Desert Kite Buggying Diary

It's time

2009-12-23T11:41:00.007+04:00

Time has come, I am leaving UAE.
Also leaving the DESERT GANG, the Fridays in our sandpit, the meetings, "winding each other up"s, the great stories behind...
Not as easy as I thought...must means that I am leaving not only kiting buddies here but FRIENDS.........

Decision has been made, time has come, it's time to move.
Although I won't come on Fridays, will be less screaming in the air, will be less lines to go through, maybe you will find more room around your buggies to ride without watching who's coming behind in reverse, blablabla, but I'll be watching you guys in the hope that once I'll come back for some fun in the dunes and catch up with my friends of Desert Gang.

I'll try to keep my BLOG updated writing about new experiences on European terrain which will be much different but I'll try my best to find the best bits of having fun.
I have been accepted as a member of this bunch of crazy, lovely people, I have learnt here a lot, I got lots of help from all of you, which I can't thank enough, but I give it a go:
THANK YOU GUYS, THANK YOU DESERT GANG, THANK YOU FRIENDS!!!

I hope I will hear from you (on this blog, in the usual emails, facetube, where-ever...), and do hope you all accept my invitation to Hungary. Let me know if you're nearby, or knock on my door, with or without your kites...any time

Take care DesertGang,
Merry Christmas,
have a great windy new year,
Bolts

New buggy - not for the desert though

2009-11-14T10:14:00.008+04:00

I made a quick video during two of my friends (Gyuri and Wanek) were making my new buggy.

Based on a Flexi's geometry with the ideas of a Stealth.

Will see where we are getting...

Will need a lower seat...plenty of hours flying the new (for me) de-powers, getting know how to handle this small beast.

...before asking...yes, that's me in the pig-costume hands in the pockets.

Somebody has to do the managing work too...

Actually I did some of the shaping/buffing/bending, just didn't look good on vid...

Anyways...from the drawing board to the first run I've been everywhere.

More info on my BLOG - in Hungarian only

Ohh Wind God We Worship You....

2009-09-18T22:21:00.001+04:00

Jules's

2009-07-19T13:01:00.003+04:00

This video was recorded during Jules's visit to the sandpit who managed to break the unbreakable... :)

Ghaf-Halfpipe-Ghaf-MilitaryTrack-Ghaf route in March.

Riders: Brig, Fox, Jules, SandYeti, SirBolts

Camera: Joules

Editing: SirBolts

Music: A. Skillz - Strawberry Jam Forever!

Damu The Fudgemunk - Last Ole

Giorgio's Shamal on vid

2009-06-08T21:07:00.002+04:00

Just finished editing some vid. that Brig shot on 15 May of Giorgio & me blatting through the sands.

As usual, I know you’ll enjoy the music. (Nancy Ajran – Lebanese folk pop singer)

For those of you not knowing who is who, Giorgio is in the all composite buggy (darker coloured buggy) and I’m in the Death Buggy with the white painted side rails.

Into the Dragon's Jaws

2009-06-08T20:48:00.007+04:00

Last Friday was like every Friday before; I get up, check the wind conditions and as usual the wind Gods tell me they will be visiting from mid-afternoon onwards.

I do chores round the house, which last Friday meant painting the main garden gate, then down to the serious business of loading car, hooking up trailer & gently driving along the familiar road to the Ghaf tree wondering if anyone would turn up on account of the weather, which was warm (upper 40's). I was nevertheless eager to roll around the desert in my buggy.

Bolts, Dubai_ Red_ Dragon & FluffyWOO were already at the ghaf tree & the wind was halfway decent allowing me to lay out my trusty 4.9m Blade after donning armour like a medieval knight preparing for battle. You know the feeling like you are going to rescue maidens in distress from fiery dragons.

Seems FluffyWOO was more in the mood to go for a ride with Brig in her Razor than jump in her warm buggy.

