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One of our own - Grant Oliver
Some of you may remember Grant Oliver from back in the day (late 1990's) when he single handedly missioned into Mozambique with his kite buggy. Since then the story of that trip has become urban legend and he became a phantom. Well as you can see below Grant is very much alive, well and from recent conversations with him the urban legends are all true. For those of you from a sand ski and buggy background this new trip and his past achievements will mean a lot. As for water kiting and the Bay to Bay Challenge, Grants achievements set new standards for us in adventuring along the coast. Grants approach to these trips is very simple.
Grants first trip was pretty much a pack your buggy and go type event, not too much planning. He tells me that when he left "Ponta" he actually gave up trying to fly the kite and just started walking with the buggy in tow. It's a long story but things never went all that well. When he eventually got it together he ended up setting an unofficial world record for the longest kite buggy trip ever completed. The trip he is on now is a bit more planned for. He has a water desalinater with him, a new kite and a modified buggy but I must add his kiting skills are probably still not a top priority. Grant is all about the adventure experience and the challenge and if he has to walk the whole way, then walk he will.
Grant's and my paths recently crossed and I got involved with him, his buggy and his kites. I told him about the Peter Lynn "big foot tyres" and that we had been battling to get them into the country at an affordable price. (The bigfoot tyres and a bit of a mod to a standard buggy is the only solution and hope for the buggy discipline in KZN due to our soft sand. To date no one has been able to get a buggy together.) Within about three weeks Grant had miraculously landed the tyres in South Africa at a ridiculously affordable price. (He is well connected.) Grant is a part time R and D prototype engineer, and very quickly he made up his own light weight rims, a strengthened back axel and wider forks to accomodate the front tyre. He did a run from Amatikulu to Tugela on my recommendation and says that the tyres handle the soft sand with no problem. I have not seen the buggy yet except for the newspaper photo below but have every intention of having a good look as soon as Grant returns from the Namib. Grant ended up buying a new kite and opted not to use a harness and pulley setup. So for the records he will be hanging on for dear life just like before. With the west coast winds I think he will be setting speed records this time round as opposed to distance records.
We wish him all the best and I will try get the full story out of him when he returns. Hopefully this whole thing will spark some interest in local buggy trips, now that we know beyond doubt that our soft beaches are traversable. Read the articles below for more on the actual trip.
Grants first trip was pretty much a pack your buggy and go type event, not too much planning. He tells me that when he left "Ponta" he actually gave up trying to fly the kite and just started walking with the buggy in tow. It's a long story but things never went all that well. When he eventually got it together he ended up setting an unofficial world record for the longest kite buggy trip ever completed. The trip he is on now is a bit more planned for. He has a water desalinater with him, a new kite and a modified buggy but I must add his kiting skills are probably still not a top priority. Grant is all about the adventure experience and the challenge and if he has to walk the whole way, then walk he will.
Grant's and my paths recently crossed and I got involved with him, his buggy and his kites. I told him about the Peter Lynn "big foot tyres" and that we had been battling to get them into the country at an affordable price. (The bigfoot tyres and a bit of a mod to a standard buggy is the only solution and hope for the buggy discipline in KZN due to our soft sand. To date no one has been able to get a buggy together.) Within about three weeks Grant had miraculously landed the tyres in South Africa at a ridiculously affordable price. (He is well connected.) Grant is a part time R and D prototype engineer, and very quickly he made up his own light weight rims, a strengthened back axel and wider forks to accomodate the front tyre. He did a run from Amatikulu to Tugela on my recommendation and says that the tyres handle the soft sand with no problem. I have not seen the buggy yet except for the newspaper photo below but have every intention of having a good look as soon as Grant returns from the Namib. Grant ended up buying a new kite and opted not to use a harness and pulley setup. So for the records he will be hanging on for dear life just like before. With the west coast winds I think he will be setting speed records this time round as opposed to distance records.
We wish him all the best and I will try get the full story out of him when he returns. Hopefully this whole thing will spark some interest in local buggy trips, now that we know beyond doubt that our soft beaches are traversable. Read the articles below for more on the actual trip.
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