24hour Distance Accounts

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Stefan Berkner G2107 ~ 1035km Details HERE

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Gerd & Petra Tschampel ~ 873km and 524km New Male and Female Records

Photo’s and facts HERE

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Peter Foulkes aka Gannet ~ 704km

Hi from Mooseland NZ,

Daniel Spiegel and I have just finished doing an epic 24 hours of land kiting.

We started at 9am Friday morning inland as high tide was at 10.30, Dan on the 10m Summit and I with the 4m race kite. After a hour I left Dan in the hard sand of the dry lake district, as it was to gusty for the race kites and went over the dunes towards the beach front, finding a nice hill with good clean wind. The wind was a bit light but after a hour it kicked in, and I had to change down kites from a 4m to 3m. At 2pm we meet up on the hard sand and clock up the k’s, all was going good for me, the modify Ozone harness with Splitter MK Race quick release was comfortable and the buggy and kite are perfect, maybe a little over powered :)

Dan was running the 5m Frenzy. The sun set across the water as the full moon come up, just perfect and so beautiful, we worked the beach till 9pm as the tide chased us back into the dunes for the night. I went back to my hill to bounce away, but taking some time to level bumps in my way with my foot on each pass to make a smoother ride. One time when I was checking the GPS’s are still on, I got off course and hit some hard bumps only to find out later that I lost my camel bac water tube, Not stopping to look for it in this light and I box on. At 1am I stop for food and water and look for the tube, not to be found. I move back to the main beach and work the hard sand totally over powered till 2 am when I go to find Dan as he is not showed up yet. He’s at the truck getting ready, That was a relief, I change to the 2.3m  and get back to the beach. I do a quick bit of maths with the GPS and realise I need to pull my finger out. That was the last time I stopped for water :(  yup, I’m going to have one hell of a headache tomorrow.

Dan pulls the pin and goes to bed, it’s too hard in the strong and gusty wind, his legs are giving out and he’s getting dangerous, good call. I know what that feels like, it’s gutting to get so far and you can’t finish, I did the same in 2010 on my 24 hr kitebike record and left David land boarding by himself.

So the beach is all mine with a light at each end for turn point markers, I work the kite harder then before and push myself even more, downing a energy drink though a straw at 60 / 70 kph is fun :)  I’m also dying to go toilet, but this bus is not stopping. 6.30 the moon is setting now and good morning to the sun, awesome and beautiful. At 7.30ish I go passed Gerd’s world record, I scream with joy and punish the air in victory. Then said sorry to my good friend Gerd who gave me the Splitter MK Race quick release that I’m using.

With 1.5 hours to go, I work the hard sand to the end and race back to camp for the last 10 minutes.

I finish with some time spare so I don’t go over 24 hours on the GPS’s , I feel good, not sore, hands are tender and I look like I’ve been though the washing machine.

A special thank to all my supporter’s, family, friends, Ozone Team and Kitezone NZ

We have two new World distance records. Dan on kite skates flying a Ozone 5m Frenzy and 8m Summit with 216km. I was in my kitezone minimax buggy, flying Ozone prototype race kites 2.3m, 3m and the 4m with 704 km.

This is what I sent Dan a week before, I think it’s quite fitting;

It’s better to look back on life and say: “I can’t believe I did that”. Than to look back and say: “I wish I did that”

Land kiting on, Pete Foulkes aka Gannet

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Gerd Tschampel G1160~650.00km

Obsession!

Or… When Is Madness A Good Thing?

Today is Sunday. One week ago, I climbed out of my buggy after the longest buggy ride of my life. But how did this happen, that I set a record in a race that is meant for a team of three – alone!

It all started on my favourite island, Fanö in February 2008. By chance, Phillip and Leif were there too and realised that I just love being in my buggy and love riding it for hour after hour. So for several days they tried to persuade me to join them in their team for the GPA 24 Hour Race in St. Peter Ording. I was doubtful because I buggy for the fun of it. I don’t mind being overtaken for example and for me it’s just a pleasure to cruise for hours along the water’s edge on Fanö. However, there was a pull: buggying at night. I’d never done that before for safety reasons and I was interested to experience what it’s like to see nothing in front of you and do everything according to your senses. That was enough. I’d decided. I’ll do it.

But then Leif and then Phillip both pulled out but I thought I’ve already declared my interest and as stubborn as I sometimes can be, I thought I’ll find my own team. Andreas said he’d join me and, because I wrongly thought there had to be three of us, my wife Petra very unwillingly went on standby in case no-one else joined the team. However, she need not have worried: at registration on the day, Micha put his name forward to be the third team member.

My goals were to take part; to buggy at night and if possible, to beat the old English record. However, I’m a realist and I was happy that there were so many pilots taking part because if I got lapped I could ride behind them for a bit and maybe learn something from them.
The conditions were great and the race went according to plan and we achieved our goals. However, my team mates were concerned about buggying at night and that’s why I rode my buggy six hours with only one short break (which was unavoidable) for 185 km.
No problem!

