As much as yesterday had huge winds today had...well, none! So we sat and chatted and applied sunscreen and lept up for every rare and random puff. I had my 5 metre Beamer at the ready to catch even a hint of movement in the air. There were a few times I got a couple of minutes of static flying in but that was mostly a tease.
The sun was out, the temperature in the ;ow 20's and the company was good, so waiting for wind wasn't too tough. The buggies were a patient lot.
And then, when we'd all about packed it in...the wind came and it came with gusto.
No more time for causal photos, we all ran for our kites, a few experienced fliers got almost immediately turfed as they misjudged the sudden and unexpected strong winds. I grabbed my smallest buggy engine, the 3.4 NPW (Nasa Power Wing) on its short lines and postively blasted across the hardpacked lake bed. The speed was more than I was comfortable with and so after a few very fast runs, I took a break to watch the blokarts, mountain boards, coyote roller blades and every manner of buggy zip back and worth in a celebration of wind power.
As the late afternoon moved closer towards dusk the winds settled down a little and I again gave the NPW a try, this time feeling a little more in control and a little less like a slightly mad woman on the edge of calamity. After a ton of really fun runs on the playa, Ken wrestled the shortline kite out of my hands and coached me into flying his 2.5 Profoil kite saying I was 'ready for a regular kite now'. I had a good run with the gentle foil until the wind dropped even more and we were forced to call it a day, pack up and head to the BBQ hosted by Ska Beer and HQ kites. Not a bad day for my second day on the playa.
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