only to have the buggy spin around and wow, I learned backwards! Well, not learned...more like stained my pants doing it! Ok, this is a lot of wind for this Kite...

Wind was a bit too strong for the Twister so I packed it back up and relaunched the Viper. Did pretty well with it I think. Got a few decent runs in but still couldnt get upwind. Finally, on the last couple of runs of the evening, I was able to get back within 50 ft of where I started from.

I was bored of static flying but now with the buggy, I can already see this will be a never ending learning adventure that is impossible to get bored of!

All in all, Id go thru all the crap for a day of bugging over again and again.


HOOJ Thanks to everyone for all the advice, and help offered here. I have a friend to fly with but hes as green as me LOL....oh yeah, and thanks Dino for emptying my pockets LOL!!!

Cant wait for JIBE!!!!!

put a fork n this one...

would that fork be attached to a buggy??? :wee::wee::wee:

Good story and pic!

Good on you! Yeah, never let the kite get behind you, or :wee:..

Sounds like you did an awesome job your first time out. It was my third time in the buggy that it all clicked and I was able to link turns and roll back into camp. Your first attempt was better than mine. You will improve every time you go out.

I hope improvement comes quickly lol I'm going to wear that walk of shame line out otherwise

All I know is I'm hooked...already carefully planning out my future kite purchases...