Micha was my replacement at dawn but I actually wasn’t happy about being replaced since I wanted to carry on until the end and there in the morning light I decided: next time I’m going to do it on my own and this thought wouldn’t leave me until I had the chance again three years later.

However, when I came to ask whether it was allowed for someone to do this on their own, I was met with shakes of the head and the answer “No-one can do it on their own.” So then I turned to the club’s committee and Jens told me “The race will be held according to the Fissly Rules. That means that for an endurance race, a team consists of up to three people.” Great! Up to three. That meant I could do it on my own!

But then came more objections, such as whether it’s safe to let anyone do it on their own. But I responded “Hang on. I’m well aware that I’m missing some experience of long races but I’m allowed to train young pilots and be an association examiner. I’m not a young hothead so credit me with enough sense that I’ll stop if it’s not working out.”

So I started putting my plan into action.

At the Kite Festival on Fanö in June 2010, Jan Hendrik from HQ asked me if I’d like to have a go with a Toxic. I was really keen to try one out since my Brooza was well past its sell-by date after having performed for 20,000 km, and I was after a successor in the intermediate class. I really wanted to use an intermediate because I can do it easily and for a long time: a high performance kite is very unforgiving of mistakes and to make no mistakes over 24 hours is just not possible.

I was taken with the Toxic from the word go. It’s highly stable with good performance and you can get a lot out of it via the brakes.
I spoke to Jan Hendrik at the race and he promised to support me even if the kite hadn’t arrived in the shop. During the Kite Festival I got both the sample kites from HQ and began running them in: 1500 km in fourteen days but only a few of them in the last couple of days as I was driving directly from Fanö to SPO.

I read on the homepage of Popeye the Welder that I was listed as having managed 415km in 24 hours on my first attempt and that Peter from New Zealand held the record with 623 km. As modest as I am, I said “I’ll break that”. I’d warmed up on Fanö, I had a new Kite (the Toxic) and enough confidence in my endurance ability for two people.

The day had arrived. I got up at 4.00 on Fanö and drove to St Peter Ording hoping that the weather forecast was wrong. It was. The weather was even worse than forecast.

I started with the Toxic 8.0 but after ten minutes I changed to the RM+ 10 with a light breeze and then soon after that to the Vapor 13.4. I don’t know how many kite changes I made. I lost count and often it was only after a few minutes. I certainly kept Petra, my wife, Michi and Maik, my support team busy.

I wanted to split the race into seven three hour units, each of them approximately 100 km but at the start perhaps a few km more and later a few more breaks. They were my tactics. After six hours without a break and what felt like a hundred kite changes between Toxic, RM and Vapor, my GPS showed me I’d done 120 km and I was soaking wet from sweat. I was 80 km behind my target at this stage and so I gave up on breaking the record but I still wanted to show all the doubters that you can do 24 hours alone.

Then came a bit of wind, enough for the Toxic 8.0 and then even for the 6.5. So I rode and rode and as the light started to go it got a little windier and I changed to the Toxic 5.0 for a more pleasant night ride. Unfortunately the night brought rain. I rode into the drivers’ camp and was asked whether I wanted to change clothes but I replied that I didn’t have time in this wind and that I just wanted the back protector on for the night and then it was back to it.

After several hours of rain I couldn’t help asking myself “What are you doing?” but I couldn’t find an answer so I kept riding. Every 30 minutes my mobile phone rang. With my earpiece in I hit the headset button under my overalls and took the call. It was Petra, the best pit chick in the world, asking if everything was okay and whether I needed a new kite or anything else and giving me the latest news from the drivers’ camp. I had a standard answer “Everything is going well.” She stood by the whole 24 hours, including through the rain, without a break in order to support me. She always believed in me even when I’d begun to doubt. At some point everything was wet but the wind held and even turned to the west so that I could set course again. I rode and rode and rode. Then came the dawn, the rain stopped and buggying started to be real fun again. At 4.00, I’d been on the go for 24 hours i.e. most of that time in the buggy and I had a look at my GPS. 400km. Hang on. What about my minimum target for the record? I had calculated it very roughly. If I did 210km every eight hours then I would do 630 km which would be enough. Now, despite the hours of light wind and the rain in the night, I was only 20km behind my target. And something else: we started 15 minutes late so I still had that time too. Game on!
So new tactics came into play: no more breaks, just buggying. And that’s what I did (apart from one unavoidable comfort break – some things you can’t stop).

The sun broke through and I slowly dried off, from the outside to the inside. But then I began to worry whether there would be enough wind if the sun got stronger but there was even though I’d changed to the Toxic 6.5 by then. I was eating up kilometers. The record was within reach. I didn’t want to take any risks now: no kite or line contact with other pilots or anything that could knock me out of my rhythm; no fights, up or down with the kite – just forget the other pilots and ride pressure-free. My ribs were now the biggest problem. I’d done loosening up exercises with my free arm and one leg after the other so that I didn’t get cramp but what do you do when your ribs are hurting? You can move from the rail, then with your hand on the handle, pull on the harness and then ride with your hand on the side rail. You can do it for a while but then you start to feel it in your arms. To the turning point, luffed a bit, a nice tack, looked at a gap in the field, sorted myself out again and on I went and at 10.00 I’d done 600 km. It was then that I knew: if nothing else went wrong, then the record would be mine.

