Another race weekend with the SPKA and another weekend of poor weather for racing.
Sandhead is approx 15mins drive from Stranraer and if the wind it blowing in the right direction you have approx 10 miles of beach to play on.
Most of the pilots headed down on Friday evening ready for a 9am start on Saturday. The forecast wasn't looking great but everyone was hopeful that things would change.
Saturday morning and everyone registered and met on the beach by 9:30am once they had built up their buggies and setup their wind shelters and tents.
There was wind and it was dry but there was also massive gusts coming off the land. We were told to head out for a practice around the course which Tom Arlott had setup for everyone and we would take a vote as to whether we felt it was a go-er.
After 30mins the pilots briefing was called and due to a number of factors, low sun making it difficult to see, high gusts and low lulls it would have been too dangerous to race. It was fine with one or two on the course but put 20+ pilots on the same course all aiming for the same markers, it was going to be too much.
The racing was cancelled on Saturday but a number of pilots jumped in to their buggies and went on safari to the other end of the beach. 2.5m and 3.0m kites were used while others took a couple of spare kites just in case the wind either picked up or dropped off or they had a need to replace the kite due to malfunctions / mishaps i.e. snapped lines, wet kite.
Owain headed off in the pack but gave up about 1/2 way along due to his 2.5 PKD Century luffing and landing in a wet patch, rather than get stuck 10 miles away from where he started he turned back since he didnt have a spare kite with him. Over an hour later Ped, who was one of the last to leave the pit area, was the first back after covering 20miles! Approx 10miles to the end of the beach and then 10 miles back. The rest of the group all made it back safely as well with huge grins on their faces, although all agreeing that the wind had picked up on the way home and was still very gusty.
Sunday was a non-starter. A change of location was agreed so a group headed to Port Logan but the beach was too small for racing on and quite a few rocks made it a dangerous location for a large group to use, it was then agreed to travel an hour up the road to Croy. The beach has potential but with snow forecast many of the pilots agreed that it wasn't going to happen so all made their way home.
A couple of pilots, Stuart Mackay and Bob Mitchell, stayed to try the beach out. A review will be posted on the website soon.
Although no racing was done it was still a good weekend and most people got out for a short buggy on Saturday.
The next event will be at St Andrews in January, lets hope for less gusty conditions and some good racing!
If you fancy giving kite buggy racing a go, visit the SPKA website for more information