When the founders of Summer Sailstice conceived the idea back in 2001 of getting as many people as possible sailing on the first day of summer - aka the Solstice – they never specified it had to be on water. While the vast majority of participants do partake in boats, last year a group of fun-loving speed freaks folded the Sailstice into their annual Roundup racing series, sailing on a “lake” that hasn't seen significant water since mammoths waded in for a drink.
Meet the Nevada Windseekers Blokart Club, shredders of numerous dry lakes in California and Nevada, including Ivanpah, near Primm on the CA-NV border; White Dry Lake, north of Reno; and Smith Creek Dry Lakebed, just a short hop southwest of Austin. On June 18-22, the latter venue hosted 30 Blokarters who showed up from all over for the for the Roundup (named in honor of the area's Western heritage - among other things, the Pony Express route parallels the highway you drive to get there). Competitors enjoyed ideal conditions – smooth and windy – and speeds up to 50mph. Perhaps counter-intuitively, 'hot' is not always part of the equation when you can have upwards of 70 knots of apparent wind blasting you in the face. Unless you're looking for cheap dermal abrasion, helmets and goggles are mandatory when the wind gets up.
The Windseeker Club is 17 karts strong, including several female 'pilots'. Members range in age from 21 to 75, and according to longtime Club stalwart Bob Casey, about 75% of them are or were sailboat sailors - including him. In fact, many landsailors do both. It's common for sailor/karters to do mostly boat sailing in the summer when the weather is nice. When the it cools off (and particularly in places where it really cools off), they turn to Blokarts, or several other popular landsailer brands which can be sailed year-round.
Oh, and those festivities at Smith Creek weren't completely devoid of H2O. After the racing, and before the nightly bonfires, many racers head over to a nearby hot spring to wash the dust off – themselves and their karts – or just relax in the soothing waters.
No word yet on whether the 2015 Roundup will also fall on the Solstice weekend of June 20-21. For more on the Nevada Windseekers, contact Bob Casey (blokartsnv@aol.com). For more on the Blokart, www.blokart.com.
Who drained the lake?