That hour from 10 till 11 was the longest of the whole race. Would the wind hold? The equipment? Would I get through without colliding with other kites? My GPS tally slowly climbed until I hit 623 km and I’d got the record but I wanted a bit more. Petra rang. I said, we’ve done it and my vision became a little blurred as a few tears of relief appeared in my eyes. I stayed on until I’d done 630 km at 11.00 but then I decided I’d have some breakfast. When other drivers in the camp asked me whether I’d finished I answered “That was work, now comes the pleasure!” I took the kite down and hugged the person without whom I’d never have managed it, Petra. I thanked Maik and Michi, drank Petra’s freshly made coffee, ate my muesli in peace and quiet and had a little walk to the toilet. How nice a sunny morning on the beach can be.

So, I still had 45 minutes. I thought “I can still do a lot of buggying in that time, that’s why I came here!” The kite went up and I climbed back into the buggy. The pain had gone and I rode effortlessly. Now that all the tension had gone I could just calmly cruise and I had no problems with the two kites (now the Toxic 8.0) and the consequent ground contact. As the field was made smaller for the racers and my GPS showed 650km and according to the clock fixed to my shaft only two minutes were still to go, I rode into the drivers’ camp and watched the end of the race in peace.

I achieved my goal. The old man had shown all the doubters that so much is possible if you’ve got the desire and also the necessary good sense.

A special thank you goes to Petra, without whom none of this would have been possible. And also to Maik and Michi who always supported Petra in the drivers’ camp; the neighbouring teams who also supported us when they could and of course, to Heiko, who came to St Peter Ording just to drive our car and trailer home. I’d had enough of driving by then. Thanks also to all the other pilots for their fairness on the course.

On Monday I thought “That’s enough, you only do that once in your life.” On Tuesday I was already starting to think what I could do better next time. Whatever, one thing’s for sure. When I register next time, there are a lot of discussions I don’t need to have.
Sorry to those pilots who wrote to me after I’d registered asking if they could go in my team but I really wanted to do this.
What I’m especially pleased with is my finish in the middle of the field which isn’t bad at all against the three pilot teams.

Till next time

Gerd


 

Gannet 623.00km

I just finished doing 24 hours solo, 1;30pm sat to1;30pm sun

at the Muriwai beach Moosemeet NZ

 

Buggy; carbon fibre with 3 Kenda beach racers and Carkeek leading link front

 

My 24 hour moose mission

 

Well the head ache has gone and the toes and feet are all good again. Just the legs, arms and hands to go. But I can smile now too. To fulfil a personal goal can give you a warm feeling inside and a bigger smile on the outside. For me, it was more about doing 24 hrs than the distance. With a lot of testing and trashing buggies over the last 9 years it was time.

The buggy was built at Salthouse boatbuilders in Auckland where I work,as a Engineer. With the help of some very talented friends. It has a carbon fibre bucket seat and box girder chassis with a carbon fibre spar from a race yacht for the back axle. The front fork is a Carkeek design leading link made out of 2205 stainless steel with a Titanium 20mm axle to fit kenda beach racer tyres on 7″asso rims. Total weight , 39 kgs.

As for the kite, the plan was to use a 10m 09 manta as it is an awesome dune kite. With the wind at the Moose meet blowing NW at 20 knots and gusting higher I thought that the manta may hurt me, more than the 24 hours. Where is that 7mtr frenzy when you need it! So it was out with a 3.5 Flexifoil rage that I got from Perrin at Kiteworks years ago. My cheapest kite but still magic to fly.

 

After resetting two GPS’s with the help from Al Noblet(northernal321) and Charlie Watson( fat old whimp) it was time to shake a leg. Note ; both GPS’s are still on winter time so they are out by one hour, which became a small problem to work out 23 hrs later.

1.30pm Saturday 17/10/09. out of camp going to the northern end to mess up the hard sand, next to the lagoon where 40 odd kite surfers were going loose with massive jumps and speed, a beautiful sight in a beautiful location, so remote and untouched. As the first hour or two went by, hitting speeds of 60 km/h I started to settle down, legs and arms warmed up to the idea that this is going to be one very long night.

As sunset came so too did high tide. Back to camp I went looking for somewhere to do the high tide runs, only to find the best place with no shells and sharp bumps was the camp site. 8.30ish at 260 kms, it was time for a quick stop, check over the buggy and more food and water and pack the battery inside the box frame of the buggy for the night light.

