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Ok have scanned the pages and joined them back together again....not the best but its better than nothing.

Image can be found *here* be warned its about 540kb.

The following is the information only, contained within the article and belongs to the paper it was taken from.

Walking in the Air

Powerkites have so much pull they can literally make you fly. Mike Pattenden lifts off

The news that powerkiting is currently one of the fastest-growing adrenaline sports in the UK begs the question: just how radical can flying a kite be?

The answer: pretty radical. I realised this when a powerkite dragged me clear across a field and nearly yanked my arms from their sockets.

Flying a powerkite is like driving a McLaren F1 compared to the little kites you see on the local heath, and it can harness enough energy to pull you into the air or propedl buggies at speeds of 40mph.

Powerkites or ram-air kites are really flying wings, constructed from twin nylon sheets with a vent at the front that inflates when pulled into the wind. The bigger the wingspan, the more power the kite generates. Seven or eight-metre kites are serious traction engines.

Gary Grayston is an enthusiast who runs Airbossworld in Leicestershire, a store dedicated to the burgeoning sport.

He offered me a go on a powerkite on a nearby recreation ground.
This should be a nice, gentle introduction the winds only about 8mph, he said with a thin smile. Thats a paltry three on the Beaufort scale, I told myself confidently a gentle breeze.

But as soon as the five-metre Blade powerkite went up, the lines snapped taut, generating an alarming amount of drag.

A sudden gust yanked me forward like a tow truck and I slithered through the mud on my heeds as I attempted to dig in. As the foil thrashed around in the sky it felt like Id lassoed a pterodactyl.

The idea of powerkites is not new.

In ancient Japan, samurai warriors used rokkaku kites to drop into enemy fortresses, or for reconnaissance, and during World War II, U-boats employed man-lifting kites to spot ships coming over the horizon.

Modern powerkites were invented in the Seventies by two university lecturers, but its only in recent years that ram-air versions have been used to power spin-off sports such as kite surfing, landboarding, buggying and even snow kiting. Gary Griffiths, who works in the Brighton shop Air Born Kites (www.airbornkites.co.uk; 01273 676 740), says Its a challenge to master something as unpredictable as the wind. In a good wind, you can do jumps off the 40-foot groynes on Brighton beach and travel 150 feet doing backflips. We draw quite a crowd.

Airbossworld offers day courses for 65. Call 0870 321 2130, or visit www.airbossworld.co.uk
For more details on kites, visit www.kitezone.co.uk

LANDBOARDING
After a bit of practice youll be ready to tackle a landboard, which is basically a long skateboard with tyres. With the right wind, and on a flat surface, a landboard is capable of more than 50mph. A three-metre starter kite costs about 200 and landboards cost from 200.

Contact Airbossworld, which does training days, or Air Born Kites (details above) for more information.

SUSPENDED KITING
I have removed this article section due to the dangers of this practice. Although the scanned article does state the dangers and that someone had actually been killed practicing this, I feel its best not to divulge how you actually go about doing this.

KITE-BUGGYING
Three-wheel buggies are perfect for flat surfaces such as beaches, and are less risky than other kite sports. Some beaches will let you loose in a buggy after only a days training, because its easier to stay on the ground than it is with landboards.

Its not short on adrenaline, though; the vehicles reach 40mph, and aquaplaning through the waves is exhilarating. A Flexifoil Buggy costs about 330.

yeh they actually stated 50mph on an ATB.....maybe downhill!!...LOL

I always thought it was possible to go faster on a buggy than board, cmon you double gangers, whats faster a board or a buggy?

As for the problems with the article, maybe people got their back up, especially on flexi, because it wasn't Flexifoil running the article????......ooooo..... controversy....LOL

As for being photographed without wearing safety gear within the article, have you seen the latest powerkite magazine, especially the board section, not much safety gear being promoted there either. Wonder if they will receive the same harsh write up on the flexi forums as well????

Regards

Bill