Round 4 of the Scottish Power Kite Association kite buggy race championship took place at St.Andrews over the weekend of the 28th and 29th January. After two non events due to lack of wind everyone was eager to get some serious racing done and get 2012 off to a flying start.
After meeting up with Pete Buchan and Richard Todd we loaded the kit into the van and got on the road from Fraserburgh at about 3pm. The plan was to meet Dave Thorne in Leuchars where he had kindly arranged a house as our base for the weekend. Unfortunately Dave got held up in traffic in Aberdeen so we stopped off to pick up supplies for the weekend and had a quiet beer or two.
Saturday morning dawned windless and frosty. I surprised myself by getting out of bed early and cooking bacon and egg rolls for everyone before we headed to the beach. On arriving at St.Andrews we found all the other racers there and setting up together with Joost who had come over from Belgium to race with us for the weekend. There was a light off-shore breeze so we headed onto the beach where a course was set. Unfortunately the wind was below the minimum 8mph required to race so we spent the day catching up with folk and flying kites whenever the wind permitted.
On Saturday evening we headed for a meal and a few beers with Iain and Debs, Bob, Joost and Tom. Joost and Tom were keen to sample the delights of a Saturday night out in St.Andrews so with Bob as their host headed off into town after the meal. The rest of us headed back to the house for a few more beers and plenty of banter.
On Sunday morning after bacon and egg rolls, we arrived at the beach to find a steady cross on-shore wind. There was no delay in getting kit organised and ready to race as 23 race pilots headed onto the beach.
In all we managed 3 full races of 20 minute duration each before the tide chased us off the beach. Maggie had a storming day with her XXRacer using Ozone Yakuzas, finishing in the top ten in every race. I struggled in the first race with the light wind and got caught up in a number of tangles but still managed to finish in eleventh place. Race 2 and 3 were better for me as the wind began to steadily increase and I managed to hold onto 10th position in both races using my 6.5m Ozone Method. Overall that meant I finished just outside the top 10, in 11th place.
Probably the most impressive performance of the day has to be from Pete Buchan who had 3 storming races on his Flexifoil Blurr to finish 7th in races 1 and 2 and 8th in race 3, putting him in 8th place overall and 1st place in the 16” wheel class. Well done Pete.
Full results from the weekend's racing can be viewed here. Video of the races can be seen here.
The next SPKA event will be at Fraserburgh on the 3rd & 4th March where I’m sure competition will be fierce as everyone fights for a top 10 position in order to qualify to represent Scotland at this year's World Championship in France.
More information about the next event in Fraserburgh will be posted soon.