For another two hours of lights off, low flying in camp. Only glow sticks as course markers to see my way (saving battery life) and always watching out for drunken kite surfers taking toilet stops in my path. Time was getting on I better stop for dinner. 288 kms about 10pm. I’m feeling good if a little shaken from the rough ground. As I sit in camp having a mooseburger, Steve Gurney walks in and offers me his head lamp and helmet (with some left over blood) from the Sahara trip that Steve and Craig Hansen had just finished doing. It turns out to be awesome later on to find my wheel, Thanks Steve, for that.

With only one and a half hours to go before the hard sand comes back, I need to move. Back into the dark using my light, I now had more candle power than a plane. Eyes fixed on the GPS as it went over 300 kms just before the hard sand came back. Another quick stop in camp to change GPS batteries. Charlie Watson came out of the dark to tell me he’s going to keep an eye on me all night so that I’m safe. I looked forward to our 2 minute pit stops every hour out on the beach.

 

Hard sand, yes Hard sand and it’s midnight. Stars and some clouds plus a 20 knot westerly, awesome. Time to rack up some k’s. Now hitting speeds of 55 to 65 every run and using Wayne’s (jimmy22) glow sticks as a runway lights down the beach with two at each end to signal the turn points. The k’s soon mounted up. 350-400- 452 kms (the now previous world record). 453kms at around 3.30am 14hours in. I let out a WOOHOO all to myself, and the seagulls were thinking “ is this guy on crack or what?” Note; NO drugs were used before or during this 24hrs. The crew turn up, a quick hand shake, tyre check, eat, drink and toilet. Plus another fleece as it’s getting cold now. More k’s and a little rain.

 

4.30 pit stop. The night watch brings out my woollen swany and they have to pull it on me. I now look like the Michelin man but the timing is good because down came the rain. Charlie reminded me to go easy on the kite because it’s now a wet fish and won’t fly like a kite anymore. The guys make a run for camp leaving me to my glow stick runway. The rain hits hard, nearly hail for about 10 minutes. The kite is full of water and flying like crap, but its still doing 40 kph.

5.30 coming up, still dark and thinking about the next pit stop when I feel the wheel bolt go. The left rear wheel makes a run for it and I quickly turn the buggy down wind at 60 kph to stop it from high-siding me. I ride her out to a stop, anchor the kite and get out. “Damn!” I turn 360 looking for the wheel, it’s nowhere to be seen and the crew are flashing a light for me to come down the beach for a pit stop. “Sorry mate, my rides got no wheel”. I walk to the water’s edge then inland to the high tide mark and back to the buggy, nothing. It must have gone straight down the beach. So I start walking towards the guys and finally there it is almost a km down the beach, well 300 or 400 meters anyway. The bolt is still in it “Yes!” But no bearing and inner spacer, “crap”. Back to the buggy hoping they are still on the axle stud. No it’s gone. I dig in the sand trench from the back axle, no bearing. Charlie and Warren have nearly made it to me when I spot the spacer 5m away and the bearing 5m further. Awesome light you’ve got there Steve. The seal has gone out of the bearing and it’s locked up with sand, I hammer it back in with my spanner, this is not going to stop me. With the wheel on it’s time to get moving again.

 

Daybreak is coming; the light opens up showing me a beautiful beach, and I’ll do it all again,just to see that sun rise again, after all this hard work. All I can see are thousands of tyre tracks. I got a real kick out of that, a bit like a dog pissing on a tree to mark his area. “This beach is mine”

6.30 came and went no Charlie, “ha ha he finally fell asleep”. So I did my own pit stop. I find out later that they watched me riding from the dune tops just out of camp.

The wind didn’t stop all night and I’m still hitting speeds of 60+ kms with a top speed of 74 kph sometime in the night.

7.30 I’m still knocking up ks. There is kite movement in camp someone is coming out, Oh my gosh, it’s Charlie with helmet on and C quad flying. True to word , looking out for me all night. Thank you so much, you made the hardest night so much fun.

 

The tide is racing in now, not much time of hard sand left, I run the sand to the end then go into camp for brekkie at 522 kms. It’s now 8.00 am Sunday, breakfast time. Al makes mooseburgers on the bbq, “awesome”. Now feeling a little heavier and slower I get back in the buggy for the soft sand knowing this is going to hurt as there was no smooth sand, all sharp bumps. I told myself just get another 50 kms. I see Craig who gives me a Peter Lynn reactor2 for a while which was very kind. With the R2 I hit the bumps. Two hours later I’m back, the wind is getting up, time to down size. I get my 2.5m Blurr out as I head out of camp and only then do I notice that the line set on her is my short 10m race set. That makes it hard work that time of the morning. Just before 11am I change back to the 3.5 Rage. The small strip of hard sand was back but I was out of batteries for the GPS’s. I made a mad run back to camp to see if someone has batteries. That done it was back to the beach to nail the lid on this coffin.

