PB 47.8mph ,3-5-11,Onondaga Lake Syracuse NY, "snowspider" kitesled , 5m HQ Apex II , very gusty 20-30mph winds.
First session of this year at the Tug Hill Rally winds extremely light I walked about 1/4 mile back over a ridge where some trainer kites were up and getting in some lessons. After a few attempts on the sled and flying static for a while I decided to head back to base camp. Not wanting to walk all the way back and wanting to get the most out of the sorry conditions I down looped and zigzaged the kite straight downwind back to base camp.2'losepower,stop,setupforloop,waithereitcomes,power,3',stop,bringitacrossthetopdownloop,2' ,on and on it goes untill I got just shy of base camp. Probably the shortest distance in the longest time record for me. All this on my least respected kite ,Pansh 10m Blaze. Its going to be a good season I've got nowhere to go but faster.

My best speed this year so far is 54.5mph. January 3rd

The wind was blowing storm force 11 to hurricane force 12
The top gust I recorded was 84mph and it possibly got beyond that.
Gusts would swing wildly from 50mph to 70mph in a blink of an eye.

Wind chill -5c
Torrential driving rain

5m Best Warro
Dom 4

Very disappointed with the condition of the beach. The storm had made shallow gullies along the entire length of the beach and the torrential rain made the buggy aquaplane if I tried to power up the kite.

A bad choice of tyres (Kenda BRs) but I would have felt uncomfortable using discs as there were areas of soft water logged sand.

Definitely the most outrageous conditions I've ever buggied in.

Respect Mr Snowspider on your return to base camp. You never gave up. I'm the same.
No matter how long it takes I simply refuse to do the walk of shame. :D

Flew Oneida lake today , arrived expecting 12-15 mph got out of the van and measured steady 20mph with some very strong higher surges. Had 3 forteen year olds with me none of which belonged to me , I told one he's not flying ,for the second one I set up the 2.6 Viper , flew it just like he praticed , ram bang crash all done. The third guy on my 5m Element starts out with an imediate power dive into the ice while he's looking down at his skis. With that quick lesson in humility I work with him to get some fine controll and he makes 5or 6 high speed runs back and forth befor the wind kicks his feet out from under him and he calls it a day. With them out of the way I was good to go. Glass smooth hard black ice with patches of light snow and occational 8-12" drifts. Made a handful of runs befor deciding maybe this would be a good gps speed day. 37.2 mph top speed , 5m HQ Apex , snowspider kitesled ,14 miles recorded plus 5or6 more. Pretty happy for the first time out , pretty happy with one of the guys . and the others , now that they've seen this is no fly in the park , may pay attention and clean up their skills. Sooo good to be flying again!

Would love to see photos of the kitesled!

Pictures of the fastest kite powered sled on earth (+or- 0.05mph) can be found in the Gallery here on PKF, under skiing and snowboarding.

I was looking back through the speed ranking from stormboarding I remember one day we had the GPS on an ice buggy a few years back - on the 2006 list I was on skis and my buddy Jim took a little ride on the ice buggy that day and was ranked #13 in 2006 at 50.6 mph using a 9m Phantom.
I think we could have gone way faster that day it was just a visibility issue and Jim wasn't sure where he was going and I took off on skis into the blowing snow out of his sight.
I think I have a few shots from that day I'll post.

PS- this weekend is the Elmhirst Kite weekend Rice Lake Ontario - we had rain the other day that melted the snow, not sure if it left smooth ice or rippled. A little dusting of snow (which won't accumulate that much on top so far) and cold temps for 3 days but friday is calling for +3 and chance of afternoon rain and then colder at night so it might make for fast ice? Anyway I'm taking an ice buggy this weekend just in case..

the conditions - Phantom barely visible

Flying while blind can certainly be considered a PB.

we had one of the proto - PL sleds there that day as well but it wasn't good on ice with that version

I remember that day well I love that 9m phantom only kite you coud fly that day never got scared of that kite,beautiful green phanny im going to get another one one day my buddy has one like new I'm sure he would trade it for a new custom jellyfish surfboard, it was a stormy day white outs and gusty, one run was all I had courage for, crappy ice with snowdrifts an obe on the way back when the front skate dropped into a soft spot at 15 mph I wondered what would happen at 50mph as I slid endlessly down the lake on my back boots still in the foot straps, I really felt I dodged a bullet that day it scared the crap out of me and I havent had the guts ride it much since I guess if we got really good ice. Watched the guys ripping around last year in holland on the extreme buggies and when fast arie took the spill it brought back memories been there done that....

Those were the good old days Before fear and common sense took over.
Cheers
Jim

Quote:

Originally posted by jellyfish Watched the guys ripping around last year in holland on the extreme buggies and when fast arie took the spill it brought back memories been there done that.... Those were the good old days Before fear and common sense took over. Cheers Jim

Hey Jim, that was Ozzie that took the famous spill out the front like you describe.

Sorry my bad
Thanks

I only know because we talked about it at nabx last year and I own the buggy he did it in now. Complete with a ding in the downtube from when the front skate hit it.

Got my son Morgan to finally give it a go this year. I told him to take it easy for a couple of runs as he hasn't flown in a while. 10-12 mph smooth steady winds , 7.5m HQ Apex (California kite) out and back he goes comes sliding in and say's, "33.5 , hmmm , not bad". So much for taking it easy , I might as well just shut up and let him fly. He topped out at 37.8 mph on skis while I hit 37.7 on my little buggy and 6.8 PL Viper. My "speed buggy" sucked , blades are too short and the center of pull is too far back. After a couple of high speed bass acward spin-outs I put it away.