1000km of Desert Buggying
Well not all in one go but yesterday, I knocked off my first 1000 kms for this year in my buggy.
In my youth, I used to fly sailplanes and every flight would be logged. Later, I joined the British Sub Aqua Club and became a sports diver. Every dive was logged.
Towards the end of last year, I thought why not log my buggying activity after all every time I venture into the desert I fix my GPS to the buggy’s down-tube. This is primarily for navigating or in the event something goes wrong & I need rescuing. It means I can phone my position to my Mrs. or friends.
This rescuing business is a rare occurance although last Thursday afternoon, I had a puncture. I rang the Mrs. who was taking it easy under a ghaf tree about 10 kms away. She hurt her leg on her quad about 2 weeks back & is giving it a rest. Next weekend, she will be OK.
Anyhow, she drove to my position where I could replace the wheel. Note that when buggying, I always have 2 or 3 spare buggy wheels in the car plus plenty of other spare bits.
I attach my log below. Note that I show the date as year, month & day simply for easy sequencing on the spreadsheet.
Moving time in buggy was about 50 hours for 1000 kms. Keep in mind that a lot of this takes place in sand dunes where speed control is more important than speed. i.e. I go slower.
Yesterday, I averaged over 30 kph because I did spend a lot of time on the sabkhas (flat desert plains). Most of the time this year, I was flying either my 4.9 or 6.5 Blade IV’s.
If you are wondering why I usually don’t spend more than a couple of hours moving in the buggy, it’s because the winds typically only arrive in the middle of the afternoon. As the sun starts dropping down around 6:00 pm, the winds drop right off.
Top speeds were made in my DB-1, which is a tight rigid buggy without suspension and not so comfy in the dunes as my UDB, which is more comfy & has suspension.