At 615kms I stop to do a time check with Wayne. Top speed is only 74 with about 20 minutes to go to 24hrs. I run with the wind down the beach and seeing it go past 75 km/hr I give the kite another kick to get some more out of her. As I turn to head back to camp I have 77.6kms top speed. I finish at camp with a 623 kms 1.30pm Sunday 18 October 2009. After a very tired smile for the camera I could feel my body shut down short of breath as the adrenalin stopped. I know there was still 6hrs of daylight and 6hrs of hard sand out there, but not for me I was done, I had my 24.Time for a hot shower and bed

 

Thank you Craig Hansen from Peter Lynn kites for awarding me with the prize for the most kms in the weekend. Did I win by much? A new kite, a Viper 3.9 to play with, nice.

 

Cheers all

 

Peter Foulkes aka gannet

 


Carlos J. (Proki) 477km

24 hours Zalduendo On 4 September 2008, at 21:30 am begins the new adventure.

My mate Fernando sees improvements in the Franqui, you’re right, but I had the illusion of trying in my spot (Zalduendo-Burgos), despite the difficulties. In the morning finalizing last-minute preparations, no one can help me. At 19:15 was in the meadows with the entire team in furgo: buggy, kite, generators, lights, tent, Dominique. Alberto Blanco at 20:15 and went with my son last July mounting box. Signaling between the goals, review the route and remove the stones and finalize the preparation of comets gave us 2130 pm.

* 21:30 pm (4/09/2008). I plug in the hull and start with 5m radsails ProII, I communicate my support team.

* 22:00 pm (4/09/2008). Low wind kite and I decide to switch to 7m radsails ProII.

* 23:00 pm (4/09/2008). Change of kite using evoII 12m.

* 1:00 am (5/09/2008), (minimum 8 º C maximum 13 º C). Change class to radsails ProII 6m.

* 3:00 am (5/09/2008). Change radsails ProII 5m. With evoII 12 already have a couple of times off the ground. In a twist near a goal, breaking the lighting system, I have been party to the mast of the outbreak is coupled to the generator and my back of the buggy and has fallen forward. The reflective vest that signals the crossbar of the goal I see it so close to me … OO … go up to the throat!. Emergency triangles broke the van, with metal base lu Americans together and tape the two sides, the mast broken generator and the part.

* 4:30 am (5/09/2008). Space travel 127km. 26.1km/ky maximum windspeed 49.4km / h. The maximum wind 45.8Km / h. At some point the gusts raise my front wheel. You start scoring fatigue, bright beacons of the circuit is beginning to be confused with those of wind turbines and reflective vests scare me sometimes, ghosts seem to wind movement.

*5:30 am (5/09/2008). Change kite.

* 8:19 am (5/09/2008). Space travel 201km. Wind 65km/hy half maximum 30km / h. Change of comet and unclip the generator (20kg more than 4kg of fuel). I have a concern, apart from the rain, the ball every time they sound more, I hope it can withstand.

* 10:30 am (5/09/2008). Change kite. Space travel 254km. 65km/hy half maximum wind 40km / h. 26.8km/hy maximum windspeed 53.2km / h. Moving Time 9:28 pm, I lost three hours in a total time of 13 hours in comets changes, repairs, etc..

* 12:30 am (5/09/2008). Change to radsails 2m. Space travel 300km. 27.3km/hy maximum average speed 53.2km / h. Wind 82.3km/hy half maximum 65km / h. Maximum temperature 16 º C. * 14:00 pm (5/09/2008). The wind is raging and lead me, drives me up the circuit and begins to rain. Upgrade to 10m short lines in ProII radsails 2m.

* 16:00 pm (5/09/2008). Change radsails 3m. Space travel 394km. It stops raining, if I wear glasses and if I do not see the take off I have to look sideways and one eye closed, the rain gives me strong in them. I have to switch back to 4m rad, is all wet.

* 20:15 pm (5/09/2008). Surpass the German world record Bénédict Kerker (464.2km).

* 21:00 pm (5/09/2008). Change kite.

* 21:28 pm (5/09/2008). Heavy rain, my eyes are accusing him and my body too. The comet has buckets of water over and I can hardly move. I see with difficulty the circuit, the light beacons have been exhausted.

More than a thousand drawings to achieve the 477km in 24 hours in Zalduendo. The most complicated site I know to do an adventure like this. 500m track, with goalposts, stones, potholes and rain.

There is still collecting everything. It is time to finish!,

Carlos J. Cavia (Proki)


 

Ziggy Racek 466.39km (inside 12hrs)

 

Here are the details of my best ride on June 17/2011 while in Fano, Denmark
8 am – Start riding with Phantom 9
9:30 am – Switched to Phantom 6
12 pm – completed 200km
4 pm – completed 376 km
8pm – Finished riding due to lack of wind
After 12 hours, total distance completed was 466.39km
Moving Time = 11hours, 25 mins
Max Speed = 77.5km
Driving Average = 40.8km
I’ve attached the GPS reading and there were lots of witnesses.
Ziggy.

p.s. In 6 days, total driving distance was 1079.63 km, which was much more successful than NABX


 

Arjen’s 452.00km

 

Record took place at Fano lots of witnesses, Kracht4 club and a other club from Holland witnessed it,

Started on 18th of June at 6.00am,

at 8.15 the first 100 km,

had some break during the day.

