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What a week it was

My annual spring trip to the Mojave Desert this year was as adventurous and magical as ever! Aaron Heffelfinger and I returned home after the Snowkite Master's event in Skyline UT with only three days to get packed and prepare for the journey to the North American Buggy Expo. We scrambled like mad to get everything done...borrow a trailer to haul a load of buggies & gear and a Peter Lynn Kite Boat out there with the ability to haul two back...get caught up on the "real world" stuff before we hit the road again...etc., etc., etc.. Nothing seemed to be going right and everything that we did seemed to fall apart soon after. Finally, Thursday morning, March 24th, time to get in the truck and GO. Started the truck, I turned to Aaron, "Well, you know what Dave would say, 'if we forgot it...we'll buy it!'"...and off we went.

An eleven hour drive brought us to the City of Sin where we were to pick up a friend at the airport before we headed to the pre-event at El Mirage. We arrived at dean jordan and Dave Culps house at about 2am to find that Dave headed home (the bay area) for the weekend and we found the rest of dean's house guests with drinks in hand waiting up for us to arrive. A quick "G'Day" to Peter Lynn and then.....aaaaahhhhhhh my hug from Meg Albers that I soooo looked forward to! After the last three days of sheer mayhem, it was nice to finally be with our family!

Discussion of lakebed conditions was first on the menu when we woke up. Word was that Elmers was still a bit wet, but buggieable on the NorthWest end and at last check, Superior was completely DRY! After a day or so buggying on our corner of the lakebed, Fran Gramkowski called and told us he was going out to check out Superior once again. Since Superior is in the middle of NOWHERE, we agreed that if we didn't hear back from Fran, it meant that it was dry. An hour or so later, the phone rang...bummer! Superior is once again wet. We quickly learned that just because a lakebed was dry yesterday and there hasn't been any rain doesn't necessarily mean that a change in wind direction couldn't flood it again.

Sunday morning, "No sense in hanging around here...let's head toward Ivanpah!!!" Never have we been so excited to leave the pre-event behind for the "bings and bongs" of Primm NV. So, our little caravan of gear-filled trucks and trailers toped with Kite Boats hit the road. We arrived on Ivanpah that afternoon to find many of our friends already there! dean introduced us to Richard Jenkins from UK who was heading up the Wind Jet project. They built the most high tech land sailer I have ever seen in an effort to obtain the wind powered world speed record. Monday, the wind was kickin solid around 35mph and we watched as Richard piloted his craft to nearly 100mph in a cloud of dust powered by Ivenpah's high-octane sailboat fuel. We buggied the sunset session with plans of Lake Mojave for the next two days!

Lake Mojave is one of the desert's best kept secrets. It's found on the Colorado river on the boarder between Nevada and Arizona. The 45min drive from Ivanpah is breathtaking! It takes you completely around the lakebed with a birds eye view followed by an enchanting jaunt through a Joshua Tree forest! In looking at the scenery you wouldn't think there was water for a thousand miles, then you pop up over a hill to find a giant turquoise body of fresh water.

Six Mile Cove was already buzzing with kitesurfers and the wind was blowing perfectly! Peter's challenge was for us to have his kite in the air by the time he had his wetsuit on and one boat unloaded (what a way to get people to do things for you!). Splash! He was in the water and speeding across the desert lake in no time. Aaron quickly followed on a board and Scott Skinner on his newly purchased Kite Boat.

The wind blew beautifully both days! Charles "A.J." Jackson and Peter Lynn even successfully logged the worlds longest expedition by more than one KiteBoat (unofficially) by completely crossing Lake Mojave and kiting into Arizona. Everyone that tried the KiteBoat was amazed at their speed, ease of use and extreme stability! Way to go Peter! Once again you've changed the world!

Meanwhile, things were crackin back at the event site. The Hanging Tree was filled with talk of buggy speeds in excess of 60mph and Gabe Shortman throwing it down on a landboard showing us what is possible in the air with nothing but hard playa under you.

The blaring sun through our hotel window woke me up Thursday morning. I looked out to find the giant American Flag outside Buffalo Bills pegged strait out. "YEEEEHAAAA!", I exclaimed, "The wind's blowing, the sun's shining...let's go!". My old, bald Kiwi roommate barely budged from his comatose sleep. I've come to learn that he refuses to get out of bed for any reason before 9:30. Oh well, he'll find his way out there. We hit the lakebed, buggied for a few hours, then as the gusty wind smoothed out in the afternoon, dean started to organize a Circuit Race. Many of the long-time, hard core racers loved our laid back approach to the pre-race meeting. The course was drawn out on the side of a cardboard box, a few simple guidelines were mentioned with very few concrete "rules" and everyone was sent off to get ready for the start of the first heat. I scrambled around and helped several others get their gear together and kites launched. Loaned out all of my buggies and kites to eager racers, looked around and didn't seem too disappointed about not racing as I have never just watched. The start of every heat was a spectacular site. Like a swarm of bees around the starting line as the countdown begins. You can feel the tension as the start gets nearer...3, 2, 1, GO!!! Everyone blasts through the start line, charging the course and trying to avoid getting tied up with anyone else. After five intense heats, Peter Lynn came out victorious pulling ahead of the pack in every race on his new NABX Edition Buggy. Once again, the old guy shows us how it's done. The final results for the top six:
1st Peter Lynn - 8m PL Venom
2nd Richard Ridgeway - 3m Jo Jo
3rd Chris Shultz - 2.5m New Tech
4th Elton Thanh - Ozone
5th Aaron Heffelfinger - 6m PL Phantom
6th Claxton Thompson -

