Date: Sun, 15 May 1994 06:24:25 -1000 From: windwiz@coyote.rain.org (Dan Rubesh) Message-Id: <2r5ibp$ph5@coyote.rain.org> Organization: Regional Access Information Network (RAIN) Subject: Buggy Newz 2.1 part 1 of 2 BUGGY NEWZ 2.1 part 1 of 2 The Official Organ of The Buggy Pilots International January / February 1994 === IN THIS ISSUE: Buggy Boogie Thang Report. New Buggys. Buggys in the Media. N. American Buggy Schedule. Buggy Boogie Sprang Thang. Buggy Boogie Sizzle Thang. Buggy Cruising Options. Power Kites - Size & Speed. Racing Rules. Speed Record Report. And much, much more! === BUGGY EL MIRAGE: Weekend before Memorial Day - Last chance for relative peace on a weekend before the summer crazies come. 19-22 May. Week Days before the 4th of July Weekend. If UP Sports Competition is go for the 4th, more can come. 29 June - 1 July. Week days are the safest anyway. The far end of the lake has the best winds . === YOUNGEST BUGGY PILOT: The youngest Certified Buggy Owner is Trent Baker-Casperz. Born 19 October, 1993. Trent received his Land Lizard and Q-40 as First Prize at a raffle held at the Victoria Sport Kite Championships at Lake Tyers Beach, Australia in November 19 The winning ticket was purchased by Dad (Wil) in honor of his son's first kite festival. Joanne (Mom) Baker was also scorekeeper for the event. Pop expects to have use of the buggy until Trent's legs can reach the pegs. === The Buggy Pilots International is an organization dedicated to spreading the fun and glory of buggy riding around the world. The common ground of wind-powered traction kiting transcends all boundaries except those of wind, gravity and drag. Buggy or Die ! === "THE BUGGY BOOGIE THANG": The beginning is behind us as we boldly follow our Buggy Star into the future of BuggySport. The birth on Monday, January 17, was greeted by over 250 incredible Buggy'ers and over 100 Buggys from around the world. The U.S., Canada, England, Wales, France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Holland, Belgium, New Zealand & Australia were represented at the First World Buggy Gathering at Ivanpah Dry Lake during the week of January 17-20, 1994. The week started with good afternoon winds and more room that we knew what to do with. Film crews from ESPN-2 and MTV-Sports scrambled around finding interesting combinations of visual settings with the Kites and Buggys in the midst of the open space that is the High Desert. First day activities began shortly after dawn with many anxious pilots heading to the base site long before any wind showed up. The morning "social scene" was attended with much excitement and anticipation of what was in store. Experienced desert flyers knew what to expect as the morning winds shifted and puffed before swinging around from the north and starting to blow. Regardless, the "sucker winds" drew the more efficient kiters far out into the lake, strandin or an hour or more before the smooth north winds showed around 1 pm. Most first-time Buggy'ers stayed close to camp as they concentrated on bringing their skill levels up to the point they could run together without interfering with each other. The rest of the pack flowed and formed into "Buggy Swarms" of 2 uggys and set off cruising together around the 35 sq/mile dry lake. An experience that none will soon forget. The local hosts for the event, Scott & Cindy Dyer from the Las Vegas Doodlebugs, had everything in hand as they essentially catered the 4 day gathering. Food and drink as well as beautiful event t-shirts and sterling silver pins (Made by Scott) available on the site. All proceeds from the sale of event memorabilia paid for the party. A perfect touch! As motor vehicles are prohibited from driving on the dry lake, the Bureau of Land Management placed orange cones to mark our 5 1/2 mile access route to the parking area and outline the "camp"... a 600' x 2000' space where cars would be permitted. The space was so much larger than most Buggy pilots had ever experienced, early arrivals on Sunday had confined their Buggy runs to within the parking area. Space and distance can be very deceiving on such a flat and featureless expanse, and besides, one cannot be too sure of just how deep it might be out in the middle. Reluctance soon gave way to curiosity as more and more Buggy'ers tried the short 2 mile trip across the narrow part of the lake to a brushy shoreline or the more adventurous 3 mile upwind reach to the I-15 freeway that crossed an arm of Ivanpah Dry Lake. Late Monday afternoon, from a couple of miles out, a group of riders (Paul Jobin, Dean Jordan, Robbi Sugarman, Garry Clarke, Martin Lester and