December 31, 2004
Location Guide - Rabbit Island, Nelson
Location: Rabbit Island, Front Beach
Nearest City: Nelson.
Surface: Hard tidal sand.
Best Wind: Northerly, Sea breeze.
Best Time: 3 hours either side of low tide.
Size: approx 100 meters wide (depending on tide) and 8km long.
GPS Co-ordinates:
Lat 41.271618
Long 173.135768
Review:
Rabbit Island is just 15 minutes drive from Nelson (near the top of the South Island) and is a popular picnic spot. The island is reachable by a bridge that crosses the estuary behind the island. Most of the island is pine plantations, with a public picnic area in the middle of the front beach. The gates are closed at sunset and there is no overnight stays allowed so be ready to leave before it gets dark. There is a large sign near the entrance gates which lets you know what time the gates will be closing that day (in the middle of summer its around 9pm).
The beach itself is about 8km long but the local Council have requested that kite fliers use the West end only (although there has been no signage, legislation, or even discussion to support this request, as far as we know). There are several reasons for this request...
1. The Eastern tip of the island is close to Nelson's airport and the approach path of some flights.
2. The public picnic area in the middle of the beach can get a little crowded at peak times. We recommend caution at these times, but often the beach is almost deserted, especially in the winter or if the sun is not out!
3. Horse riders often use the East end of the beach and kites can spook the horses.
Common sense should prevail here, if the beach is particularly crowded, avoid the picnic area, if you see a horse and rider turn back. I often use this beach but rarely see any horses, and there is only a few days each year when the picnic area is too crowded to buggy through safely.
This beach is especially suited to speed runs, being long and flat with virtually no obstacles.
Nelson Kite Club hold a monthly meet here on the first or second Sunday of each month (depending on which has the best afternoon low tide). Check the NKC calendar for dates and times. All kite fliers are welcome.
Looking towards the West end of the Beach.
Looking East towards Nelson City.
Posted by murrayneill at 02:08 PM | Comments (1)
December 17, 2004
Buggy Jam
I had some fun this week with a video camera (borrowed from work), a single, black, delta kite, and a buggy. I set the camera up on a tripod out in the middle of the Wakapuaka Sand Flats, near Nelson, and spent an hour showing off in a cranking south-west wind.
After several hours of video editing the result is this four minute video (7.8mb)
Posted by murrayneill at 10:59 PM | Comments (2)
December 13, 2004
Nelson Kite Club At Wakapuaka
Every month the Nelson Kite Club (of which I am a member) holds a couple of get-togethers. One is the Community Kite Day held at Neale Park, which is a public display to promote kite-flying. The other is the Club Day which we hold for our own satisfaction and enjoyment. Yesterday was the later. Usually we will meet at Rabbit Island Beach to take advantage of the Northerly sea breeze that is the norm during summer around here. Yesterday, however, it was blowing from the South-west (not good on a North facing beach) at 20-30 knots! In these conditions we move to the other side of town, to fly at the Wakapuaka Sand-flats, where a South-west wind is better suited.
The sand-flats is a very hard and fast surface and speed was the name of the game yesterday. I managed a few nice fast downwind runs reaching 65-70kph. I was flying my PL Excaliburs for most of the afternoon. These are large deltas which I fly in a stack (two of them yesterday). They are two-lined and I fly them with just padded wrist straps and no back-strap or harness. Its been a while since they have been out of the kite bag and I'd forgotten how much fun they can be. Although, they are hard work. I had to stop every half-hour or so to rest my arms. The great thing about the delta shape is their speed. Apart from the Flexifoil Power-kites (like the stacker 6) which hold the world record as the fastest kite design, I don't know of any kite shape that's faster through the air. They will go just as fast as the wind, and pilot, will allow. I had great fun working up-wind, then screaming back down wind, and power-sliding to stop when I reached the end of the sand-flats all to soon. Marty (pictured),another NKC member bent a wheel bolt doing the same thing. You can't be sure your trying hard enough until you bend or break something, so well done Marty!
More photos of the day on are in the Gallery on the NKC site.
Posted by murrayneill at 01:47 PM | Comments (0)
December 10, 2004
DIY Kite Buggy Pads
A popular modification for many kite buggies is padding for the side-rails. Stainless steel may be strong, but it ain't comfortable. If its to improve comfort on those long distance runs, or to protect your body from flying buggy parts during the occasional crash, padding is a good idea.