I wasn't too sure about the wind as the forecast indicated it would drop off later, so my 6.5m Blade was also packed in the Razor. This turned out to be a wise decision because later it was needed.

I decided to buggy along the edge of the Half Pipe and then zip up the SNTTA dune (577 feet above sea level) as a sort of climax after a long run just past the Buggydrome.

The reason I thought I'd post this story is that FluffyWOO had got trigger happy with the camera & shot about 90 pics that I want to share with you here. Well! be thankful, not all of them.

I have posted buggying pics running the dunes in the past and don't really want to bore you too much with similar pics that are possibly becoming old hat to many of your good-selves.

It's not all big sandy dunes and it's a pleasure to run over some flat stuff from time to time that I find very relaxing:

The view from my buggy seat sat almost on the floor is very limited when running the dunes & even the smallest of dunes give no indication of what is lurking on the other side:

The larger ones look more ominous but actually are easier because you can anticipate that there will be a big drop on the other side where there is time to think about what to do.

Imagine you come over a dune ridge & suddenly see that you are about to be blown into the jaws of a dragon. Just look at these hard sandstone, twisted shapes poking out of the desert sands.

These are the dragon's teeth that are dotted all over the desert just ready to gobble you up. There's no retreat from the soft steep sandy slope with the wind dragging you like a fish caught on an angler's line toward's them.

There's not much else to do but to boldly jump into the Dragon's jaws and dodge his sharp teeth. The summer heat as I sweated under my armour was as good as it gets to a fiery dragon's breath.

I managed to escape the dragon's jaws unscathed and of course ready to fight another day.

Should I continue looking for maiden's in distress that need to be rescued from dragons?
I wonder!

Words: SandYeti
Pictures: FluffyWoo

New Guy in the Desert

2009-04-15T23:18:00.004+04:00

I heard that there was a new guy riding across the Desert......Any Ideas?

FluffyWOO's first buggy break

2009-03-09T21:58:00.000+04:00

The Dragon Bites - Friday 6th March - Part 1

2009-03-07T21:57:00.000+04:00

Yesterday, then weather forecast promised good winds all day and Giorgio was chomping at the bit to get his buggy fix. Unfortunately, the workshop messed up his metal bits for the Shamal (Composite buggy), so that wasn’t ready. Still, he could use my DB-I (Death Buggy Mk I).
Meeting under the Ghaf tree as usual we debated what kite to use. This is a common scenario that goes something like this:
“What kite are you putting on?” says I.
“Dunno yet, what are you putting on?”
“Either 4m Blade or the 5m Blur but wind seems like it’s dropping, so might use the 4.9 Blade”.
“In that case I’ll use my 4.5 Fury”
“As wind forecast promises to pick up during the day finally I think I’ll use 5.0m Blur.”

We decide to run around the sabkah for a bit but then the dunes looked too inviting,
My Blur has 25m lines, which aren’t the best for the dunes, so headed back to the Ghaf to put on some 40m lines.
During my line changing exercise, Giorgio came back quite elated telling me he’d achieved a new personal best of 64.9 kph. “Crazy Italian”, crossed my mind as I said, “Well done Giorgio, I’ll photograph your GPS to get that registered on Popeyethewelder’s Flexi sticky”.

GIORGIO’s PB
Now I wasn’t decided if I should do the Half Pipe or The Dragon Run but winds looked more favourable to do the Dragon.
I was buggying about a kilometer from the Ghaf when I saw Angelo’s car kicking up the dust headed for the Ghaf. I will run down these dunes and tell Angelo that we will do the Dragon Run as soon as he is ready. As this thought was passing through my mind , ‘Ping’ as a right hand brake line appeared to break during a particular hard pull up a soft dune coupled with a sudden nasty gust.
Examination showed that the Blur had blown apart & will need professional fixing.
Brig driving her Razor picked up my 4m Blade from the car. I could then carry on back to the ghaf where Angelo was about ready.
We ran around the sabkah a while for Angelo to warm up and then I said are you both game to try the Dragon Run?
No hesitation from either of them and as I was the only person who’d ever done this run led out across the sabkah watching Giorgio going like a mad thing as the buggy spent a lot of time quite unplanned on two wheels. “ Crazy Italian” crossed my mind again.

