Buggy racing, again

I love the idea of having races, but the logistics are darn near impossible. My local beach, Southwick Beach State Park, on Lake Ontario is 50 miles away for me, the next closest buggy pilot is snowspider, I think his drive is similar, he just lives south of the park, and I live east. The next closest pilots are I think, stillflyin', BEC, and flyhighWNW. Best crowd of buggy's I've seen here was when me, snowspider, and stillflyin' got together one afternoon. This beach is quite narrow, with trees/dunes in play when the wind is off the water, so the only course is a down and back, maybe 3 miles or so, the main challenge would be passing or meeting the other buggies in the narrow space. I would love to be able to set up a race here, but to do it far enough ahead for others to make plans, and then have the wind turn out right would be just too much luck. That said, wind today is predicted WSW at 20-gusting to 30, with mostly sunny conditions in the high 60's! Guess where I'm headed? :evil:

been there done that..... I used to promote organized racing events in a different sport..... you could not pay me enough to do it again (well I lie, if you paid me more than I currently make at all my jobs then maybe )... some of these events NABX, JIBE, etc. may pull enough people to have some type of race but I bet the problem may be finding people to give up their fun to run the event, too much work and too much drama trust me. I like the path that this sport is headed... you have those like me who are pushing to reach personal milestones in speed, those who push their limits in freestyle and then there are the purist that just like to sail. nothing wrong with a spur of the moment race with friends when the conditions present themselves either

I am all for racing. The beauty with this sport is that we can have both, racing as well as fun laid back cruising. There is very little reason that an event cant host both and still not infringe on one or the other.

As far as sponsorship, count me in. I am all for it.

Unfortunately we have to have rules. Without rules we don't have racing, just arguments. Rules define the outcome of certain possibilities that cause confusion. Rules also provide safety and information to those that don't know. Every established racing organization has a published set of rules that must be followed, mostly for safety, the rest for competitiveness and fairness.

Personally I don't care if it is NABX (we don't need no stinking rules) rules or if it is Fisly rules or if it is a modification of both put together. As long as the rules are posted, we can race. When issues come up, we amend the rules to fit our needs.

Racing can be a fun and exciting thing to add to our sport. It is not ever going to replace what we already have, just enhance another aspect of it. I would love to race.....doubt I would beat anyone, but I would still love to get out there and see how I do against some of the best in our sport.

There are always going to be those that snub their noses towards racing.....fine with me, if you don't want to race then don't. Most all venues have more than enough room for you to do your own thing while those that want to race can do theirs. Or there will be events that are geared specifically towards racing. If you don't want to race then that is probably an event you won't want to attend.

NABX, SOBB, DBBB and WWBB will always be there and (afik) will not be changing so the people who love those events the way they are can still attend and have all the fun they have always had. Racing events will either enhance those staple events (if the organizers wish) or they will create their own events at other times to accommodate the people who want to compete.

I don't see racing as something that will ever change our sport, but something else that will enhance it for the ones that want to do so.

My opinion is always worth exactly what you paid for it.

Buggy on dudes!

I'm all for racing. I highly doubt I would participate but I'm in favor of anything that may help the sport grow. I'm with chris when it comes to simply going fast with friends for myself but seeing some races on US soil might even bring a bit more support from overseas brands as well. Just a thought

itd be sweet to race, but with so few venues in the US, and the small number of pilots, its hard to make a circuit for a season.

Ive talked at length with people about doing time trials at certain locations, shipwreck run at jibe was how it started. Time, verified by gps could be posted for certain places, and the "winner" would simply be the current "fastest". Courses could be agreed upon at each location, and when you wish to "compete", go there, run it, post your gps and time, and once its vetified, bam! Bonus points for hitting X amount of venues per season.

Even talked about doing triathalon style races, buggy/board/surf. But,it,still goes back to a solo timed race.

The timed runs would fix the "not enough pilots" & "i cant make it that day" problems most of us face, but still give us a chance to test ourselves, and if need be, gloat at some of our slower competitors *cough cough mouglCOUGH!

Slower? Brother you'd be too busy recovering from OBEs and broken spreader bars to top my time!

Im sorry mougl.... I cant hear you over the sound of my sooper hooj cajones being amazing as all hell!

I was too busy kicking arse with 27 sq meters of kites in the air to pay attention to your rollover on a, what was it, 9m kite?



May be time for the "Rum Punch" to don the pink skirt!

14m ty. I could have been on a 2m dual line and made the run there and back faster than you waiting for a tow back to camp

Love your "tow of shame line" bro!

Maybe I should just give it up and pilot a blokarr ;-)

Lmao! We better stop now.... Cant veer another thread this week!


So time trials? Good / Bad idea?

Here is the only racing I enjoy the most Click here @1:20 to 2:30 what a kick a$$ time! Not to pimp the video but rather to give you the vibe, best shipwreck run with my Brother Rich... too bad your GoPro was the fail in the end lol

I think the biggest problem here is that the west coasters got LARGE areas of nowhere to ride and race . And that is how they do their thing.
And us east coasters don't have dry lakes,or very large open spaces. Our undeveloped land is TREES and WATER. So we have to ride on the beach,which is where everyone else and there brother wants to be there too. That means we would have to deal with municipalities that really are only motivated by potential revenue. The "monster truck" show brings out alot of people. That is worth shutting down a beach for. Us, not so much ,yet. So ,they will look at us with that raised brow and say "NO". My point is we have two very different ways of buggying. And two very different ways of viewing the future of the sport.

What do we do about it ? I don't know. I'm just gonna pay my dues and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpoY_Bs8Wy4 ....................................

Quote: Originally posted by chris

IMO, racing is not the first step to growing the sport. Besides, I rather enjoy running fast with all my fellow kiters, without the drama and work that racing brings. We don't need no stinkin' rules.

ditto