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Debbie
Ward has spent more than 15 years
as a journalist, several as Features
Editor of Travel Trade Gazette.
She now works freelance.
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A Jersey
Jaunt to Blow You Away
Travel
Trade Gazzette
Jersey's national icons were snuggled up warm on the March day
I picked to go BloKarting in St Ouen's Bay.
While the island's famous potatoes lay tucked up under plastic
sheeting and the cows huddled together in silver thermal coats,
I pulled on a woolly hat and helmet and pointed myself into
the bitter wind, all in the name of fun.
BloKarting is a relatively new activity in Britain and Michael
James of activity specialist Pure Jersey Adventures had to import
his karts from New Zealand. They look like go-karts but with
a sail to boost your speed and a seatbelt to strap you in.
First I and my fellow learners helped put our karts together,
constructing their tubular frames from pieces piled in large
kit bags. Then we then sat for lessons in steering - keeping
the wind behind us to get going and turning into the wind to
brake.
Our first challenge was to scribe controlled figures of eight
around cones placed a few hundred metres apart on sand.
"This has never happened before" said Michael as he prised
himself, thankfully uninjured, from between my kart and another.
While rescuing me from an embarrassing collision with the bollard
I was supposed to have steered around he had been pinned up
against my back wheels by a kart driven by a fellow novice.
My BloKart was a lot lighter than the wooden go-kart with pram
wheels of my childhood so when I had the sail in the right position
and had mastered my steering it really took off.
You certainly need some room and St Ouen's stunning five mile
stretch of firm flat sand is perfect. Jersey has so many beaches
that even in summer they're never as packed as those on the
mainland, but I was reassured to note that the few hardy dogwalkers
out in the March wind were dots in the distance.
The principals of BloKarting are similar to sailing on water
and soon Michael had us tacking up the beach, swapping our sails
over our heads by pulling attached ropes, so as to make the
most of the wind available and better control our speed.
BloKarts can travel at up to 60 miles per hour and it was exhilarating
racing across the sand beside crashing waves, especially once
I was happy I could control the speed of my turns.
Heading for home was my downfall. The wind was coming from inland
and this was just the direction I needed to turn to make it
back to base. The trouble was that turning into the wind causes
BloKarts to stop abruptly.
I sat for long minutes trying to fathom this conundrum. Eventually
I followed yelled instructions to make a large arc up the beach.
I felt better when I heard a fellow karter had been sitting
for fifteen minutes in a supposedly 'broken' kart not realising
the soft sand she had entered had caused her sudden halt.
Go-karting for grownups with plenty of giggles thrown in. It
should be a big hit with Jersey's growing number of adventure-seeking
tourists.
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