myself) paused to watch as the afternoon sun, streaming across the lake bed, illuminated 48 Buggy heir multi-color parafoils sailing back and forth across the southern end of the lake. The setting was awesome. The stark McCullough Range loomed over the lake on the east side, the Ivanpah Mountains on the west. Cradled between the two, Ivanpah Dry Lake was alive with KiteBuggys. Due to the efforts of Jeff Cain, we received national media coverage with the presence of crews from MTV-Sports and ESPN-2. We set up tandem Buggys and sailed them out into the action. As they crossed the lake, a swarm of other Buggy riders would circle them like movie-indians around a wagon train, whooping and hollering, showing their courage and skills. There was a refreshing lack of organization on the lake bed. Acquiring a permit for the use of the site from the BLM, arranging accommodations at the hotel/casinos at the end of the lake, and getting the word out was enough. The Buggy Pilots proved adept at taking care of themselves and we noted only the lack of a perfect evening gathering spot. We made do with the Prima Donna casino bar and their very nice restaurant with the $8.25 / 1 lb. Prime Rib Special. Many Buggy designs showed up on the lake. The majority were Peter Lynn Buggys, and they brought their wide-track, long-wheelbase, extra-wide tire version as well. Claims of improved soft-sand ability wait to be tested as there was no suitable soft-sand location on the hard-pack dry lake. Land Lizards from Highly Strung Kites in Australia made a strong showing with their new "Long Prong" add-on cruising set-up and their new distribution agreement with Shanti Products. Cobra Kites introduced their Peter Lynn-designed Cobra Buggy at the KTA Show, and brought a few of them to Ivanpah along with their new Power Foil with its concealed spar-tips and wider mesh leading edge. Steve Shapson brought a few of his new Force-10 Buggys and Fran Gramkowski brought his Kite Traction Machine to the Buggy Boogie Thang. Both copies of the original PL Buggy. Brett Onstott brought 5 of his bright green BO's Buggys, and there were even a couple of home-built models using bicycle front ends and wheels. Nop Velthuizen from Belgium brought his custom 4-wheel and 3-wheeler Buggys. Garry Clarke from England had a one-off called the Rabbit while countryman Paul Jobin ran a hybrid G-Force front end & seat attached to a Land Lizard rear axle. The custom-built G-Force Buggys were also used by 13-year old Jonathan Harris and slightly older Mick Parsons from the Welsh Sport Kite Centre. Julian Wolf-Patrick brought his fiberglass Zeph-1 from France and Tomas Jeckel brought the big-wheeled Ph>ton trike from Germany. Scott Dyer even brought his Manta LandSailer to play with. Plenty of Toys! === BUGGY NEWZ is an independent operation. Non-profit as it happens. The purpose is to spread the word around the world of the Buggy and the people who use them. Conceived, Founded, Written, Edited, Published & Distributed by Corey Jensen. The ultimate responsibility for facts and errors, for truth and fallacy, for all the things you find enjoyable and because there is no-one else to blame, for the things you disagree with in this newsletter... Falls on only one pair of shoulders. Contact him or me in care of: Windborne Kites 585 Cannery Row #105 Monterey, California 93940 USA Work/Shop # (408) 373-7422 Home # (408) 372-7922 Fax # (408) 373-0688 === BUGGYS & THE MEDIA: The Buggy Boogie Thang brought the KiteBuggy out of the closet and into the reach of the vast television audience. Through the efforts of Colorado Buggy'er Jeff Cain, a crew from MTV-Sports spent two days with us at Ivanpah, interviewing so e international Buggy contingent and filming >From the tandem Buggy while sailing across the lake bed with the pack. On Tuesday, a crew from ESPN-2 joined the media glitz that had surrounded us and we treated them to more good winds and plenty of rides in the tandem Buggy. Look for Buggy coverage on both. Eric Saunders, a free-lance photo-journalist based in L.A., attended the Buggy Boogie Thang after picking up a copy of American Kite Magazine (the one with the Buggy'er on the cover) last fall, while doing a shoot in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. A few phone calls later, and he was pitching the story to Le Figaro - the #1 magazine in France! The Italian print media was represented as well with Maurizio DiLoreti covering the event in word and picture. The second day group shot of 66 Buggys and the "Buggy-crew" was a result of his efforts. The L.A. earthquake on Monday kept the local media away, they had