Wind-powered transport in the Iles-de-la-Madeleine
Does Al Gore know about this?
The often-windy Iles-de-la-Madeleine in eastern Quebec are a hotbed for the sport of kite-buggying: basically, zipping along the beach in a buggy, powered by a parachute-like kite. The driver holds a set of lines made of super-strong Spectra. A tug on the left turns you left; a tug on the right turns you right.
After a quick lesson on kite management from Eric Marchand, a world champion kite surfer and owner of Aerosport, everyone in our group had the chance to sit behind him in a tandem buggy and hurtle across the beach.
I spent most of my time yelling in glee as sand sprayed in my face, but I survived to tell the tale.
Now if only they could reconfigure Highway 401 to run on wind power….
Disclosure: I travelled to the Iles-de-la-Madeleine courtesy of Tourisme Quebec.
I remember this day so well! I was sooo impressed with what an athlete you are! Now we need one of the kayaking spills!
I’m not so much an athlete as a person with poor judgment–I’ll try almost anything for a story! I once agreed to go paragliding before first finding out that it involved jumping off a mountain. 🙂
And I don’t think I’ve seen any photos of my kayaking experience in the Magdalens–thank goodness! That was not one of my more athletic moments, but it was fun.
Nice to hear from you! Hope all is well.