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Cyclone_Ulli brought hurricane-force winds to the UK....

Tuesday, January 3 2012
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I had experienced riding in storm-force winds previously but nothing compared to this. The gusts were simply shocking! The maximum recommended wind speed for the 5m Best Waroo kite is around 34 knots (40 mph), but the kite was still performing "reliably" ( sketchy af ) in gusts over 70 knots (84 mph)

This storm pushed the outgoing tide back onto the beach, carving it up and creating shallow gullies that made it too dangerous for any speed runs. The buggy would bounce and aquaplane.

Sheeting the bar inwards by just a tiny amount would propel you forward and not giving enough power was borderline suicidal due to lack of steering response. A fine balance had to be found.

Travelling upwind was very hard work on both the arms and body. Moving in a close hauled direction, the kite was experiencing the base wind speed and the added buggy speed, up to about 100 mph wind force on the kite!

After only half an hour we called it a day. It was clear that with these surface conditions, no records would be broken, so therefore there was no point in risking life and limb by carrying on, but I felt I had won a small victory just by flying in those conditions and surviving.

A huge thanks to Cliff who gave up his day to help me out and film. There's was no way I'd feel safe out there alone, so could not have done it without him.

This is undoubtedly the most extreme thing I've ever done.

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