Heading south towards the Dragon’s teeth sat at the bottom of the dunes, we easily mounted the first high dunes. It was then a series of climbing big dunes & dropping down the steep leeward sides. The strong South Westerly we’d had about a week ago had deposited a lot of soft sand on the now windward side of the dunes making it very difficult close to the dune ridges at the buggies sunk deep into this soft stuff.

The Dragon Bites - Part 2

2009-03-07T20:00:00.000+04:00

THE DRAGON
I’d dropped down one very long & steep wall into the trough & zipped up to the ridge of the next dune and waited there for the others.
I saw Giorgio & the DB-I catapulted over the ridge I’d just crossed. Giorgio was flying through the air with the buggy tumbling over and over as both hit the sand close to the trough.
It looked very nasty so buggied over to Giorgio to see how much he’d been damaged. Fortunately, just one kneepad and & one elbow pad had taken the brunt of the impact, so nothing was broken.

DAMAGED KNEE & ELBOW PADS

He removed his helmet and his face was covered in sand with him swearing about the kite being no good.
Brig was stifling a laugh “Crazy Italian”, I said out loud.
He seemed shaken but was putting on a brave angry face.
The impact had blown all the air out of the rear left hand tyre and we thought it was a puncture at the time.
A spare wheel was fitted , Giorgio dusted much of the sand off & deeper into the Dragons’ belly we went.

Just to show the Dragon wasn’t going to let anybody off, Brig badly stuck her Razor on a dune crest. We all walked back to help her with me moaning as usual. A little more digging. Angelo & Giorgio feeling very strong lifted the rear of the 650 kg Razor clear over the dune crest.
When in front knowing the other guys hadn’t been in the Dragon before, I would occasionally look back to see if I could still see their kites. Where’s Angelo? I headed back with much difficulty I might add and his kite was down with a broken leader line on his right handle.
So the dragon bites again but not as much as before.
Finally, we made it on to a large sabkah, which was the start of a long 8 km (point to point) upwind tack. My longest single tack on that stretch was 3.3. kms. Checking my GPS download, I’d actually buggied 20 kms to tack this 8km upwind.

UPWIND TACKING

Giorgio & I followed the black sealed road for about a kilometer but Angelo went off in the wrong direction, which necessitated him having to drag his buggy & kite with help from Brig under a power line. Back into the dunes on the last leg back to the ghaf was easy for me as I’d been through this part many times before & recognize almost every dune, shrub & tree along the way.
Back at the car Wendy & Pete along with Francesco who had later turned up during the day were messing about.

While waiting for Giorgio, Angelo & I were laughing about our adventure in the Dragon. After some time, Giorgio arrived with helmet damaged. The Dragon had taken one last bite at him before he made it back. He told us he’d lost control on one of the dunes with a spectacular OBE landing him on his head.
“Crazy Italian!!!”

Sand-Yeti - 7 March 2009

Halfpipe - the final cut

2009-02-23T22:38:00.006+04:00

MuscatFestival

2009-02-12T22:53:00.017+04:00

Few weeks back I registered to my favourite kite manufacturer's forum, to the Appozone.com.

After the usual hello, I asked whether they come to Oman this year as they did in t

he last couple of years. The answer came immadiately from Appo as a p.m...they was going to come. After a few emails I was informed on their schedule, accomodation and ordered a pair of handles from the UK (thanks Appo, Yousef, Chris).

The last weekend of January, straight from work Angelo and me were o

ff to Oman. Having a sleep in the Al Sawadi Beach Resort, after the breakfast we were on our way to 'Seeb Beach in Muscat. As the guide I had not have a clue where this was and as a result of the kind but useless arabic guidance after a few circles we arrived.