Around 15:00 hour 300 km,

At 17:30 360km, then dinner, after dinner until 21:30 is was enough with 452 km

drove all day with Spirit 3.


445.78km Chinnok/ Aeolo

Set the distance record back in April with 246 miles, only for Krazy Karl to beat in June with 262 miles! Been waiting since July to have another crack at it, thought my time was up for this year! However on my favourite beach Black Rock, SW winds all day and a neap tide, opportunity came knocking yesterday (21/10/11) to go out and beat the record. Managed 277 miles started at 6:30 AM and finished at 6:50 PM. Thanks to my wife and son for their support, during a very long day!!

 


Jose Maria Coca Rodriguez, 441km

This is my fourth year to Franqui with compañer @ s Wind North to have a good time, rolling, rolling and rolling … But I figured that much. The truth is that with the tramontana wind we have had only I could take the buggy in good conditions on the last day. My father told me a long time ago that the lot is the ally of those who are trying and it is fortunate that has accompanied me because I have not had any significant impact with the buggy, or the kite lines. Without exaggeration, I can say that I have been constant and even a little calculator to perform many kilometers in a day. Moreover adding that during the traverse I felt at ease, has been phenomenal adventure, it’s been hard to endure the harness, inappropriate. Some mild pins and the two following days and now as new. Alizes Thanks for your stories, you are an artist and thanks to all of you for your words of bustling and enthusiasm that habeis taken to the expedition Franqui 2007 of the North Wind Kite Association. My congratulations to Fernando, Chema, Felix and Carlos for his kilometrada individually in a day with the buggy also worthy of champions. Thanks to the compañer @ s North Wind and thanks especially to my girlfriend, Eva without which it would have achieved it.

These are the data from my GPS.
Kilometers totals 441
Speed maximum 74.2 km / h.
Ave moving 36 km / h.
Time in motion 12 hours 15 minutes


Krazy Karl 421km

HOYLAKE JUNE 25TH & 26TH 2011 ( 24 HOUR DISTANCE ) . After our Team 9( THE NONE RACERS ) entering the 24 hr the last two years
and finishing 2nd in 2009 winning the novice championship and 2nd again in 2010 we were certainly up for the WIN this year , and I wanted my British solo distance record back of Some 200 miles set in 2009 with Mike blacker (DREAM WARRIOR) , only to get beat some two weeks later by JDH3515 with 223 miles then again by AEOLA/CHINOOK with 246 miles 05/2011 So I was really up for it although my main priority was of the team event which we wanted badly myself Karl Alcock ( KRAZYKARL ) Mark Sherlock ( BLADE ADDICT ) & Steve Warren ( UK SPEED TRAPS) Who was filling in for Chris Shubotham ( CHRIS .S ) .

SAT 24th 1155am The start came and Mark ( Team Captain ) set off with 3 gps’s on his buggy and flying a 5.5 mtr Peter Lynn Vapor with the wind touching 15mph 18mph , I set off 4.9 nitro with 1 gps on my buggy which was be fixed there for the whole 24hr period I was out not to tire myself out just wanted to knock some average mileage up until after around 2 hours mark radioed in to Steve acknowledging for then change over and I was in the pits waiting for him , in he came ,his mileage was recorded by another team member , all 3 gps recorders were reset then placed on my buggy and I was off out with around a 2 minute change over with now x 4 gps’s on my buggy 1 for my solo attempt and the 3 for the team , I was out for around 2 hours the wind picked up and in I came for our second change over and for Steve to take over and set off with is 8mtre Access ,I also carried on with him following him for around 20 mins then shooting off down the beach to explore and check out the conditions around about a mile which when I got down there it was the best I’ve seen it before down there , very flat but a little damp but drying out nice so I headed back up to our pit area to have a breather as I had done nearly 4 ½ hours buggying now with a few pit stops . The wind kept its pace for most of the day which meant Steve could get has much flying in as possible on his depowers 8mtr & 6mtr Access’s , Until sometime late afternoon Steve was coming up for a turn forgot spin his bar and pulled on the wrong side resulting in a 6ft to 7ft lift backwards out of his buggy and slammed on his back on the sand , up he got as quick as possible but obviously shook up , he came back to the pits for a change over where I shot off out again with the reset gps’s again and my own gps which had over 100 k recorded, I flew off and gave a hand signal to Mike ( DREAM WARRIOR ) for a tack up the beach towards Hilbre Island a good mile away , Mike found a good long reach run while I carried on up a further ½ mile just after around 1 hour I returned to change over with Mark, check how Steve was and to get another bite to eat and drink … The time was now touching 8pm and I’d done 200 k plus with a top speed of 67.5 kph .

