Kite Buggy NZ

Bigfoot jumping at Muriwai

This just in from the boys at Kiteworks. This video features some great jumping footage by Perrin and Kent using an 8m Jojo foil and a full suspension Peter Lynn buggy. Speeds at lift off were over 50kph and some jumps were up to 30m long and 6m high! Great stuff guys. (Look out for the textbook faceplant by Kent.)

Blue Balls Buggy Bash

The 2007 13th Annual BBB - 2 days of hardcore kite buggy, power kite and kite surfing action! Come prepared for wild west coast weather

When: Saturday & Sunday the 28th and 29th of July
Tides: Sat 28th low tide 2:22 pm
Sun 29th low tide 3:05 pm
Where: Port WaiKato Beach on the west coast
Accomodation: Port WaiKato Holiday Park
115b Maunsell road, Port Waikato-09 2329857
Contact: Perrin on 09 3580991 or 021 253 0453

Kitesurfing Champ Rediscovers Buggying

Injuries are not all bad!

Su Kay, the current New Zealand womens kitesurfing champ, is discovering that three wheels can be just as much fun as a board. Due to an injury Su is off the water for a while, but her adrenaline addiction has led her to dust off the kite buggy and get into some freestyle, three-wheeled action. In her own words...

"Adrenaline withdrawl symptoms have lead to me exploring a new kiting freestyle. Four months off the water and still not being able to get back into powered kitesurfing freestyle and the water being a bit cold... has got me back into a buggy. If you thought this was a boring sport think again!

In a buggy you can explore three dimensional terrain and drop off the back of dunes. Doing flat spins, traveling backwards and going on 2 wheels are all challenging skills you learn early on, but you don't have to stay on the hard stuff. You can jump using kickers or off flat ground and like kitesurfing you can go as far as powered freestyle, including kite loops. If speed is your thing then you can look at getting a heavy buggy with perfect weight distribution and well balanced wheels and see if you can break 100km/hr!

Oh, I am having fun on the land at the moment - the winter snow can wait!"

Photos by Dave Kay

Eco-kiting

How do you get to your favourite kite buggying location. Car? Van? Maybe your lucky enough to live within walking distance of a suitable location.
With greenhouse gases building up in our atmosphere, warming our little planet maybe its time to think about alternatives. How about cycling there instead? Here's the proof that it can be done. One 3.0m Flexifoil Blade, one 5.5m Peter Lynn Pepper, one 8.0m Peter Lynn Rebble, one Peter Lynn competition kite buggy, tools, camera and snacks all loaded onto a special lengthened mountain bike ready for a trip to the Wakapuaka Sand Flats.

Fastest Kite Buggy in NZ

Perrin Melchior The SAND SIFTER himself is the fastest man in a kite buggy in New Zealand

Perrin owner of Kite Works in Auckland recently exceeded 100 kmh at Muriwai beach on the west coast, hear is a short report from the man himself and a couple of pictures.

Hi there
Here is my personal top speed in a buggy - 101 KPH \ 62 MPH
On the 03\03\2006 I finally broke the 100 kph barrier after years of trying.
I did it using a Peter Lynn Comp Buggy with upgraded 32mm extended side frames, a 1.4m giga strong axle and a 5 wheel kit.
Wheels were alloy rims with treaded tyres
Buggy mass is 35kg, driver mass is 70kg and I carried 40kg ballast
The kite was a 12m Naish Shockwave hard wired to the buggy frame
The beach was Muriwai, New Zealand .Soft, damp, black iron sand with a 2km run in 25-40 knots cross onshore (south west)
Most of the runs that day were.

China And Back ( Wiefang Kite Festival )

It is that time of year again I have just returned from Weifang Kite Festival in China I was there last year and had a ball.

This Year I went with Chris Brent who also had a ball it was good to have some company and some professional help on the kite field and some help to collect the medals, see pictures.

I met Yao again this year and had a buggy with him and his mates but no photos of the bugging this year but I do got a photo of him.

I also got to fly his new kite and it wasn’t half bad for a home made, no pictures of them ether sorry.

Of note however was the large increase in power kites on display and ones being flown at the festival, a significant increase on last years festival, also noticeable was the growing interest in power kite sports.

If you want to see some photos of the festival click on this LINK.

A bit of Buggy Jumping

Hi Guys
Just been going through My Pictures and found these three short buggy videos.
And some Photos of Sam and I having some Summer Kite Buggy fun out in the paddock.
All a fast disappearing memory as winter sets in.

Ahhh those long summer evenings.

Craig.

P.S. Look at the blue sky and green grass New Zealand is soooo good!!

Upcoming Buggy Event

This just in...
The BBBB is on again. If your into some mid-winter buggy action near beautiful Raglan be there.

12th annual
Blue balls Buggy Bash

July 8 and 9 2006
Raglan, NZ

2 days of Kite buggy riding and power kiting.

Meet at toilets Riria Kereopa memorial Drive
Trip to north side of harbour if conditions allow.