Yeehaaa, I thought it was time to see some real take off actions what the Ozone UK Team was going to present for us.

Unfortunately the WindGod didn't want the same. The day started with around 4-5knots in which the guys tried to keep the new Flows, IMPs in the air.

We had a bit of chat, as being part of the big worldwide kite-family we had common topics, altough we were almost complete strangers.

For me it was great to meet "kiting celebrities", have a look on the never-released Stealth buggy, etc, etc.

Angelo didn't come just to look around and watch people using their kit, so went and set up his low-wind toys. He had fun with them, made me laugh how much he enjoyed himself. So did the others with the small, light kites and also with Angelo's trick kites. It was good to see that doesn't matter how low the wind is, a real kiter can have fun, can fly anything.

As the time passed the wind picked up to the mighty hights of 7-8knots, so the big depowers came out for a bit of buggy moves. Well, it was still not what I wanted but saw some slow-motion 2-wheelies, and some ramp-take offs with 180 rotation. Was great to

see the Stealth in action tough.

In the late afternoon the wind strengthened even better (9-10 mighty knots!), so the old and new water-kites were pumped up. The guys did a few downwind(ish) runs also did few small jumps (rotations, grabs...) while I was heading where the most people/4x4's went.

These omani youngs created a huge crescent on the wet beach and m

ade endless dounuts with 4x4's (in rwd drive mode, of course) reving in first gear...It wasn't a drift event but was an experience :).

Behind the crying vehicles the kites painted a nice background to the end of the day. Niiiiice!

It was great to meet this team, altough the wind...what wind?!?!

Maybe next time we'll meet at our playground in the desert of UAE...

Riders
Appo, Butch, Candice, Chris, Phat Dan, Sean
(Angelo)

Filming & editing
SirBolts

Music
Balkan Beat Box - Habibi Min Zaman

Dragon Run

2009-02-10T22:19:00.004+04:00

Halfpipe - I did it!!!

2009-01-24T15:15:00.010+04:00

HalfPipe - Trailer from AllWindDrive on Vimeo.

Starring
Brig, DesertFox, SandYeti, SirBolts
Filmed
SirBolts
Edited
SirBolts
Music
Alice Russel - Crazy

Click on the image to see the route (downloaded from my GPS) in BIG.

Sir Bolt - New Brand :-]

2009-01-19T23:02:00.002+04:00

Hey Bolts

Found you someone who is representing your name...cute!

Ghaf Tree Vandalism

2009-01-18T20:53:00.008+04:00

Hi you all,
Today, I went out to the Ghaf tree expecting 14 knots but Windfinder seriously lied. It was closer to 4 knots. Arriving at the Ghaf tree I was shocked or rather angry at branches that had been hacked off of it. A lot of the branches were on the ground around the tree but I cleared those up into a heap as you can see in the pics.We quizzed the camel herders why someone would do it and they pointed further in the direction of the Buggydrome and said the people that did it have no brains.They too were obviously annoyed by this pointless act and told the people that were hacking at the tree to stop.

I think I know the people that did it. They are in a camel farm about another 3 or 4 kms further along.

It was sad to see the branches on the floor along with bird nests that they cut down with the branches.

To add mot misery already on the abhorrent act, the wind was awful.

My top speed for you record Wendy was only 39.8 kph. In the whole of last year I only had one session that was below 40 kph and that was on 17 October 2008.

Cheers
Dave

SkyCar - Next generation buggies?

2009-01-14T22:12:00.005+04:00

Check out slideshow:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2130210.ece?slideshowPopup=true&articleId=2130210

Please note: the video repeats itself and has no sound for the first 50 secs...enjoy

KITEFORCE.HU

2009-01-13T11:38:00.004+04:00

Dear All,
let me introduce you the new homepage of the hungarian buggiers.

http://www.kiteforce.hu/

It's brand new design also with english version, so feel free to comment.
You'll find some familiar pictures there too.

