Decided Date 10th August 2012...

UPDATE 09/08/12

Due to lack of forcasted wind this is being postponed until Saturday 11th August, when the wind is forecast to return!

For the last year it has been playing on my mind to try to bring the U.K. solo kitebuggy distance record to Scotland, this is currently "only" 277 miles in a 24hr period.

Couple of weeks ago I posted this....

"May I ask a favour.....only some of you will do it, and I know who you possibly are. If you know someone who fought a battle with cancer and passed away, or someone who is still fighting, (or someone in remission)... please add this to your status for 1 hour as a mark of respect and remembrance ♥"

....onto my Facebook page and a friend commented that instead of just posting links, why didn't I do some fundraising... That was the Kick in the @rse that moved my daydreaming into what will hopefully soon become reality.

If I don't beat the UK distance record then so be it, there's always another chance, but I know I will, with YOUR help yes you, the one reading this, THANK YOU!!, have raised some money for a very worthwhile charity.

My Mother has been fighting an ongoing battle with cancer for more years than I care to remember and is currently in remission from non hodgkins lymphoma (long may this state continue). It is, I believe, due to the work that Cancer Research UK has done and is still doing that this is possible.

So... still more planing is needed, when will the tides be at there best? is this going to coincide with a clear night with a full(ish) moon? and a prayer to the weather gods for South Easterly winds and no rain....

I'm certain that I have a 'support crew' for this challenge, in the shape of family and freinds, what is now playing on my mind, would anymore kiters like to join in, preferably with the fundraising or just for the fun of it.....

More home work to be done, more to be added here as things start to come together............

 

Ok... so after thought, deliberation and tide tables.....  On the 10th August 2012 I'm going to start to kite buggy (wind permitting) for as far as I physically can within a 24 hour period.

The Venue for this will be Luce Bay, near Stranraer on the South West coast of Scotland. Its a nice big beach with no kiting restrictions, so if any of you kiters reading this fancy a visit to play, lend moral support or even join me for a mile or two, please do....

Ideal conditions for the record would be dry with a nice 15mph south easterly wind to make full use of the bay, 7miles there and 7miles back.  Next best would be a north westerly. 

For the sake of rasing funds I would just like the wind to be blowing.

Keep coming back I'm sure to be adding more here......

25/6/2012

WOW............. huge thanks to those that have donated already... I know that i'm raising money for a very good cause so that helps alot, but  £162 including the Gift Aid thing, in just a few weeks.... THANK YOU ALL!! 

Just been doing a bit of maths..

If I were to travel at an average speed of 17.31MPH for 16hrs then I have equalled the record.

If, and a BIG IF it is, I aim for 300miles, then in the same 16hrs, I'd need to average 18.75MPH. Which isn't a crazy speed, just a gentle cruise.

I do hope that the wind is kind and that I can actually remain moving for longer than 16hrs..... 

A review of the events

The Plan:  Part 1           To raise money for Cancer Research UK.

     Part 2          To break the UK 24hr Solo Distance Record.

 

The Location                Sands of Luce

 

The Support Crew        Deborah King, Janet King, Vince King, Martin Smith, Ruairidh Munro, Shaun Almond and passing visits from Stuart Mcgougan.

 

 

At around 9.30 on the 12 of August 2012. I uncomfortably rolled myself out of

my buggy after 202 miles and uttered the words “never again”.

 

But that is the end of this tale.

 

Several Months ago I posted one of those ‘share this link if you know of someone affected by cancer’ type links on facebook, to get a response to the effect of stop posting useless links and do some fund raising. Oh here we go…. For reasons that will become apparent here, that annoyed me!

 

It had been flittering about my tiny brain to try to bring the UK record to Scotland for quite some time and this was the shove I needed.

 

Now, how to do this with enough notice to raise some money, Pass me the tide tables please…..

 

Need neep tides so there’s still beach at high water…..

 

June, oops that’s last weekend,

 

July, 2 weeks is a bit short notice to raise money and part of the support crew can’t make that weekend.

 

August 10, 11 and 12 really small tides, all of those who’d like to help can make it and a good few weeks to gather money for the worthy cause of Cancer Research UK. Lets do it then.

 

Time moves on, the nagging doubts progress, we all know that tides can be predicted to the minute, BUT weather… well lets hope the wind gods smile!!

 

2 August, looks like Summer has finally arrived and a big high pressure system has settled over the UK, and broken the wind. Watching the weather becomes a bigger obsession than usual. More doubts about the wisdom of this venture. Still the fund raising is going well J.

 

Oooh!! The high pressure promises to begin to move in the early hours of the 11  with forecasted S.E. 14-17 MPH    PLEASE…. As much as we’re enjoying the calm hot weather go on, Get lost, bring the wind back!!