I began to prepare my buggy for the night run (front and back flashing lights flashing neon valve lights for my wheels and some glow sticks for my side rails ) . We had about 2 hours of day light left but I knew with the sky clearing it would still be possible to see our kites in the air all night . I checked the 24hr board results which Gary Box was doing a great job of keeping up to date and our team was still leading , so off I set again on my now 7.8 oxi as the wind had dropped significantly , mark was out also on one of his larger Peter Lynn Vapors , I kept visiting the pits every 20 mins to check when Mark wanted to come in to set his buggy up for lights etc , he came in with enough daylight for me to set off out and try out the 3 point course anti clockwise which had been set out to make it safer through out the night and make people more aware of each other , after an hour I came in and Steve took over from me which meant I could rest now , it was dark and around 1130pm just 1 member from each team was allowed on the course not sure if there was 9 teams so this gave me a good rest as I new when Steve comes in Mark would be going out . So I left mark cooking at the barbecue his burgers and decided have an hour , some 40 mins later was woken up later by Matt ( windjammer ) had a little chat with him while Steve was talking to Mark out on the course via our 2 way radio , they had made a change has the wind had dropped and mark was now out on his 12 mtr , Mark was obviously loving it lapping most people every few laps singing to himself not noticing is helmet mic was keyed , he seemed to be traveling a lot faster than all the rest of the other team members and getting us a very nice sizable lead , some time around 1am Mark came in for a change over with myself now on my 9.8 mtr off out I went again and left Mark to visit the barbecue again ,by this time every time you completed a lap and passed the pits you could smell a Curry being cooked by Nick from team ( Pheonix Knights ) good tactics some might say making every one hungry .

Mark checked if I was ok after an hour as I passed the pits and I said yes I will carry on another 10 mins as mark needed to let his probably 3 burgers go down ( that bloke just can eat ) and Steve returned to the club house for a rest for an hour possibly some pain killers as he was beginning to ache now from the ejection earlier in the day , another 10 mins went by and I had to come back in my left leg was beginning to ache and get tired so I made a signal to mark and in I came for a rest, 2 cans red bull from our fridge and a burger , mark shot off out again around 230am to fly the last bit of darkness out as it was getting close to sunrise , Steve was back with us and fighting fit the wind had picked up slightly so in came Mark after a couple of hours and feeling tired and off out ( 5.30’ish ) shot Steve again after around an hour the wind began to drop quite a lot so Steve came in and Mark took over on is largest kite around 14 mtr Vapor by this time we were still in the lead but every one’s average was dropping now and all flying there biggest kites and traveling around 15kph , I was also out on my 12 mtr Yak on longer lines ( 30 mtrs ) to generate more pull and riding in my little buggy ( flexi foil ) hitting just over 15kph which was knocking my personal mileage up but I couldn’t quite keep up with mark so I knew he was doing well for our team.

I came back in and swapped my gps again back to my big buggy and went back out to Mark we must have been out for a couple of hours in total before I came in for a coffee and bar of chocolate , mark came in some 15 mins after for breakfast ( 7.30am ) has he must of smelled the bacon eggs & sausage so he topped up his appetite again while Steve went out to get some more time in but the wind was not strong enough for his 8mtr access but he plodded on in good style while me and Mark gathered our strength , we had got a good lead by now and a few teams were fighting for 2nd and 3rd place , Steve did his stint and returned back in for me to go out , and the wind was low but after last years episode ( NO WIND ) I decided again to head up to Hilbre Island and as I got there I could feel the wind picking up as it was blowing down the Estuary which was giving me a reach runs of nearly ½ kilometre there and back at a faster speed than the boys back down towards the pits , this lasted around 30 mins then the wind picked up and swung around to fully off shore and I could now see everybody else blasting up and down , so I headed back to the pits where I think Steve went out for a blast , I had a bacon sausage & egg bun around 9 am and checked my personal gps which read 381 kilometres.

I was buzzing and just wanted get back in my buggy and get 400k , Steve was struggling with aches and pains but did a fabulous job through it all for his first event and the last couple of hours were just shared amongst us all ,although I kept going myself to get that magical ( 400K ) I stopped at 11.45am just 10 mins before the end checked my total distance and I had completed 421 kilometres which is 261 miles 1051.1 yards , everyone was now close by for the last few minutes then up went the flag to signal last 2 mins then the chequered flag put up for everyone to land there kites and check in there last gps recording … we had won the HOYLAKE 24 HR as well as me breaking the British Solo Distance Record, I would like to thank the organizers for this great yearly event …

 



Jay aka jdh3515 358.88km

 

Had a brilliant weekend the wind was just how I like it strong and gusty!.

 

The 4m access is an amazing kite, works a treat as well with my Cougar 2, wouldn’t have anything else, its a beast of a buggy, even hitting the 52.9mph felt safe as houses.

 

With the distance record, I never went out to beat it, just that I was on my own on the beach and clocked up a few miles even though my runs were short. I was going to give in at 60 miles as I was suffering but hey no pain no gain so they say.

 

The cougar is a comfy buggy, no doubt the record wont stand long, and a big thanks to Shane and Sara for a surprise in the shape of a lamb roast! Man that was good well I am off to bed now, think I deserve a sleep.

