YES…..Six Months and 4 days….or 188 days….or even 16 million, 234 thousand, and 200 hundred seconds.
That’s is the exact time since I had last been in a buggy, and almost the same since I have flown a kite. There have been many reasons for this, health being one of the major factors, and my new employment being the other, my shifts have seriously effected my hobby.
I have taken many steps to sort the health issue out during the last few months, and I think I have turned the corner. I also promised myself on New Years Eve, that I would get in the buggy at least once a month during 2012 and hopefully more…….read more here
By March 2011 after 10 years of desert buggying, I’d clocked up around 35,000 kms. During that time I’d smashed my right shoulder and busted a couple of ribs but nothing so devastating as the OBE I encountered on 4 March 2011, which left me in a debilitated & depressed state as I was unable to kite buggy for almost 13 weeks.
It was inevitable because I’d been pushing the boundaries more & more in this kiting game.
It was a Friday when Giorgio riding his all composite Shamal & I decided on what should have been a long day’s buggying. Brigitte joined us as usual driving her 800cc Polaris Razor.
Giorgio & I found it unusually tough running the first part of our journey through the Dragon Run which is a labyrinth of tricky dunes made difficult by the unusually soft climbs we made on some of the softer leeward sides of dunes and in severely gusting winds……..Read more here
Dutch kite team to cross Greenland using a snowbuggy.
In 2006 Eric “MTwater”, initiator of the Snowbuggy Team, started dreaming of crossing Greenland using wind power and kites. Many crossings were and are still done on skis with the aid of wind powered kites.
Eric’s novel idea was to modify a kite buggy that he uses on the beach and replace the wheels with skis.
The “snowbuggy” concept was soon born and after several years of designing and field testing in Austria and Norway, finally in 2011 the 4th model proved to be an instant success.
Snowbuggy Team aims to cover at least 4.500 kilometres on Greenland in about 4 to 6 weeks.
Daily distance to cover will be around 200 km, but the snowbuggy concept already proved itself of being capable of doing 400 km/day. When the team will succeed in its plan, they will have set a world record for longest distance travelled in polar conditions.
The team members are all seasoned kite buggiers and many of them already hold several national & world titles and records related to wind powered travel.
With over 60.000 km of accumulated practice in their beach buggies, they are well up to the challenge !
The Snowbuggy team plans to cross Greenland during May and June 2013.
The team will make use of Peter Lynn depowerable snowkites for high wind conditions and very efficient Vapor buggy race matrasses for low wind conditions.
The Vapor kite is a very fast kite and generates tremendous power.
This kite holds the world speed record of 133 km/hr set by team member Arjen van der Tol.
The team intends to travel in relative comfort since physical fatigue will be limited due to the seating position in the snowbuggy.
Combined with a very stable riding behavior at high speeds, daily distances of 200 to 400 km will be possible, provided just a little wind.
Upon arrival at Kangerlussuaq International Airport on the west coast of Greenland, a chartered flight will bring the team and their equipment on the ice cap near the abandoned USA radar station DYE-2, about 200 km east of Kangerlussuaq.
From Dye-2 the team plans to “warm up” first by doing a short 1.100 km roundtrip towards Narsarsuaq which is located at the southern tip of Greenland.
After reaching DYE-2 again, the big trip north will commence towards the Baffin Bay on the west coast of Greenland. From here, the team will return back to Dye-2, making the roundtrip north adding up to 3.400 km.
The route over the icecap will hover between 2.000 and 2.500 mtr above sealevel, and will stay far away from the crevasses found on the edge of the icecap.
Total distance covered in the snowbuggy will be at least 4.500 km, assuming favourable wind directions will allow for straight line traveling.
When wind directions will be less favourable, it will slow the team down just a bit. Because of the very good upwind performance of the Peter Lynn kites , the team will have to “zigzag” their route, resulting a more distance to cover.
With a forecasted daily average of 200 km and an estimation of 7 days without any winds, the team will spend at least 1 month on the ice cap.
Action will start on Saturday 21st Jan with racing from 10am to 2pm and will continue on Sunday from 10am to 3pm.
The Icicles Cup is the first national race of the season organised by the Parakart Association, which is the national governing body for the sport.
The event started in the early 90s when kite buggying was in its infancy. It was traditionally held on New Year’s Day in Camarthanshire, but since 2004 has been held at Westward Ho! and, to attract a larger fleet, it has been moved back a few weeks.
The weekend consists of two types of racing. On the Saturday there are usually three short races of about 20 minutes each and on the Sunday there is the main event, which is a three hour enduro.
YES…..Six Months and 4 days….or 188 days….or even 16 million, 234 thousand, and 200 hundred seconds.
Sand Yeti’s intro has been updated, and you can also find his tips and adventures 