to interview gamblers who couldn't return to their homes and had to stay in Vegas and donate more money to the rich casino owners. We didn't even miss them! === IVANPAH EASTER The big Land Sailers have their annual regatta at Ivanpah during Easter week. Many Buggy Pilots plan to be there 31 March - 3 April. They are a fun bunch and don't seem to mind us if we stay out of their way. === BUGGY PILOTS INTERNATIONAL: The reality of our world-wide community of Buggy Pilots became obvious on the dry lake at Ivanpah. The idea of the Buggy Pilots of America must grow to acknowledge our wider boundaries. Buggy Pilots International more correctly identifies the global community of Kite Buggy Enthusiasts. Identity is a large part of any clout we may wield. We are what we claim to be. I have a BP of A flag. Now we need one for the BPI. How about taffeta so we can hear ourselves think when the wind blows. === DA KITES: Many forms of propulsion made their appearance on the dry lake as well as the variety of Buggys. Peter Lynn was there with a selection of Peels (mostly flew the 10 meter Ultra-Lights) and wacky Brit Andrew Beattie even brought his 15 meter Peel. The Peels are 2-line control and are usually flown with long (150 ft.) lines. Martin Lester had his up on about 80 ft. lines and kept up with the quads without difficulty. The UL's were very efficient and the PL crew got suckered out onto the lake on the early "sucker winds" - Hence the name! Quite a sight to watch Peter, Dominique & Phillip walking back to camp! Nop Velthuizen had his own version of the tapered Peel design that did very well. He also flew a stack of SpeedWings that kept him running with or ahead of the pack in winds that seldom exceeded 10 mph. Joost Meijerink and Ray & Jeannie Merry from Flexifoil/Cobra Kites introduced their new concealed-tip Flexis with the wider mesh designed expressly for Buggy and Beach use. Joost flew an 18 stack that looked like a ladder stretching into the sky and was a truly impressive sight, even when seen from across the lake bed. Mick Parsons from The Welsh Sport Kite Centre brought his Modulas Quad-line Foil. This innovative design allows the pilot to add or remove zippered sections of the foil as conditions dictate. The entire system hangs from the rear axle in its own carry bag. Very handy and very clever. The 4-line soft foils dominated the lake bed with their presence. Quadrifoil and Force-10 foils were everywhere. The modest winds allowed use of the larger bags without too much side-force. 40-50 sq/ft was the norm while many of us used 60-75 sq/ft. or bigger on occasion. There were the normal numbers of home-built bags, some that worked very well and some that couldn't quite keep up. The winds were light enough to not offer any help to less-efficient designs. === MY PERSONAL IVANPAH: Some of the most wonderful kite experiences happen with friends. For all the personal pleasures I find at the end of a kite line, something about sharing with a group of like-minded kite crazies multiplies the joy. To be able to Buggy the dry lake wheel-to-wheel with the group at Ivanpah was an absolute skygasm. Thanks to the KTA for having their trade show where and when they did, and being a strong international organization that supports our industry. Kite friends span the globe - A tough group to get together for a party. While I have been involved in organized kiting for more than 15 years, I've never put my name on any event before. I worked from a pent-up desire to create a group identity surrounding Buggy Riders. Many of us have few if any other Riders to buggy with, and we needed this to energize our sport. Buggying the Dry Lakes in southern California is wonderful and all, but I needed more... I needed to share it with others who touch the sky and fly on the ground. I learned a couple of things about event organizing. Less is more. I have no desire to sit in a tent all day "organizing" things, so the structure was a product of the people. Racing, the idea of measuring one's skills as "better" or "worse" than someone else's by way of head-to-head competitions has its place, but the idea of creating a few "winners" and a lot of "losers" is not what makes my world go around. We raced each other on an informal basis. Actually, it was more like running together, dicing it up a bit. One would pull ahead, then the other would fight back, gaining a little extra speed to pass, both finally slowing on the far side to laugh and shout our joy together. There will be more Buggy Boogie Thangs where we all win just by playing. Thanks to everyone who came and shared and Buggy'd. === LETTER