Ph Paul 027 289 0958
Plenty of accomodation available in raglan
PH Raglan Info 07 825 0556

(This is not a kite surf event. Please do not promote waterborne activities if passing info on.)

Muriwai Moose Meet Photos

We've finally got around to publishing a full album of photos taken on our Northland tour. It includes pictures from the Muriwai Moose Meet, and also Baylys, and 90-mile beaches from the following week.

Click here to view the album.

90-mile Beach Speed Run

Speeeeeed.
Take a wide, flat, hard, and most of all, long Northland beach. Add a bunch of excitable kite buggy pilots, and about 30 knots of onshore gales and its bound to happen.
These were the conditions when we arrived at 90-mile Beach earlier this month. It was our last chance to buggy before embarking on the long drive home before the next low tide. The skies were looking very changeable. Bright blue and sunshine one minutes, frigid rain the next. Fortunately the wind just kept on screaming, rain or shine, so we kept on bugging! Our stubbornness paid off too because after bugging through a few heavy rain showers (thank God for Goretex), the clouds broke apart and the sun came out to stay.

As I said the wind was strong! I flew one 1.2m² delta kite. Perin was flying a 2 point something N-Gen. Craig did one leg with a Venom, and the return trip with a 2.5m² Rebble foil. We all were cruising at 60-70kph! Craig hit 80kph with the little red Rebble!

Craig doing 70-80kph on his lowered bigfoot.

Perin flying an N-gen in his bigfoot buggy with a suspension back axle.

"Turbo-duning" - sitting the kite right on top of the sand dune to catch the pressure wave created as the wind pushes over it. It gives a nice turbo boost that makes it very difficult to overtake anyone upwind (see video).

We got back and packed up with just enough time to get off the beach before dark. It was a memorable run on one of New Zealands celebrated beaches. It took me days to wipe the grin off my face!

Finally, here's some video footage of a little battle Perin and I had as he tried to overtake me during the run. I'm in the five-wheel buggy, and Perin is in the Bigfoot. Of course I edited the video to make it look like I won the race, but in truth he left me behind soon after these shots...
Video (1.8mb)- 90mile_teaser.wmv

Home From Mooseland

Well we're all back safe and sound from our trip North. We kite buggied in the dunes of Mooseland at Muriwai Beach, got a couple of lovely runs on Baylys Beach, and the highlight for me was an awesome speed run along Ninety-mile Beach in a screaming (30 knot) onshore wind blast. As Craig would put it, the weather was a monkey's wedding most of the time, meaning it was glorious sunshine one minute and freezing wind blown rain the next (and often both at the same time). Fortunatly there was also wind. Lots, and lots of wind.

I've got hundreds of photos to go through and several hours of great video footage to play with, but while I'm doing that here's my favourite photo from the trip for you to enjoy. It is Perin from Kiteworks jumping his suspension bigfoot buggy in the dunes of Baylys Beach.

Click here or on the picture for a 1024 x 768 pixels version for your desktop wallpaper. I've posted a few more wallpapers on my blog.
There will be lots more photos, some video, and a few stories about the trip here very soon...

Muriwai Moose Madness 2005

If anyone's looking for me, or Craig, or Sam during the next week or so, we will probably be somewhere in the area indicated by the whites lines in the diagram below...

This weekend (1-2 October) is the annual Moose Meet. 'Mooseland' is at the North end of Muriwai Beach, near Auckland. The place is incredible, with a 50km long fast beach, and acres of sands dunes. Of course getting there is half the fun to. Tomorrow morning I meet up with Craig and Sam in Picton to catch the ferry to the North Island. We then make the long drive to Muriwai (just North-west of Auckland). On Saturday Morning we drive or buggy the length of the beach to camp in the dunes at South Head. After the Moose Meet weekend is over a group will continue North for a few days to explore some of the other huge beaches in the area.
I promise lots of photos and maybe even some video when we return. Until then, heres some pictures from last years Moose Meet.
See you in a 8 days!

Kite Chasers

Just a little dog tormenting fun this afternoon at the Wakapuaka Sand Flats.

Snow Kite

Snow kite Photos

Sorted out some more photos from the Monday SNOW DUMP, these r some pictures of SAM making the most of conditions with the help of a PHANTOM to scare up some action.

We got to the field as soon as we could but with the very warm winter and the early spring the ground temps were up so the snow was not going to last long it was disappearing in front of our eyes.

Sam arrived shortly after us with a hired snow board and was soon doing the snow board thing see the Gallery.

Snow Buggy

Well At last something to report, Southerly wind along with some SNOW, so off we went, locked the office phoned the lads, grabbed the camera loaded the kites fetched the latest in kite traction vehicles (SNOW BUGGY)from the factory and off to the flat snow covered secret location near the airfield, for some snow kite action. Some photos in the SNOW BUGGY Gallery.

The wind was typically southerly big and ugly! but what fun, especially when your feet wont stick to the ground or your bum or belly or any thing else for that matter, some good laughs with some un expected time both in the air and in the snow was had by all.

The weather report is forecasting more of the same for the next three days I sure hope so.

Craig Out

P.S. I hope it is all gone away for the MOOSE