Kite - Buggying around the Dubai desert every weekend when we have wind is loads is of fun but pioneering a new route through the sands adds an element of adventure to it
This takes a bit of preparation by checking the terrain on Google Earth particularly locating where the dunes and sabkhas are in order not to find oneself stranded in a sea of sand dunes.
A successful buggying route is rather like climbing a mountain. To reach a mountain summit is great but getting back down the hill alive is the real achievement.
The planned route was loaded in my GPS via my PC navigational software. The Mrs. in her 800 cc Dune buggy (Razor) with vid. cam attached to one of the roll over protection bars followed behind me. I took her pic at the beginning of the route with the Razor sat between some nasty sandstone rocks that I call the Dragon's teeth as they try & eat buggiers when moving through them.
It seemed like I was running up & down dunes for ages. At one point I reached the summit of a dune and there was a sea of sand dunes for as far as I could see.
Up & Down, up & down and I started wondering if I'd read Google Earth correctly. Suddenly, from the top of a dune, I could see the flatness of a sabkha.
'Made it', I thought
I rolled over a huge sabkah, picked up a quiet tarmac sealed road for a while then headed back into the desert to return to my starting point.
For the technical people out there, I was flying a Flexifoil 6.5m Blade IV & riding my DB-I (Death Buggy Mk. I).
Music is the Elizabethan Serenade & Led Zeppelin's, 'Dust in the Wind'.

For those of you who may not have seen the vid. of this new route called the Dragon Run check out this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YTvnfDsHKs&feature=chann...

FYI, this a 6 minute vid. chopped down from 90 minutes that the Mrs. shot on the Dragon Run.

Link broken - keeping me in suspense.
"The URL contained a malformed video ID."

Here you go... :wee: :



ATB,
Sam

looks like an enjoyable ride. BTW I think dust in the wind is Kansas

Quote:

Originally posted by stetson05 BTW I think dust in the wind is Kansas

It's true that Kansas are the principal artist for Dust in the Wind but probably more than half a dozen artist recorded it including Led Zeppelin.
Check also othe versions by:
The Eagles
Cat Stevens
Scorpions
Boston
Simon & Garfunkel


I always enjoy riding in the buggy and the Dragon Run was no exception.

That is a sweet video and an amazing place to be! Is it ridiculously hot going over all that sand? Plus it looks kinda scary goin down those dunes from that high up on a BLADE! of all kites. It reminds me of snowkiting, It seems like it would be hard to stay on the ground with a lifty kite like that going downhill?

Quote:

Originally posted by f0rgiv3n That is a sweet video and an amazing place to be! Is it ridiculously hot going over all that sand? Plus it looks kinda scary goin down those dunes from that high up on a BLADE! of all kites. It reminds me of snowkiting, It seems like it would be hard to stay on the ground with a lifty kite like that going downhill?

I just shot that vid. recently and it's winter here now. During that run the temp was around 24ºC (75ºF) which is quite pleasant . Buggying here in summer gets a bit warm going over 50ºC (125ºF).

I've been dune buggying in the in the UAE desert for 8 years now.
The Blade is my preferred kite because it's lift characteristic is excellent for climbing the dunes. You get used to dropping down sand walls sometimes 70 to 80 feet high. Like everything there an art to manage it and it isn't scary once you've done it a few times.

In the early days of dune buggying I had fairly long drops after being lifted from my buggy but you will note that I wear a lot of armour. That's save my bacon a few times

I hope you don't mind me hijacking your thread with another video ? It is you at least !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI0mYQGkBGw&feature=chann...

I still think this is one of the nicest buggy videos I've ever seen.

Ha, Ha, when I was watching this I was thinking Kansas is a pretty Hip music for the old Sand Yeti !

Curious to what tire pressure you run on such dry sand - amazing playground that you have - if I ever win the lottery I'm coming to visit you.

Quote:

Originally posted by Bladerunner I hope you don't mind me hijacking your thread with another video ? It is you at least ! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI0mYQGkBGw&feature=chann... I still think this is one of the nicest buggy videos I've ever seen. Ha, Ha, when I was watching this I was thinking Kansas is a pretty Hip music for the old Sand Yeti !

Thanks for the compliment.
Highjack my vids all you want. They are there to share with everyone who's interested.

I originally had different music on that vid.
It started with the German National anthem, then a noisy heavy metal row that was a German National Anthem take off.
My Mrs. gave me hell & even my mates rang up to to complain about my bad taste in music, so changed it to what it is now.

I know the Dust in the Wind Kansas version, which is easily mistaken for the Led Zeppelin version. Led Zeppelin copied the Kansa version almost the same.
I chose this as I liked the title & the lyrics that you must agree is appropriate for our dusty desert.

Quote:

Originally posted by flexiblade Curious to what tire pressure you run on such dry sand - amazing playground that you have - if I ever win the lottery I'm coming to visit you.

I don't actually use a gauge to check tyre pressure anymore.

If we have had rain (very rare), the sand gets quite hard. the sabkhas are also fairly hard even when dry, so in those cases I pump them up quite hard.
If I'm going to be spending a session in the hot soft dry sand dunes then I run the tyres a bit softer.
I'll measure what they are one of these days & post.
From memory & I might be wrong because it's years ago since I used a gauge on them, I was running my bigfoots between 7 & 10 psi..

Here's hoping you win the lottery because we like to have overseas kite buggiers visiting our little Desert gang.

I stand corrected. It did sound different than Kansas's version. Wonderful videos and looks like a great place to buggy. Nice way to explore. Thanks for posting so we can watch.