TO THE EDITOR: I received this off the Prodigy Interactive Service: To: All. From: Michael Jones. Crack the Sky/Jones Airfoils. (KTPU87A). "I woke up this morning to find the Buggy Boogie Thang being televised on ESPN-2. I thought this was great, especially since it was on for about 5-8 minutes. Usually kites are only shown for 10 seconds or less at the end of a news story or something. So there I sat watching this and glad kiting was being exposed to the public when here comes Corey Jensen buggying by naked. Needless to say I was upset that he could ruin what could otherwise have been a great thing for kiting. My wife turned to me to say "some parents are really gonna let their kid get involved in kiting now". She is right. After all the work many of us have done in kiting to expose it to the public as a viable sport and that we aren't a bunch of kooks, it's all down the drain in one fell swoop. After the clip the anchors made fun of it with raised eyebrows. Can you blame them? I really don't think any "international" event should be clothing optional. I'm disgusted." === LINE TRICKS: A length of heavy dacron or Skybond attached to the handles (usually the bottom), with knots where-ever needed, makes for easy adjustments right at the handles (instead of making changes up at the bridles). Because I teach new Buggy'ers, I have put 6'-8' dacron lines from the handles (top & bottom) so if anyone twists the lines around an axle, instead of thin SpectraLine to dig out of the threads, there is a thick piece of 250# dacron that comes out easily. === Windborne Kites We offer the Peter Lynn Buggy, the Land Lizard from Highly Strung, and the new Peter Lynn-designed Cobra Buggy. Complete Accessories and Parts. Quadrifoil and Force-10 Foils. Peels, Flexis & Revs. Call or Write for our Retail Kitealog(tm) Windborne Kites 585 Cannery Row #105 Monterey, California 93940 Toll-Free Order # 1-800-234-1033 Shop # 408-373-7422 Fax Order # 408-373-0688 === BOOGIE THANG VIDEOS: Many of the folks at the Buggy Boogie Thang brought their video camcorders and took hours of wandering around the camp waiting for the wind. They also got some really beautiful shots at sunset Monday and Tuesday with the sun streaming across the lake bed, highlighting the foils that were gliding along, pulling ecstatic Buggy riders. The PL Tandems, and Steve Shapson's tri-cepede buggy carried some of the camerapeople out into the action on the lake, including the crews >From ESPN-2 and MTV-Sports, The ESPN-2 thing has already aired and the production crew that shot the s sent me a copy of there work. If you didn't see it, call ESPN and request they show it again or on ESPN-MaxOut. Start a thing and maybe it will happen. I get calls asking for copies. Here's the deal... I'm doing this simple. Send me YOUR buggy video footage and a quality blank VHS tape. I'll put together the MTV & ESPN stuff, any of their raw footage I can, the best collection of stuff from what I get from ya'll, and om my own collection of video tapes. A deadline for submissions is necessary to keep this on a reasonable timetable. Let's say you must get it to me by August 1, 1994. That gives me time to do a good job and still have it ready by AKA-Wildwood '94 Besides the MTV and ESPN pieces, this could include Lee Sedgwick on blades and ice, KiteSki, spring & summer El Mirage Boogies, Original Naked Buggy footage - NOT! I also have the two videos from the No. Amer. Powerkite Manlift Team from Wa , both Gwithian Buggy Races, Martin Lester buggying with MegaLegs, the Dean Jordan CNN "commercial", AKA-Ft. Stevens Boogie '93, and other stuff too. Basically the offer is to trade to share. I want what you have, and I hope you will want what I can put together enough to really send me the damn tape instead of just thinking about it and then spacing the whole thing out. I would love to find someone with professional facilities who will not laugh at amateur stuff, and do the job for love instead of money. I don't care as much for the quality as I do to see ya'll doing the Buggy Thang! I'll use two VHS decks and do the thing myself, at least we'll all have some proof. Some evidence of others in the zany fringe element, orbiting out there somewhere. Doing not saying. If many share, we have more and better stuff to include. Longer tape - More value for the hassle. Better community spirit too. And I'll recognize you by sight next time instead of having so many readers come up and have to introduce themselves because we are just voices and words. Let's Trade & Share! === (continued with part 2 of 2) = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =