stag weekend activities
january 2008

A cracking start to the year with too much alcohol, dirt buggies & hovercraft. Arriving late following a heavy night out, we were rushed through the briefing, but the basic instruction was the same throughout. Touch any of the hovercraft controls and you will die! Excellent!

The group split into 2, we changed into mud splattered overalls and mud filled helmets and headed for the dirt Buggies. The wet course was closed due to heavy rain the previous week, so we hit the dry one. The laps were timed, but it wasn't long before getting round quickly was replaced with doing as much of the course sideways as possible. If the dry course was this slippery, what would the wet one be like? A little too much sideways action from me left me cutting the grass at one point, but what fun. Direction was changed, times were shortened, but it seamed more back end out action than the first round.

After comparing lap times it was time to change into something a little drier and head to the Hovercrafts. The instructor gave a demonstration and following the "do anything and you die" chat it looked slow and far too easy to be any fun. How wrong I was. First up on the practice craft, all I had to do was steer it around a post, park it in the marked bay, and do the same the other side three times. If I got it in the bay once it was a fluke, it wouldn't turn, wouldn't go in a straight line and everybody had a great laugh at my expense. However I think their smiles soon disappeared when tthey tried.

The larger craft seemed daunting after the practice and the course a little more challenging. Three separate gates were to be passed through, again the marked bay required a set down and a pole the other end had to be navigated around. This time points were to be lost for every pole hit, set down outside the bay and missed or wrong gates. With nothing to loose but my pride I set out on full throttle. It became obvious early on that the problem I was facing earlier was not enough power. On full boost the craft almost turned on the spot (whilst leaning out for weight distribution), and was altogether more agile. Again great fun which I highly recommend.

It was time for the Stag to perform some sort of forfeit, so back into a buggy and a couple of laps on the wet course with nothing but a crash helmet and a pair of pants for protection was arranged. Following the first puddle it was obvious why the instructor had not suggested we use that course. He was soaked in freezing muddy water, but still grinning all the way round.

As for the rest of the Stag weekend, use your imagination!