Kite Powered Landboarding?

vikb · Post by **vikb** » Mon May 04, 2009 7:02 am

Bob wrote:Um, no. You're supposed to do it outside the fucking fence. Can't you fucking read?

Look I've talked to quite a few people and that just doesn't seem to be the case in practice. If you really think an event with 50,000 people is going to be run in strict adherence to a few sentences on a website I think you are being grossly simplistic.

Nobody is suggesting ignoring the rules completely or having a "fuck off the rest of you attitude". The rule about kite powered vehicles has a purpose and based on what I'm hearing from the folks I've talked to there seems to be a compromise that takes place on the playa to keep everyone safe and happy without being ridiculously draconian for no purpose other than to be a slave to the rules.

So as I said I'll talk to the DMV and the rangers before doing any kite boarding inside the fence. If they say absolutely not I'll be fine with that. If OTOH they say - technically it's against the rules, but we are cool with it in a certain area or under certain conditions than I'll make sure to respect the practical agreement in place.

If that still makes you angry and you feel the need to be insulting - go for it. You fall into one of the categories of people I don't spend a whole lot of energy worrying about.

Namaste,

Vik

ygmir · Post by **ygmir** » Mon May 04, 2009 8:02 am

a new sport:

Kite board tennis..........

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Mon May 04, 2009 10:10 am

FWIW the rule is mostly based on a single incident in 1998 in which a drunk asshole ran a fifty-foot long two-ton steel land yacht into a large piece of funded art. But once the Rangers started writing a rulebook to address the issue, they ended up banning mostly-harmless vehicles eg kite buggies, rather than banning all those stupid discotheque buses and other rolling death traps too large to safely operate.

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Mon May 04, 2009 11:18 am

Everything gets abused sooner or later.
Then everything becomes illegal.
Until we rip it all down and start over again.

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Mon May 04, 2009 11:31 am

Back in '97 I built a landsailer using an axle from a Ford Festiva that actually *did* have brakes, but it wouldn't conform to the current rules because I couldn't clean and jerk the thing over my head.

gaminwench · Post by **gaminwench** » Mon May 04, 2009 12:29 pm

vikb - the Department of Tethered Aviation folks could give you some valuable info - they fly HUGE kites on the playa, they also have some awesome kite buggies they bring out. I do know that when they get a lot of kites in the air, or a LARGE one, there are people on the ground running interference for the lines, keeping a safe perimeter. Look for/pm Regyna Longlank...

dragonfly Jafe · Post by **dragonfly Jafe** » Mon May 04, 2009 1:33 pm

gaminwench wrote:...I do know that when they get a lot of kites in the air, or a LARGE one, there are people on the ground running interference for the lines, keeping a safe perimeter...

this is timeless advice for ANYONE doing ANYTHING dangerous on the Playa - perimeter security. If you have an adequate perimeter that is competently staffed, you can get away with a LOT more than if you do not. Show that you have at least half-way thought out what could go wrong by being prepared to deal with what could go wrong and usually the powers that be will look you over and move on.

YMMV.

falk · Post by **falk** » Thu May 14, 2009 7:03 am

Do a search for the Lake Lohanton Yacht club. There's a reference on Tribe at http://bm.tribe.net/thread/ba3a2b6b-030 ... 1f0aefb25b.

They do their activites outside the fence, not too far from the airport.

At the airport, you need a special wrist band to exit and re-enter. I assume it's the same for the yacht club.

Bob · Post by **Bob** » Thu May 14, 2009 10:36 pm

I'd assume you'd need a ticket & ID first off. And a letter from your parole officer.

SirRound · Post by **SirRound** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 12:34 am

as a land windsurfer I talked at length to several folks last year. basically land windsurfing where the mast is attached to your board with a flexible universal mast mount is legal. we sailed the poop out at 9:00 despite the crappy conditions. Had one day where the wind turned straight up west and there were about 30 windsurfers cruising k-car from like 7:00-10:00. When it blew hard, me and my buddy had a run from like 9:00 to the entrance gate. the black rock yacht club usually camps around 9:30 and has rigs to borrow.

ditch your kite and mount a mast on your mtn board, thats what i did and it works great.

if you put your kite in the air the blm rangers will shut you down in 5 minutes flat. unless of course its blowin so hard that all the dust hides you. then ride on.

vikb · Post by **vikb** » Sun Aug 30, 2009 8:46 am

SirRound wrote:as a land windsurfer I talked at length to several folks last year. basically land windsurfing where the mast is attached to your board with a flexible universal mast mount is legal. we sailed the poop out at 9:00 despite the crappy conditions. Had one day where the wind turned straight up west and there were about 30 windsurfers cruising k-car from like 7:00-10:00. When it blew hard, me and my buddy had a run from like 9:00 to the entrance gate. the black rock yacht club usually camps around 9:30 and has rigs to borrow.

ditch your kite and mount a mast on your mtn board, thats what i did and it works great.

if you put your kite in the air the blm rangers will shut you down in 5 minutes flat. unless of course its blowin so hard that all the dust hides you. then ride on.

Putting a windsail mast on a mtn board is not a cheap or trivial task unless you already own the gear - particularly if you don't live in a windsurf hotspot. That's a project I'm keen on and I'll collect the parts I need as I run across cheap/free components windsurfers no longer want, but I'm not buying new gear and spending $1K+ make this happen.

Have a look at the post below - first off kites are allowed in the air - there was no question about that at all. The issue was whether you could use them to power a landboard. The BRC Yatch Club has resolved that issue and kite powered landboarding is allowed over on the 9 o'clock side of BRC.

http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic. ... 5&start=30

"You guys should all just come visit the Black Rock Yacht Club! We are actually a sanctioned theme camp with a love for the wind.

We teach playa-sailing and are a crew of kiters, windsurfers, and sailors from the bay area and beyond. We usually rig up a dozen or so land boards and sails and let people discover the playa wind.

The general rule about land-sailing in the Playa is to just stick to the section of the playa that is around 9pm and outer rim. You can no longer sail into the areas where the installations are etc.

That said, when it gets windy we have the windsurfers out, and this year we should have a couple of small 3/4m trainer kites to play with. I might even throw in my old 7m just for fun.

Come visit us and the veterans of the camp can explain all the regulations and generally tell you what is up with sailing at burning man. Its a blast!

The camp is BLACK ROCK YACHT CLUB. We usually are at about 845/9pm and outer rim. (The guide is wrong because they don't schedule theme camps into the outer rim area...) Just find us by the stack of windsurfers/landboards out in front of our camp and come say hi!"

cheers,

Vik