Last week i was out in the bush , and had to drive across country , following a chain of clay pans and salt lakes, looking for plants setting seed.
Most of these lakes can rarely be driven on , Ive canoed and sailed on 2 of them, and been bogged on them all.
However!!!!!. this time I was able to cross or skirt all of them , a distance of 35km west to east.
the track I blazed had dry red clay , gullies , gibber, samphire flats gypsum dunes, salt lake, station tracks with barbed fences, rocky hills, breakaways and churned up mud from cars/bikes gone hard.
I envisioned a well organized expedition with carefully planned navigation of the route, maps drink stops and marker flags, back up vehicles with recovery gear......
.....................
that was wednesday.
saturday 12.20 pm , a roaring cool southerly appeared , , with a chance of rain,
so I ring The commodore , Bryan, tell him to be ready in 30mins, grab a shovel and water bottle, 2x 1/4 chicken and chips. test pilot 1 with his video set up rang just in time to catch the ride .
We drove out along the route to show bryan the way( hes never been in the area before0 and got to the top of the starting breakaway. Bryan rigged his 4m blowie, and TP1 and i drove off over the edge to set up the camera.

result was 34kms sailing across the bush in 1hr 34 moving time, 42 mins stationary, top speed of 64 kph, total of 3 punctures and a near miss for one bobtail lizard
All on film.
Congratulations Bryan on being the first landyacht to cross Red Lake, and White Lake AND Salt Lake AND Douglas Lake in one mighty grinding marathon of dust and sand.
TP1 will be arranging some photos soon

I made it back in one piece,just. Im stuffed! That was the roughest, bumpiest, out of control at times bit of sailing I have ever done.Was flipped over while stationary.I sailed the Blowie like I stole it, it got an absolute thrashing most of the way,it took everything I threw at it, and Im off to Le Froy tomorrow to demonstrate to some 1st timers the fun of sailing. thanks Paul and TP1. The garmin e-trex is a solid unit,was sure it was going to come off the handlebar at times,still working despite the shaking and shocks it recieved

j murray said...

sounds great...add smiley ....go....
had a perve Google Earth
one maybe area starts 15 k NW kal and continues, but better looking
about 36-40 due east and one can go for up to 50 ks, how bout supplying some co-ords for Google Earth....add special smiley...

lakes to the north would bog a quad!!! , thats the white flag/black flag chain .
the lake to the east is Yindarlgooda, sailable on the northern edge in places, but soft enough to bog the Australian army for 3 weeks!!! . If you go down there the only help you'll get is from your long dead grandma
.
the lakes we sailed are" nominally" fresh

certain camera man is still looking for the right leads,
I found one of his tapes in the car today!!.
Bryan has some photos on his camera though

Thanks Paul I will check that out during the weekend ,[:
have you finished that secret bizzo stuff
was that a newbie maiden run, what sorta tyre pressure did you run at.
I expect the seat would help with shock absorbing.
Steering wheel as against foot activate, what is tops in those condition, corrugation and bumps.
Does the triangle frame tend to give rougher ride than what would a four wheeler on bush tracks as encountered.
Overall it looked a very interesting event, one that i would enjoy
you all appeared to enjoy the workout........
which wheels did you puncture most of and what with

looks more like stunt pilot to me

what a wonderful weeekend viewing on the Box, last night the classic,

"The Worlds Fastest Indian" really that what landyachting is to me

It depicts the inner being of devotion, not unlike a religion one becomes
a zealot, even an too marta, bound for ones own heaven with all its

rewards job well done.

The other was today, Australian Safari filmed in all the basic goldfields area
of WA. Part of this would have to be very close to the flats and pans that
landyacht and friends traversed recently, probably since the rally was conducted.

Very interesting country and well photographed for a one hour show.
The Type of publicity needed by Aussie landyachting

Maybe a WORLD SAILFARY is what's needed [}:)][}:)]

hopefully on your next break we can try with one of my 6 minis weve got the footage downloaded and editing is in progress