As a quick summary I broke some personal bests and I had a *awesome* day.
Max Speed: 43.2mph
Trip Odo: 71.1miles
Moving Time: 4hrs
Winds: 18mph, gusting 25mph+
Weather: Dry & Overcast all day
I was out on the buggy flying with the 9m Atom all day, the kite proved itself as a versatile, fast and stable once again and this doesn't even considers that it has loads more scope yet!
Playing Area
The beach was initially very wet due to the last few days of rain so I popped on my drysuit to keep the water & wet sand out, which proved to be a good move as it meant I could go anywhere without the worry of being uncomfortable. This also meant I could venture further afield by crossing some sea channels that most people wouldn't go past meaning I had massive expanses of beach to play with.
I mixed up the day with various bits of speed runs, skill improvements and general exploration.
Speed Runs
I was regularly topping 35mph with quite a handful of runs over 40mph as my personal best was improved throughout the day. My best times were made out of the way of everyone else on downwind runs to make the most of the wind and beach space.
The kite & buggy never let me down and the both remained stable as I pushed them further and further.
Skill Improvements
Experience
I'm getting used to the Atom now and I can pretty much fly it single-handed without looking at it as it's got excellent feedback through the bar.
Upwind
I got going in almost all directions relative to the wind with some very upwind runs, albeit a little slow.
Powered Turns
I always struggled with keeping the kite powered up in the turns, often getting underneath the kite or ending up with it at the edge of the wind window both of which do cause the kite to lose power and may cause it to fall out of the sky. This is managable on land but I wanted to use the principal to improve for kitesurfing transitions on water as losing power will cause you to sink!
So, I went out of the way for a while to practice powered turns by using 2 distance tufts of grass to use as turning points trying to get tighter and faster around each one. I've definetly improved and get about 66% of my turns right now.
Exploring
The weather & site conditions meant for a great opportunity to explore the area and I did on many occasions covering a large area.
This was only achievable by having confidence in my abilities and also by wearing a dry suit, as you'll read later.
The beach area near the campsite was largely dry and hard (great for *massive* power slides) but this turned into wet bumpy sand the further you got away from bases and it was also surrounded by filled sea channels, riverlets, streams, etc. which were only passable by getting completely soaked. My usual strategy was just to plough at them full speed and hope to get a good way across before I ran out of steam. There was a broad range of terrain conditions to experience.
Buggy Surfing
Covering the more extreme areas of the beach meant passing through lots of water, often waist deep. The deepest one I crossed result in my buggy being *completely* submerged and at one point I began to float and lost directional control from the front wheel so I had to use the kite to pull my in the direction I wanted to go on. I was being pulled downstream (yes, downstream!). I jumped out and decided to pull the buggy to shore but sadly it flipped over in the deep water and drifted off without me. I chased after it with the Atom bobbling along above me and I managed to flip the buggy and drag it back to dry land. I was knackered!!
Despite it being a bit dodgy this was brilliant fun but not something I repeated.
Despite that, I later found myself in one of those riverlets and decided to just drive down it's length as far as I dare, I've never had a 'bow wave' on my buggy before. :)
Mud, glorious mud
I also crossed some very muddy and squishy areas that were only passable in my buggy and I'm very glad I didn't have to go on foot or I'd have probably been knee deep in sludge. It was actually quite worrying so I quickly turned around and headed to firmer land.
OBE
I had one pretty big OBE late on when I didn't see a water channel that was the start of a short of a series of things that ended up with a lot of pain.
I was basically running downwind at about 35mph towards a sea channel and I spotted what I thought was a narrow crossing to make it easy. So I scrubbed off some speed and prepared to cross at about 15mph.
Sadly, the whole thing was obscured from my direction by a small sand cliff but it was too late! I realised the water channel was a lot broader and therefore deeper than I'd realised. *Plus* I hadn't noticed multiple smaller dried out water inlets the other side that was going to make for a bumpy ride.
So, I ploughed into the water that made the buggy pretty much stop but I kept it together but needed more power to get through the waist deep water. I got through with more power but went straight into a dried out water inlet that sent me bouncing about and I slide sideways into the second one where the buggy stopped and I kept going. By this time the kite was fully powered so I was launched downwind and bounced around on the hard sand. I eventually came to a rest and laid there in pain just wanting to get back.
Closing Thoughts
When I got home I assessed the personal damage and it feels like (exaggerting) a broken rib (obe), broken hip (obe), broken neck, cut & bruised shins, bruised thighs (from gripping the buggy) and I ache *everywhere*. My buggy seat is ripped from all of the bouncing and I managed to lose a nut & bolt holding on the mudguard! No pain, no gain! :)
Still, I think it's safe to say that this was the best day of buggying I've ever had and contained pretty much everything you'd ever want. I got to experience loads of things and improve my skills.
10/10. :)
