PL KiteSled 2004

In 2004  Ben Deacon asked us to develop a kite buggy suitable for snow and Ice journeying.  Ben and Andrew McAuley were planning a kite powered crossing of Antarctica.  We had been building kite buggies for ice and snow use since the early 1990's by replacing the wheels with either skis (for snow) or single edge runners (for ice).  We had also often set up wheeled buggies with sharp edge chains fitted circumferentially around each wheel, which were surprisingly effective on ice while retaining the ability to traverse land as well.

For Ben I decided to develop a different concept, a KiteSled with two full length skis that bent into arcs laterally to effect steering.  The idea behind this was to reduce the friction that traditional three ski buggies experience when the front steering ski is turned.  Because the skis on such buggies are of significant length, when the front ski is not lined up with the rear two they all, and especially the front one, push sideways through the snow causing drag and slowing the buggy unacceptably.   By bending the skis laterally instead, steering is affected with no, or almost no increase in drag.  Development through a few prototypes was successful and Ben then did a run across Greenland as a test.  This was very successful- see Bens reports below.  Unfortunately, before the planned Antarctic crossing could take place, Andrew was tragically lost while attempting to kayak from Tasmania to the South Island of New Zealand.  The Antarctic attempt was consequently abandoned.