OK, so this entry is late. I've been busy...

On Oct 25, co-pilot Jay and I actually won the Ventura Kinetic Sculpture Race!! We were just hoping to finally ACE a course. We finally got the water configuration dialed in, which is a siginificant portion of the Ventura race. We placed first in time, and first overall = grand champions (speed, art, and engineering combined + ACE status).

One vehicle was slightly faster, but they used 4 different pilots on a solo vehicle, so no required ACE ... read more

The All-Terrain Tiki Bar (ATB) is ready to go to BM2008, now with a flame thrower on board (unfortunately takes the place of where booze would be stored behind the bar). Now time to half disassemble the thing so that I can cram it into the back of my truck...

So I've been building this crazy flamethrower. Last year, at the Green Man, my wife complained that there was less fire at BM. Every time I go "does this mean I can build a flamethrower?" She never said no, not yes either. So I've taken that, and the fact that she's not going this year, as permission.

Here's a photo of the Tiki torch under pilot light with fire dancers. Look on my page for the video of the big poof!! (and sorry it's sideways, it's not a problem with still photos, and this ... read more

The two rear road rims, the ones I was so excited about a couple of months back, didn't fare so well on the Kinetic Sculpture Race. One busted off during the LeMans start around the Arcata town plaza! The other we removed around 4 miles later as it loosened and started to get skewed. Actually, that same thing happened during the start, but by rule you're prohibited from working on your sculpture until 12:32, the start is at 12:00, so we had to take it far it we could. Some fine spectator pick... read more

More or less. We did race in the race. We didn't register to ACE because we couldn't carry our water gear - in fact, a paddle wheel busted hitting the ground riding from the staging area to the water launch on day 2 - but some 5 min epoxy put us back in shape. The photo is the Tiki Bar about to climb out of Humbolt Bay. I have a video clip too that I'll try to post here.

Day 1 we pretty much ACEd, except for, of course, not carrying our pontoons and paddle wheels - which turned out to be ... read more