 

I should mention that due to the lack of wind I haven’t had the opportunity to get in the buggy and totally de-bug it( this proves to be a painful mistake)

 

We’re on the sand by 9.30 on the 11 August with mixed feelings and high hopes, the promised wind hasn’t arrived fully, although it is blowing in the right direction its only 10-12mph but feeling like it should be blowing harder (we all know those warm winds that have no density to them)

 

Let’s try on a few kites, it has been suggested that LEI and de-power was the way to go, So I opted for a borrowed 7.5 Takoon Wook(thanks Sands of Luce Jack). In hindsight this wasn’t the best of choices tho.

 

Its 11.30 now and I decided that GO would be 11.45.

 

Two GPS reset, photos taken…Sitting in my buggy listening to my Father(Vince) counting down….. then go, GO, GO Dive kite, pull in bar and it starts, slowly up the beach(maybe too slow, I can always change the kite….) Beach feels in good condition one or two soft spots but nothing that bad and a bonus, no surf craters on the line I want.

 

First length up the beach, this is slow and harder work than it should be, my left(downwind) leg is slightly fizzy, damn that harness.

 

It’s a fight around the bay, Ruairidh is out there too, with a 6.5 method and Martin’s somewhere under a kite(it later turns out that he 360’d his Cougar 2.5 in a big puddle and injured a shoulder, there endeth his plan to kite 170miles= to him getting home.)

 

Roors has caught me up as I turn to come back, mayhaps I should change kite, back down to base bar pulled in, that’s better, the speed is coming up, I’ll keep this one a while longer. Now the fizziness is leaving for my right leg(again the downwind side) this isn’t a big problem because at the turn, pressure shifts and circulation returns( ‘may the fizz be with you’, HA! I’m loosing it after 10miles)

 

I think I did 4 lengths of the beach before I called to Shaun(brother-in-law) to set up my 7.5 Brooza as I trundle back up the bay.

 

 

 

First pit stop, check GPS and… bugger, one of them has shut down after only 10miles, I’m NOT resetting them and starting again, hopefully only one will suffice to record this thing. Drink, hug from my gorgeous wife(Deborah) and a chocolate lime posted into my mouth, off again this time with the Brooza, much better up the beach, a lot further round the bay before I feel I’m moving too slowly to be useful(and left leg is too fizzy to feel the footpeg) and turn. YEAH! this is better, I feel that it can be done(no Idea how quick I’m traveling or how far I’ve gone because the angle of the GPS makes it unreadable whilst I’m in the buggy.)

 

Up and Down, Down and Up and so it continues, another couple of hours pass, nature calls, pitstop, drink, pasty, hug, 70ish miles(what time for hot food asks my Mother(Janet)) I say around 6ish, high water time and I’ll stop to doze too(that never happened) another chocolate lime(great to remove the taste of salt water and sand) and off again.

 

This BLOODY harness, fizzy is becoming painful… and what is poking me in my left ribs… once up and back, stop!!!  Ahh Ha!! The seat has shifted and a buckle has moved to prog me, need more padding, there’s a foil roll mat in the van, that’s stuffed into the back of the seat, cable tied on and harness shuffled. ( Hugged and chocolate limed, how many other wives would be mad enough to spend this long on a beach?? )

 

That’s better, nothing poking me, still a little fizziness but its not pain anymore.

Up and down, down and up….

 

 

Food break, a ‘chucky in’ stew amazing how good a few tins of veg, and tinned meat can taste. I’m too wired to want to catnap

 

Oh 110miles and a battery change for the GPS

 

Has the wind dropped…??? OH £^%* yes,  

Out comes the 8.3 cooper, Hug, Chocolate Lime from Deb, Away we go again, the Cooper couldn’t have been on better behavior(thank fully). After another mile or 20 the wind picks up a touch(powering up the cooper, great if this was a race, but its not, it’s a stay safe, steady and go for as long as possible) so down to the 7.5 Brooza,

Deb is there again J hugs and chocolate limes, and off ‘til dusk settles, Roors tells me that as I pulled up he couldn’t see me in the gloom and decides to call it a night, it’s not safe to be shadowing me up and down the bay anymore.

 

There follows 45mins to an hour of fitting lights(thanks Roors) and Martin and Vince heading up the bay with the Xtrail laying out a line of glowsticks, with me tying smaller glow sticks to the Brooza lines and dropping them into cells.

 Ready, set, NO… the wind is up, more than I’d thought, launch the Brooza and levitate a little, daylight this would be perfect power but in the dark….. Down size to a 4.4 Buster soulfly(thanks Martin) and away we go(after hugs and chocolate lime), slowly up the line of green glowing things, fizzy downwind leg and it’s around ¾ of a mile to the turn slowly!! Turn and quickly back down to base and turn, S L O W L Y back up. I see a problem I’m not getting equal time on each leg to even out the fizziness. ‘Martin can I borrow your Quadrafoil harness ‘cos this scrub is killing me’, QR and pully swapped over, strapped in and Away again, (Hugged and Limed, what would I do with out her?)