Blogger Maintenance

2009-01-12T21:23:00.004+04:00

The blog site is going through various changes, with new gadgets and gizmos added to the site. I'm planning to give the blog site a new skin, but its going through a trial and error phase at the moment and it would be great to have any feedback or suggestions for the site.

I've just added a shouter box widget which will allow you to write instant messages on the site, and just like MSN messenger, if anyone else is online you can message them right away...enjoy...and hope to catch you on here :-]

Great action shots

2009-01-09T22:22:00.004+04:00

Thought I would set up an area for great action shots. Please feel free to add to this area with your best action shots or footage...

Photos where taken by Sir Bolts...

Ghaf Tree - 9th Jan 2009

2009-01-09T22:14:00.001+04:00

The winds didnt show today but we staill managed to get some time in....FluffyWOO, Francesco and myself set up, Bolts and fox decided just to play in the dunes on their MotoX Bikes. One absentee was Sany-Yeti, rumour is that he didnt want any fuss made of his 65th birthday. We ended up eating the cake and drinking the wine without Dave....it would have been wrong not to drink it!!!

We have some pictures of the day, myself anf Francesco just cruising with our stunt woman FluffyWOO trying free style again. Considering the rest of us just cruise, she really is trying to get the advantage over us guys!!

We were also joined by Ashi, our friendly Camel farmer, I dont know what Fluffywoo was doing but the camel didnt look too pleased!!..Well there is always next week to wish for the wind.....DRD

Personal Best Leaderboard

2009-01-07T23:37:00.003+04:00

January Speed Records

2009-01-06T21:50:00.020+04:00

Happy Birthday Sand Yeti!

2009-01-06T15:08:00.006+04:00

The Best of 2008...

2009-01-03T23:45:00.001+04:00

The highlights of 2008

Last New Year Holiday Run

2009-01-03T22:13:00.005+04:00

What great winds we had today for our last day of the holiday season and a new start to 2009! Bring on more winds like this, we buggied from around 12 noon to sun down....

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/fluffywoo/030109##

2008-12-28T20:16:00.004+04:00

Here is the beginning of my post. And here is the rest of it.

The Dragon Run :: 28th December 2008

2008-12-28T20:01:00.028+04:00

The winds have been unkind to us for the year end but nevertheless, it was still great to enjoy the miserable slivers that the Wind Gods threw at us in December.

On 28 December, I was the sole buggier at the Ghaf tree and was plagued with the fluttering up & down of my 8.5m Blade as the wind puffed on & off. Later, it picked up and I could even size down to my 6.5m Blade. It wasn’t the best wind for the Blade but I was still able to get into the dunes without the kite collapsing. I think a 7m Blurr or 7.3 m Yak might have been a better kite.

For a long time I had been thinking about pioneering a new route south of the ghaf tree. After studying the Google Earth sat. pics of the area, figured it would probably go providing the winds & buggy hold up..

So now was the time to give it a shot knowing full well the difficulties that would face me if required to get out of the dunes. Dutiful prayers to the wind Gods and all other important deities were made in the hope that they wouldn’t abandon me.I buggied into the sabkha where we normally play in front of the abandoned farm and where the camel herdsmen pump their water from an aquifer.

I chatted with Brig and said it should work while she figured it would be an adventure for her as well if she followed me into the dunes with her Razor.

Setting the route I’d already programmed at home on my GPS, I headed south slightly left of the Dragon’s teeth. These are the nasty, strange & twisted shaped sandstone rocks you see at the lower edge of the Half pipe dunes on my map.The blue track through the dunes & sabkha is a rough approximation of the round trip that I took.

I reached to the top of one of the highest dunes around and was able to look over a huge sea of sand hills with no visible respite or signs of weakness in them.

Then the fun began. Up & Down, Up & Down with some dunes dropping 30 metres down the steep leeward sides. I occasionally had to rapidly change direction around sneaky holes or rather trenches that were eagerly looking to swallow me up in a few places. I hadn’t had a rush like that in ages.

