Skyscraper Kite Buggy Endurance Challenge 
Aug 7th & 8th
2004
We
were contacted by Cormac O’Prey
(Skyscraper) at the beginning of July about the possibility of us doing a
sponsored kite buggy in aid of Cancer Research and the British Heart
Foundation. It was something close to Cormacs’ heart
as his mother died from Cancer in 2002, and his father died only two weeks
later from a heart attack, missing the birth of their first grandchild by three
months.
Here’s
a report of the weekends events. Thanks to those who came and
spurred us on.
The challenge was to try to
cover 100 miles in our kite buggies over the weekend. A bit of a tall order, as
it meant covering at least 50 miles per day. We were hoping to knock as much
off as we could on the Saturday, just in case the wind was poor on the Sunday.
It didn't get off to too good a start, as the forecast for
Saturday showed 5-6mph winds, which proved to be correct, along with thick fog
(sea fret) at the start, which we weren’t expecting. We started off with me on
my 7m Buster, and Cormac on a 7m Beamer which was
very kindly supplied at short notice by The Kiteshop in
We only managed about 5
miles up until tea-time on Saturday, having started at 10:30. The wind picked
up nicely at tea-time, so I was down to the 3m Buster, and Cormac,
his 2.8 Predator II. We started racking the miles up now, and in that couple of
hours before the tide caught up with us, we got up to 25 miles....still a long
way off the 100 miles we had to do though, but we kept at it until
So all to do on the Sunday.
Luckily the forecast was for 16-18mph wind on the Sunday, and it didn't let us
down. I started with the 2m Firebee, but it didn't
want to play ball, and was overpowering a lot of the time, so soon switched to
the 1.4 Buster, which I used most of the day. Cormac
was on his 1.6 Predator III, and we were soon knocking the miles off.
One thing it did get me used to was using my harness in the
buggy, as it's something I've always steered clear of, not liking to be hooked
in (I prefer to be able to ditch the kite if it all goes pear shaped). But
having done the 25 miles on Saturday with no harness, my arms were a bit worse
for wear on the Sunday, and there was no way I was going to manage the distance
without one. So I put it on, and as the day went on became more confident using
it, even keeping hooked in on the turns (more of that later...J).
It's a good feeling
skidding around the turns and shooting off out the other side J
All was going great until just after tea when I felt I
needed a bit more power to do the last 20 miles or so before the tide came in
too far, and time was pushing on, as it was about 7:45pm by then. I was
struggling getting back upwind, to the start of the run (wind was at an angle
to the beach - cross onshore), so decided to go to a bigger kite. The 2m Bee
not really playing ball, I decided to try the 3m Buster, seeing as I didn't
have one in a 2m size.
I set off from base camp ok, and worked across the beach to
the start of our diagonal run. All seemed fine until I came to the first turn.
I set up for doing a sliding turn, hooked in like I'd been doing all day, but
the extra power of the 3m made me slide the backend more than I was expecting.
I ended up back to the kite, and going in reverse, still
hooked in. As I tried to unhook the strop, and look behind to see where I was
going, I must have inadvertently turned the steering a bit. Just as I got the
kite unhooked, the buggy flipped over, and landed on my legs (I can vouch, that
a VMax IS heavy… J ) ). I ended up with a cut and
bruised knee/shin, and a bruise on the other shin. But aching all over today
anyway from the experience, so a bit more pain doesn't make much difference… J
We did end up getting plagued by about eight quad bikes on
Sunday afternoon (see video stills in the gallery), with a couple of near misses, as they weren't
looking where they were going, and kept riding right across our path in the
buggies. But even though they weren’t aware of their surroundings, we were and
avoided them. Even having to stop at one point as we felt it unsafe to
continue, for us and them.
All in all, a great weekend, nice people, and good weather,
topped our tans up nicely too...lol
Cormacs' wife Elaine took some
photos and video, the photos can be seen in the Photo Galleries section,
gallery eight. Or click here.
We ended up doing 83 miles (me), and 91 miles (Cormac), so pretty much near the target, and good going I
think, considering the poor wind on the first day. If we'd had another hour or
two before the tide came in we'd have done it fully. But at that distance, I
think we can still claim it a success.
Total raised is over £700,
(Cormac now informs me it stands at nearly £1500), mostly by the forms Cormac had out. I raised just over
£80 personally. An article later appeared in our local newspaper, the
Hartlepool Mail, which can be seen here.
(HD462)