 

OH!! And why haven’t we done this nightbuggying thing before, it’s a little scary, but FUN.

 

 

The wind is still building, (somewhere in this I drop the buster and manage to totally mess up the bridle and end up taking the left powerbridle apart at the gather to fix it) up the bay is getting easier, down to base is getting faster, it soon gets too fast and self preservation(cowardice) kicks in. There is now only my parents awake, and each time I call into the pits my father appears as if by magic, to catch the kite and sand it down(I’m missing my hug and chocolate lime). Also at some point in the night I break the zip on my drysuit, not a problem because the night course has no water on it. Down to a 2m Flow, It’s slow up and down but miles are still miles. Batteries fail in lights so buggy mounted lights go, (battery change for GPS too) in favour of a really bright head torch.

 

The wind drops again so its back to the 4.4 as dawn breaks WOW does that look good!!!

 

There’s now enough light to try to cross the streams, NOT nice, that’s cold thru that busted zip and I’m tired, a little(in truth a lot) sore and this kite just isn’t quite cutting up the beach. Back down to base and stop, 195miles, I’m disappointed I wanted 200 at dawn, however I have buggied right thru the night, that feels like an achievement. Deb is up again and I get a most welcome/needed hug. I have to sleep………… ½  an hour in the back of the van and everything has changed, I feel like death, the natural high has faded, the wind has shifted, it starts to rain, the rain clears a little The wind is blowing 16-21mph and I try again with the 4.4buster( I’m too tired to remember that it has NO upwind ability) get in the buggy work the kite with all I have left and NOTHING I don’t even move….. there’s still 4 ½ hrs left….

 

 OH F*^% IT ALL……. I’ve had enough!!!

 

I feel truly gutted, in fact I feel a shared sense of fatigue and failure from everyone there with me, it has been a long night, even for those who did manage to catch a little sleep.

 

We slowly begin to put all the spare kites away, QR and Pully back onto the scrub(this was a mistake) and I climb into an Immersion suit(which my lovely wife parted with as this had been her ‘sleeping bag/cold beach protection’) over the busted drysuit to keep warm.

 

We stand and natter, curse the wind shift, eventually the cloud of negativity begins to lift a little, could I change tactics, cruise down the beach to the village and tack back up to base…. Will the tide drop back quick enough to give the beach space?? Can 200 be reached?? Oh I want it but….

 

A couple of kitesmurfers set up and begin to play, they struggle to get upwind on 12m+ weapons, How fed up are we all, standing here so close, but still not there.

 

Then up the beach strides Stu Mcgoo, (Scotland’s top race pilot) bright, chirpy, not spent the night on a beach(get the picture?). ‘you can get 200, don’t you want the 200’

He notices what we hadn’t, the ‘smurfers were getting up wind, words to the effect ‘if they can do it, a foil will cut up the beach’ maybe a 4m, my blade is discarded, too big a gust range.

 

‘How about a Method’ says Roors.

 

I’m wrecked and deflated and negative…..

 

The said Method appears and Stu flies it edge to edge of the window, would you look at that, just enough to edge up the beach….

 

I climb back into the scrub harness, (get hugged and limed, talk about understated, but much needed support) hook into the Method and slowly head up the beach, hard work??

 

 You can bet your sainted Aunt!!

 

Cross the streams

and the bay widens, I can start to pick a faster/easier reach, This harness is really deadening my left leg, fizz to numb to OUCH!!! Remember I said I can’t read the GPS….. I dash back and forth for as long as I can bear the pain and head back to base.

 

I can’t land the kite, Martin catches it, Roors takes the handles off me and I squeeze out of a very snug bug, laying feet on forks head on back axle and stop, waiting for some circulation to return…

I roll onto the sand and stop a bit more, GPS is checked 202, That’ll do, there is still time on the clock, but there’s nothing left in me!!

 

 Its August 17, 2012 and I’ve had time to analyze, It wasn’t totally the harness, the shape of a chameleon seat in a ‘flydad’ custom buggy didn’t quite work, it nipped in near the top of my thighs, the extra bulk of harness combined with this was the problem, add more bulk of the immersion suit and OUCH!!!

 

I’m not saying ‘Never Again’ just next time it’ll be a pick the tides, if the wind is right then I’ll try again.

 

 I WILL never again say this is the Date and try on that day, weather is just too unpredictable.

 

Huge Thanks to those who spent the whole time on the sand, without them I could not have done this.

 

To Anyone thinking of trying, go for it( just make sure that EVERTHING fits perfectly not just for a couple of hours, you’ll need at least 6hours constant buggying to iron out the bugs), it is a fantastic sense of self achievement.

 

We’ve not had a final count of funds raised, some sponsor forms aren’t back in but at the time of writing the total raised is over £400.

 

 

Many thanks for taking the time to read my ramblings

 

Iain aka flyinchef

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