Authors: Harry Thuillier, Charlie Thuillier
Date Submitted: November 30, 2011
Article Type: Discourse

Harry and Charlie Thuillier are two brothers from the United Kingdom. This August they decided to kite buggy along the coastline of Brazil from Natal to Jericoacoara. They did it without vehicle support, without being able to speak Portuguese, and having only had one lesson in kite buggying. Harry takes up the story…

As we bolted together the buggies, strapped on our bags, and set up the kites on a windswept beach in Natal, Brazil, a few local kids and dogs stood in the doorways of shacks and watched curiously. Atlantic waves crashed against the sand, their roar muffling against the cliffs that rose from the beach behind chattering palm trees as we laid out kite lines and bars and put on our helmets. We knew the learning curve for what we were about to do would be steep but we were raring to go.

A few months ago, Charlie and I had a crazy idea. To go to Brazil and kite buggy 1000 kilometers [about 620 miles] along the Northeast coast from Natal to Jericoacoara. It’s one of the windiest places in the world, with hundreds of miles of beaches interspersed with dunes, mangrove swamps, rivers, and fishing villages. As far as we knew, no one had attempted to kite buggy this distance before without full vehicle support.

We asked Craig Hansen (member of the record breaking kite buggy team who crossed the Sahara and manufacturer of the PLK Outlaw buggy) what he thought our chances were. He had a few questions. “Have you kite buggied before?” No. “Has anyone buggied that stretch of coastline?” No. “Will you be using vehicle support?” No. “Do you speak Portuguese?” No. He concluded: “I think you’re mad, but I don’t see why you can’t do it.”

Page Number: 37
PDF Link: Discourse Issue