Friday, again, brought more wind. Many people embarked in a tandem buggy ride in the Dave Kennedy designed Out-n-back rear steer buggy. It was inspired by the hook and ladder steering system found on some fire trucks. This opens up a whole new dimension in buggy tandem rides because the passenger has total control of where they are behind the pilot! Later in the afternoon, Mike Jura started preparing the food for the banquet. As the sun set we held a sort of sneak preview of the Pimp Your Buggy event to be judged the following morning. Many of the participants paraded their buggies through the crowd displaying everything from Marti Gras beads, to glow sticks to an extravagant prickly Zip-Tie creation by Scott Skinner and Jose Sainz. All of the buggies were displayed in the giant tent while the night's entertainment and prize give-away came underway. Peter's famous "around the table without touching the ground" was attempted by many. We even had a professional magician amongst us who showed us some very clever ways to take knots out of your kite lines. Later, the food was served and everyone chowed down on Mike's amazing cooking. I heard one person comment, "This beats the hell out of any meal I've had all week in the casinos!".

Saturday morning's winds were calm. A perfect time to judge the Pimp Your Buggy contest. A few more surprise entrants showed up and we learned that we hadn't seen nothin' yet! The crowd gathered. It reminded me of a top notch low-rider show. All of the artists stood by their creation while the head judge, Aaron Heffelfinger addressed them individually. Each proud buggy owner went over every detail and modification they had made as the crowd jockeyed for position to get the best view. Everyone stood quietly in disbelief as we moved from buggy to buggy. Dave Sabilino explained how he gets that amazing chrome-like shine out of his buggies. Dave LeVeck had an impressively clean and slightly modified "Vintage" Peter Lynn buggy showing us some examples of early buggy design. But the clear winner was Larry Lindler with his completely home made buggy and tandem attachment. This thing had so many bells and whistles, I don't even know where to start...a shiny purple paint job, working brake lights, running lights and head lights, an intercom system for the pilot and passenger to communicate, almost all of the wiring ran internally through the frame, sweetly mounted speedometer, digital compass and weather station displaying everything down to the time and date, the most amazing seats each woven out of half-inch thick webbing....it just went on and on! Not only was Larry's buggy a work of art, but it was completely working and practical in every way! I can't wait to see what these guys come up with next year!

The wind stayed fairly light most of the day Saturday, but picked up to a steady 10-12mph later in the afternoon, perfect to hold the Landboard and Buggy Freestyle Competitions. The riders entered in the landboard competition gathered for a meeting and we all agreed that it would be best to simply set up the jumps, go ride and judge ourselves later when the wind died. Every year the talent grows exponentially in this event. Many of the riders were throwing tricks most wouldn't even dream of trying on the water! Eric Stone from Hatteras shows us the possibilities with his aggressive style and the occasional kite loop. Gabe Shortman was a usual focal point of many of the photographers with his smooth fluid style with spins, grabs and even board off tricks. Young Christoph Riddle had all the veterans on their toes displaying amazing technical tricks both on and off the jumps, even successfully landing a handle pass!! That night all of the riders voted on their picks for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. Gabe and Christoph were neck and neck for points earned as I tallied the votes, we knew it would be close. After the final ballot, they were exactly tied for 1st with Eric Stone in 3rd. Thanks to Ground Industries and Windzup for donating the awesome 1st place prize, a brand new Ground Board! Gabe immediately jumped up and offered the board to Christoph, and leave the results in a tie for 1st.

For the Freestyle Buggy event we had David Sabilino! Voted by the other riders as taking first place with his stylish moves.

Christoph Riddle would have come in first with his amazing high speed moves, but he along with the others voted Dave first, so he gets second.

In Third, though this was a close race for sure, was Elton Thanh busting super high moves and spins off the ground in his buggy.

Fourth was Eric Marchand. All in all it was an amazing event and very difficult to judge, as everyone has their own style, and shows it aggressively. Still, the riders broke the tie and that says it all.

Sunday we once again woke up to good wind! This never happens at an organized event. dean and I began to organize a nother circut race, but noticed that everyone was having such a great time just cruising we decided to call it a "chill-out" day to wrap things up.

I've been making this annual trip to the desert for several years now. This was hands down the best one yet! I can't imagine anyone missing out on this one. There's a reason why people travel from all over the world to attend! Start making your plans now for next year...you can be sure that I am!

Blake Pelton