The difficulty I had was finding a padding material with enough durability to last a reasonable amount of time (at least a full season). I've seen many things tried, from plumbing insulation, to rags and tape. After trying a few different materials and techniques, I think I found the right stuff...
Pool-Stix. I found them at The Warehouse (NZ) in the same section as all the other swimming pool toys. They cost about NZ$8 each and come in a variety of colours. One length of Pool-Stix is the perfect amount to pad one standard PL buggy.
My buggy has had these yellow pads for almost the whole of last season. They have lasted pretty well. I have bought the new blue Pool-stik to replace them with.
After about 1000 kilometres of buggying the old pads have worn through in several places. Not a bad run compared to the plumbing insulation I tried, which only lasted a few outings. So for $8 and a bit of elbow grease, why not replace them.
The first step is to cut the Pool-Stik exactly in half. I found a serrated bread knife to be the perfect cutting tool for this stuff. As you can see (above) one length makes two pads about the same length as the side-rails.
Now comes the difficult part. I've found (by trail and error) two things will make it easier.
1. Cover the end of the tube with a tough plastic or polythene. I used an old container from a set of buggy bearings. This is to stop the hollow tube from gouging the padding from the inside, as we 'force' it around the bends of the side-rails.
2. Lubrication. Seriously. A generous coating of Vaseline will make the next step much easier.
Firmly work the pad over the tubing. This step takes some time and muscle.
It takes me about 5 minutes per side to get the pads all the way on...
...and once they're on, they won't move!
Depending on your model of buggy, you may need to use that bread knife again to cut a small corner off one pad, to allow access to the frame bolts.
Presto! Ready for another 1000km of buggying.
Posted by murrayneill at 04:44 PM | Comments (6)
December 07, 2004
KBNZ Author Profile - Murray
Name:
Murray Neill
Location/Home Town:
Nelson, NZ
How long have you been Kite Buggying?:
Flying power-kites since 97, buggying since 99.
How did you get started with the sport?:
I attended the Muriwai Moose Meet in '98. Not as a buggy pilot, but as a photographer. I had a PL Excalibur (I now have 3). I got to try a buggy and knew I had to get one. As soon as my budget allowed I bought a second Excalibur and a PL competition buggy. Its been a growing addiction ever since.
What kites do you fly and what is your favourite?:
I have a triple stack of PL Excalibur's, a Flexifoil Super10, a 3.0m2 Flexifoil Blade II, a 6.3m2 C-Quad (bent-spine), and an 8.5m2 C-Quad. Given the right wind, the little Blade II is my favourite, although its a lot more 'work' than the C-Quads to fly it is incredibly responsive.
Describe your buggy(s)?:
My PL Competition Buggy has a speedo, mud-flap, splash guard, side rail pads, and a choice of either the standard 95cm back axle or a 1.4m gigsstrong axle.
What has been the best experience you've had in a kite buggy?:
'Moose nuking' Muriwai Beach in 1 hour 17 minutes in 2003. That was almost 50kms of beach from one end to another in one long fast reach. Awesome.
What do you look forward to experiencing next in your kite buggy?:
I have yet to catch Wharariki Beach in a good Westerly. Hopefully this summer!
Posted by murrayneill at 05:36 PM | Comments (1)
December 04, 2004
Kite Buggy New Zealand
Welcome to KBNZ. As the name suggests, this site is all about kite bugging in New Zealand. The kite buggy was invented here and when you take a look around at the variety locations in this country suited to the sport of kite buggying, it is easy to see why.
This site came into being because a few kiwi kite buggy pilots decided we needed a way to share our collective knowledge about the sport. We were surprised a site like this didn't exsist already in NZ, so we made our own.
New Zealand has so many great beaches suited to kite buggying that you could spend a life time trying to buggy them all, if you could find them. We would like this site to become not only a way to share and find new places to buggy, but also to talk about gear, kite buggy events, and to brag about stuff we've done in a kite buggy. Kite and Buggy gear reviews will regular features, along with reports on any bugging 'missions' we go on.
We decided on a weblog style site for this site, which means many authors can contribute (invites going out to several new authors around New Zealand very soon), and you, the reader can also contribute via the comments link at the bottom of each post.
So now we are up and running (before Christmas as promised) remember to bookmark us and return soon for a taste of kite bugging down-under.
Posted by murrayneill at 08:11 AM | Comments (9)