Helmet cam buggy footage

Here's another onboard buggy vid, but this one is shot with the new helmet cam I just got from Launch Helmet Cams. I got to 52.7kmh on this vid, but later in the day (after the camera tape had run out) I clocked 56+kmh :-)

More pain......

Ok, so there's been 1 day of decent wind here in a whole week or more. The day before had no wind at all, so we took the mountain board out to practice. End result, Michelle crashed and got a mild concussion. Mountain board 3 : Us 0.

On the single windy day, I spent about 5 hours on the water, trying out riding blind and trying to do handle-passes. I also botched a kiteloop, resulting in a reasonably heavy crash. So, I was pretty sore at the end of the day.

Next day, no wind again, so we took the mountain board out again. We went looking for a steeper hill to try to get some more speed happening. Michelle sat this one out though. So, after finding a 'suitably steep' hill (read: too steep for my skill level), I proceeded to spend the next 15 minutes or so falling on the ground in various ways, including one fall that was heavy enough to hurt my back again. Mountain board 4 : MrBonk 0. *sigh*

Mountain boarding

After finding such a good spot for the buggy, I decided to get hold of a mountain board to use with the kite. I got myself a Dirty Theory Blackhawk "S" and decided to give it a whirl out the back of my house where they're putting in a new road. There's a long, gentle slope there (basically the road they're putting in) which is still just that red volcanic dirt we get around here. So, with helmet, rollerblading knee pads and my wrist guards on, off I went. Not hard at all really, except I didn't expect the board to be so hard to slide. At the bottom of the hill, I leaned back and tried to push my back foot out. Wrong......the board just held its track and I fell on my arse, cutting my hand on the gravel. Mountain Board 1 : MrBonk 0.

There's another area across the road that they're using as a base for all the heavy equipment etc, and also where they're driving the trucks over and back from wherever they're getting all the dirt/soil/gravel/whatever they're using for this road. I could see a steeper hill over the back there, so I wandered over to give it a go. When I got there, the area at the bottom was badly churned up from the trucks, but the hill itself was pretty smooth, so I gave it a go. Half way down, picking up speed......uh oh, should have planned where I was gonna go at the bottom! I aimed for what appeared to be a reasonable flat bit, but when I hit it, it turned out to be a truck wheel rut and had been filled with loose gravel/dirt. The board pretty much stopped, but I didn't and ended up on my arse again. I landed heavily on my left 'cheek' that time, made the cut on my left hand even worse and cut my elbow. Mountain Board 2 : MrBonk 0.

I had a couple more runs and walked home :-)

Notes to self: Get some gloves. Get some elbow pads. Don't wear your work clothes when you go mountain boarding. It's gonna take a lot of soaking to get the red dirt out of my beige shorts....*sigh*

Kite buggy onboard video

Last Sunday, when the wind was too light to get in the water, we decided to take the kite buggy down to the beach on the Southern side of Woodgate. Turns out this is a great spot for it, so I grabbed the handycam and shot some footage onboard. Unfortunately, I had to hold the camera by hand and fly the kite with the other hand, which wasn't exactly ideal, but it still gives an idea of what it's like cruising along the beach :-)