 


Eric “MTwater” 355.00km

 

Refering to my new 355 km record in 24hrs, the following text may be published (and the 300km old record can be deleted).

 

During the 24 hrs 2011 SPO race, we encountered a lot of variable wind speeds…changing a 16.1 mtr Vapor to a 6.5 mtr ( and all sizes in between) in just 30 minutes.

During daytime, riding was pleasant and we kept a good pace.

Night time was a complete different story, pitch dark and rain.

I had to change kites twice because the kites got soaking wet and they did not fly well anymore.

I managed to find a relative quiet stretch of buggy without not too many buggiers around.
I tried to do my best as to stay away as far as possible from other buggiers because of the poor visibility during the night.

 

Daytime came and all of our team members did great during the night.

Although tired, I still enjoyed riding and was eager to ride as long and as fast as possible.

When the 24 hrs were over, our team finished 10th overall (the slowest Dutch team) and evaluation of our individual distances showed I did 355 km…. a new personal best.

Extremely tired but oh so happy, we packed our stuff and had another 10 hrs driving back to Holland.

 

Will I do it again ? oh yes….!

 

Eric “MTwater”


Mike aka Dreamwarrioruk 321.86km


There were 4 of us that started on the beach at bls at 7.15 Ukspeedtraps (Steve) Krazycarl (Karl), Shane and me (dreamwarrior) sand was dry with very few wet puddles, on the main drag run the surface was cut up from the Saturdays flying.
the wind was a steady 14/15mph with a few clouds. we all reset gps units and verified each others. I began my runs using the predator race buggy with midis flying the 5m blurr. Karl was with his big buggy and a 4m u turn. Steve on a flexi bug with midis with an 8m access and Shane had his Winddragon with a 6m access.


I did a few runs to get a feel for the wind and to check the best line to run then I went out for an hour. Found a line which was around 3/4 mile long pulling speeds constant up and down around the 35mph mark. (Karl was a bit higher than me)
I came in on the hour for a tea and cigarette break with Shane and Steve and to check equipment. My running average was 24.8mph at the start so I reckoned by dinner time I would be halfway to my target. Karl was out for 1/2 hour then had a tangle with Steve and snapped a line, Steve also cracked his visor and damaged his wrist after the obe. I carried on and pulled away distance wise.

 

Around 11 o’clock I came in on around the 84 miles. Karl followed in not too happy as his gps unit had reset adding the odd 3500 miles to his distance, as we had checked mileage on the previous run I knew he was 12 miles behind me. We reset his and carried on. The wind picked up for a while up to 20mph, so I dropped to the 3.5 for a bit. Karl was back on the 4m Uturn after taking the lines off the 5m. My average dropped down so I went back to the 5m with the bridle adjusted for stronger winds.

 

At around one o’clock I came in with a buggered bearing, thinking that’s me out as I didn’t have spares with me but thanks to Shane i was back flying within the hour.

 

Karl was having his own problems with his quick release letting itself go quite often. Around 3pm there was an incident on the beach that took out both Shane and Steve’s Accesses (not their own fault I may add) so they both dropped out of the running, Karl and me continued to rack up the miles and then the wind started to drop. Karl moved back onto the 4.9 race kite but not long after he had a leader line snap so he was back onto the 4m and started to loose speed, we were both doing the 35mph mark but the rolling average started to fall off.

 

At around 5pm we had clocked up around the 140 miles mark and I almost thought about quitting with it getting late with the wind dying on us. It also shifted position, which gave us a shorter run. Still we carried on

 

I was starting to get sore ribs and Karl was struggling with a hurting left knee. The last 20 miles was the hardest for me, I was working the 5m to keep up speed but my shoulders started to ache with this. I started to make some simple mistakes, dropping the kite behind me a few times and making errors on the tack turns. With hardly anyone left on the beach bar Karl and me, I finally limped back to base with exactly 200 on the gps and called it a night.

 

Karl came back and with the wind dropped down to 11mph we put up the 7.8m oxy to help him do that last14 miles or so. the wind dropped down to around 7mph and late on the evening he came back in with 128 on the gps which when added to the previous record also makes it 200 for him.

 

The averages had suffered we ended up around the 22.7/22.3 mark, but we had done that magical 200 miles.

We celebrated back at the campsite with a cold beer and a kebab, I went to take a photo of Karl’s gps and it had reset yet again 3750 miles on it.

mike


MT Water 300km

 

I buggied exactly 300 km in 11 hours (not meter more …).

Long weekend Les Hemmes, great weather and good wind.

Sunday early before (around 06:30 hr) and the first beach merged.

After 5 hours of driving were the first 150 km on it.
The following 6 hours of wear were a stroke: doorligplekken on my buttocks and wrists RSI at given time no more strength to the kite decent in the corner and send it (too) often must take steps to weather the kite off the ground turnips .
Drove Yakuza 4, 5 and 6.

Maybe in 2010 the bar at 400 km submit! (to blow it harder to bring the average up).