Peter Lynn Kite Buggy History

In 1989 I built a frame with three water skis, the front one steering.  It was a complete failure, never rising onto the skis and planing, even with arm stretching kite pull.  In early 1990 I replaced the skis with wheels with the idea that I'd make more progress at the local park than by driving to the Lake (80km) for every test.

On the hard, it worked immediately, upwind on the first run.

Using a stack of Excalibur stunt kites, I demonstrated it at a Thailand Festival in April 1990, sold it to Fran Gramkowski (USA) and high-tailed it home to make another one.

The first and second buggies used a rod to connect the steering bar to the front wheel, but by the third, and forever after, steering became direct, with the footpegs attached to the front forks. 

Kite Buggies were an immediate success.  On the Island of Fano in Denmark later that year I sold every one I had and took many orders.

Shadowed by a car driven by Werner Schmidt, I established a buggy speed record of 70km/hr  (any speed would have been a record at this stage).  Unfortunately, when slowing at the end of a run on a narrow part of the beach I slid into an elderly gentleman out having a constitutional walk. I nearly managed to skid to a halt in time, but just nudged him and he sat down on top of me.  Struggling to his feet he than gave me a sound thrashing with his walking stick.

While waiting for the ferry back to the mainland, a distraught German accused me of telling lies when I'd said I had no more buggies to sell - he'd spied one on the roof of my car.  It was badly broken, but he still insisted on buying it and went off to the ATM for cash.  He arrived back even more distraught to tell me that the money machine had run out.  To which I replied, yes, I have it all.  He took the buggy and paid later.

Passing through the US on the way home, I was lucky to escape arrest for failing to declare far in excess of the allowed $10,000 in cash. For many years after this, US Customs treated me with great suspicion.   

Buggying took off as a sport and for years we were hard pressed to keep up with demand.  Many buggies were sold as a package with our newly developed Peel two-line 'foil type soft traction kite.

It didn't take long for other manufacturers to jump on the band wagon, especially with new four-line  traction kites, but for the first few years Peels were able to hold their place.

In the next ten years we all pushed the boundaries of buggy design with many variants tried, but the 1990 layout proved to be the enduring solution, albeit with larger frames and wheels for the dedicated racers.

Initially made in New Zealand, eventually manufacture of the higher volume styles was moved to China (via our licensees, Vlieger Op in den Hague), and needed to, to meet growing competition.

This went well initially but then didn't.  After a few years, we began to get a growing number of failed side frames.  At first, we cheerfully replaced them and put it down to increasingly aggressive users. What we eventually discovered was that the Chinese suppliers had been slipping in thinner walled tube- more and more when we didn't initially react.  Saving a few cents on each buggy, this eventually damaged our reputation with kite shops and customers.

On the plus side it taught us valuable lessons in dealing with Chinese suppliers for when the kiteboarding market exploded.  

Some ten years later I was at a kite event in Beijing when I was approached by the liaison person we'd independently hired to keep a watch on quality.  He confessed to having been aware of the scam, broke down in tears, asked for forgiveness.

This supplier continued to make buggies (and kites) to our designs after we sacked them,selling them mainly to outlets in China- using my name as well.  By 2012 I was routinely approached at events in China by people with quality complaints who believed they had bought genuine Peter Lynn products.   A bizarre effect was that the Peter Lynn brand became, for a while, the most recognised kite brand in China- even while we were not selling anything there.

Peter Lynn November 2024