Punch Buggy Switch

http://switchkites.com/blogs/punch-buggy-switch/

Punch Buggy Switch

This entry was posted on February 7, 2014 by Switch Team.

'Punch buggy what' I hear you ask.

Well, let’s see what Wikipedia has to say on the subject.

Slug bug (also called punch bug, punch dub, piggy punch, punch buggy, or beetle bug) is a car game generally played by children in which participants punch each other in the arm upon first sight of a Volkswagen Beetle while calling out "Slug bug!" or "Punch buggy!" in reference to the Beetle's nickname, the Bug.

The colour of the Beetle is also stated.

Why do I feel this piece of information might be of some importance to the context of this article? Well we are kiters, and we have an inbuilt ability to sit on a beach, look at kites and real off model names, numbers and years of the kites we see on the water. We don’t even realise we do if sometimes, and it is only when talking to a non-kiter does this become clear.

I was sitting on the beach yesterday evening watching a session of about 50 kiters here in Zanzibar, next to me was non-kiter friend of a friend, desperately trying to locate his companion amongst array of coloured kites adorning the evening skyline, ..finally he asked me if I could see his friend, …like The Terminator scanning a crowd for targets I immediately picked him out and pointed as I replied “There on the 2012 Park” …this confused him, greatly, I could see it in his eyes, so I added “the red and black one”. "Aaah I see” he replied pointing to and following a red and black 2013 Best GP with a pro-rider hanging off the end of it.

At this point I wanted to say nothing and let him think his friend was in possession of some seriously understated talent, and perhaps in retrospect it would have been the more fun thing to do, …but on the pursuit of truth I had to re-point him a little further into the distance where said friend was standing in waist-deep water trying relentlessly to re-launch his stricken kite.

So we can spot a kite then if we need to. …and if we do so with the same fluid efficiency of a 10 year old in the back of his parents car turning to triumphantly punch his brother or sister in the arm at the sudden spotting of a 1967 Volkswagen Beetle.

Ok, maybe he didn’t know the year, the history of the car or any other knowledge I may have acquired with age, but I will certainly be calling a non-valid veto should my children dare cite a horrifically ugly modern beetle as cause for a punch. Not in my car.

I digress. What I want to focus on is the emotion, the moment of non-sensical joy felt by the child at this point. Of course we don’t feel this every time we know the name, model or year of a kite on the beach, …but something has changed for me recently that gives me that same childish uncontrollable joy ….and that is if the kite I spot is a Switch.

I didn’t think too much about it at first, I am quite a friendly person and I talk to many people on the beach, but I started to notice it a few months ago in Brazil, I spotted her, one lady off in the distance on a Nitro2, …off I went on a little upwind walk and it just so happens that as she came into land, there I was, smiling, …ready to attack her with polite conversation and mutual admiration at her choice of kite. I relayed this to my girlfriend who told me I must have seemed a bit strange, …the admiration wasn’t mutual, I didn’t have a kite with me! I did think her husband looked at me a bit strange as he arrived and I casually departed smiling to myself.

I have done this a few times since arriving in Zanzibar last month, each time a polite conversation follows and I think I have managed to seem a bit less ‘strange’ in the opening of said conversation. I have met some interesting people such as the man who was the first person in The Netherlands to own a Switch kite (I add that in just in case he is reading this - yes my good man, I was paying attention. - No, I don’t remember your name. - Element2 13m).

A few days ago I reached my pinnacle. I didn’t see it myself, well not from the outside, for this I rely on my lovely girlfriend to tell me how amusing I looked. there I was enjoying a nice free-style session in the lagoons of Zanzibar when I look over my shoulder and spot it. It was about 1km up wind of me, and yes, it was a Switch kite. Now at this point the story is much more amusing with my girlfriends hand actions, sound effects and French accent, but to summarise, I suddenly started hacking it upwind …it took me about 3 tacks and I was there, at which point I then proceeded to follow the poor man attached to the Switch kite for a good few tacks trying to make as much eye contact as possible, and smiling and sending over a little wave/thumbs up combination at the same time. I have been told that I looked how a synchronised swimmer would appear if they took up stalking.

Unfortunately my ‘victim’ wasn’t interested, he was concentrating so hard on his first jumps that after 5 minutes I had to give up for fear of scaring him completely, …dejected I rode back downwind.

So now to the point of this story (other than perhaps a subtle apology to this poor man). We are a special bunch us Switch riders and also very proud of our brand choice. This is something I have confirmed through my stalking of you, and I don’t just mean the team riders, ..everyone from the middle aged German woman with the jealous husband to the French army officer who rode a 15m Combat2 …whatever speed the wind was.

So let’s show each other and the other people on the beach this. If you see a person riding a Switch kite, ..go up to him/her, say hi, ride together for a session, or at the very least smile and return the obligatory thumbs up you just received on the water.

This is a sentiment I see slowly getting lost in kiting, and they do say that if you want to change something then you should first start at home.