BloKarts

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Saturday we had a chance to try BloKarting. This was another trip won through the Schilling Center. Two hours of playing on the BloKarts AND transportation, all at no cost- what a deal!

We meet up at the center on Kadena at 3pm and they drove us and four other people to a field south of Naha. The driver said it was an hour drive, but it ended up only taking half an hour- which was a good thing since the van had the heater on and it was blowing extremely hot air along the floor. It was hot enough we had to lift our feet up on to the seats. So we were glad the drive was relatively short.

BloKarts are three wheel carts with a large sail to catch the wind. Here the guys were assembling one of the carts. They are very compact (have cool little storage bags) and put together quickly. Matt pitched in and helped put one of them together.

Our driver translated the directions of how to get into the carts, steer, and what to do if the cart tips over. From what we could gather, the group of locals have the BloKarts and they allowed us to borrow two of them for the evening. The locals set up the carts, showed us what to do, then pretty much sat back and watched. They were out in the field for a little bit, but I don't think the wind was strong enough for them to really enjoy it- they were too "hard core"!

David was the first to give it a try- he was a bit nervous!

You steer with one hand and control the sail with the other- very simple. Here David has the sail loose after just completing a turn. Ideally, you run 90 degrees to the wind. We were limited on what we could do since we had extremely little wind to work with.

Unfortunately, with the wind not being strong it was hard to get the carts going. For part of the time, we had to push start the carts after every turn. The wind did pick up for a bit later on, then died completely before we were supposed to be done. When we weren't in the carts we were helping out pushing the guys who stalled. Here our Tour Guide helps Matt get going again. The Tour Guide was very nice- and kept apologizing for the lack of wind. He got a real work out helping all of us on the go.













Here Matt is helping me get ready for my first turn behind the wheel. The gloves are to protect your hands if you tip over, and also when you use your hands to roll the back wheels in an attempt to get rolling again.

And I am off and on the go! I was lucky enough to catch some of the best winds of the evening. These carts are a blast when they get going! Matt took this picture (after wrestling the camera from David).


Here is Mike giving it a try...






One of the guys who came with us said he had gone last year and the wind was so strong they were up on two wheels most of the time. Sounds like Fun! He didn't ride the carts as much as the rest of us- I think he was spoiled from last time.

Even with the light winds, we had a fun time. I would definitely like to give them another try with better wind conditions. In some areas, they rent out the BloKarts to run along the beach...that looked like fun!