After a while, I started to wonder if these dunes would go on for ever. I had a scary moment at one point as the wind eased & the kite fluttered like it was going to drop down into a deep sandy bowl. I recovered the kite at the last moment as my lines dragged across a long dune crest whipping up a spray of sand.I reached a very high dune after a while & could see the large sabkha to the west.‘I know I’m gonna make it’, I thought sighing with relief.

Finally, I escaped the dunes onto the sabkha & then began the long tacking runs upwind to get back to the ghaf tree.

Brig told me that the huge dunes made for a wild ride in the Razor as well.

I called the new route, 'The Dragon Run' after Pete the Dubai Red Dragon and the dragon's teeth at the start of the dunes.

I then buggied up to the Buggydrome as the wind was still OK. I‘ve done that several times before but that’s a different story.65 kms that afternoon wasn't bad considering the poor wind and it was the icing on the cake for my last buggy run of 2008.

By Dave

Merry Christmas DesertGang!

2008-12-25T00:04:00.007+04:00

November Sunset

2008-12-20T17:14:00.008+04:00

"Typical late afternoon kite buggying in the Dubai desert"

This is SandYeti's latest video. More or less that thay was the last one with decent wind...

Military Track

2008-12-10T23:41:00.012+04:00

This video has been edited from the footages of an adventure along the military track in June.

We left the Ghaf tree in the afternoon and the trip was about 1 hour long, ~14km (one way), mixed with sabkhas, dunes, asphalt road, windy and windless parts. The way back was also great fun, due to lack of wind the DesertGangRescueTeam took us back to our beloved tree. Altough the wind wasn't strong, neither steady, we all had great fun, until...but that's an other story...

MilitaryTrack from AllWindDrive on Vimeo.

MilitaryTrack

Starring

Brig, DubaiRedDragon, FluffyWoo, Fox, SandYeti, SirBolts

Filmed

FluffWoo, SirBolts

Edited

SirBolts
Music

Gelka - When Ya Gotta Go Ya Gotta Go

Mr. Scruff - Get A Move On

Hint - Air To Sky

National Day

2008-12-02T22:16:00.010+04:00

Happy National Day or Al-Eid Al Watani to all in the Emirates. We had a good run today with our UAE flags tied to the backs of our buggies or razor in celebration of the day.

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Dave's pink fluffy additions to his buggy...looks so pretty...:-p

DesertGirls

2008-11-19T10:05:00.005+04:00

DesertGirls

Starring: Brig and FluffyWoo

Filmed & edited: SirBolts

Music: Miss Kittin - Meet Sue Be She

Testing Testing

2008-11-17T09:49:00.001+04:00

This new post has been added as a test to show how the blog post works.....

A Hair Razing (Razor) Day

2008-11-15T21:37:00.002+04:00

http://picasaweb.google.com/fluffywoo/AHairRazingRazorDay#

Halloween Kite Buggying

2008-10-31T22:51:00.007+04:00

Desert kite buggying on Halloween in Dubai desert. Filmed by Red Dragon using the new FlyCamOne Kite Camera.

2008-10-24T23:08:00.001+04:00

Personal Best Leaderboard

2008-10-21T00:54:00.007+04:00

Name Speed
Sand Yeti 100
Dubai Red Dragon 100

http://chart.apis.google.com/chart?cht=bhs&chd=s:Wm9,Wm9,DNQ&chs=300x200&chco=ff0000,ff0000,ffcc00&chf=bg,s,ffffff&chtt=Apples+and+Oranges&chdl=FWDRDSY&chl=198819982008

No Wind Day

2008-10-18T21:14:00.003+04:00

Pete's 8m PL Kite.

2008-09-06T21:36:00.000+04:00

Launch of the Desert Kite Buggying Diary

2008-09-01T21:12:00.000+04:00

Dear Desert Gang and fans,

Here is the launch or our new BLOG diary!

We hope you can contribute to the BLOG and tell us your stories....

Cheers

FluffyWOO