The learning Curve: A brief history of my power kiting exploits over the years.
by Joseph Livori...

I have been flying various types of kites for about 20 years and have seen kiting move from single / dual line kites to what we have today quad line power machines. About 2 years ago and after a 15 year gap between sessions I went back to of my old stomping ground and was amazing to see how things have evolved in my absence. The sport of power kitting had landed at my local park and I wasn’t part of it. I was lucky enough early on to meet some great folks one of them a guy by the name of “Nigel Clifford” a bit of a local legend in kiting circles down here. Nigel was nice enough to take me under his wing and show me the ropes.

In the beginning I was happy just trying to go as fast as I could with all three wheels firmly planted on the ground. The buggy I purchased the PL MKII come with an extra wide axle (Giga Axle) and mid sized wheels all round. Safety was always in the front of my mind and I believed staying on the ground meant I was safe.  

It was about 6 months into it when I had my first unintentional off the ground experience (OTGE). The kite was going one way and I went the other, before I could react I was off the ground and hanging on for dear life. Luckily the buggy managed to land right side up.  Once the adrenalin left the system and having some time to reflect on what had just happened I started to thinking what if I did this the right way, what would it be like? Once again it was all over rover and the Freestyle bug hit me. I went from going forward fast to going up and around even faster.

Now the standard PL MKII buggy isn’t really designed for heavy duty buggy jumping / Freestyle moves but it’s what I cut my teeth on, a wide axle with middies all round where a heavy & cumbersome combination but allowed me to be build confidence with a degree of stability & safety in place in the early days. As time passed I was starting to bend and break stuff mostly due to mistimed moves and those hard landings. It soon become evident that a wide axle & middies where not going to work long term. So off came the heavy stuff. This made a huge difference, the training wheels where gone and the real fun began.  The PL buggy doesn’t need much to become a freestyle machine. Here are a few simple mod’s I did to help the transition along.

1. First and foremost I got a PL composite axle, (super sweat piece of kit)
2. NyLock nuts all the way round. (stopped stuff coming loose)
3. Reinforced seat mountings all round. (place for your bum)
4. Foot peg’s secured and foot straps beefed up. (better control)

In summary the PL buggy has been a great all rounder that works for me. Everyday out on in the field I learn something new and consider myself an enthusiastic novice.