Wind behind his wheels

Dunedin blokart enthusiast Frank Humphries sails along Ocean View Beach this week. "It's excellent fun and a really fabulous feeling. It's about the same things that appeal to yachties, but you can't get thrown in the drink and drown.

It's such a great sensation using nature as a propellant," he said.

The blokart - or land yacht - looks and functions like a yacht with trainer wheels, but is steered with pedals and hand levers. "On a good wind, I'd probably get up to 40kmh.

I went from Blackhead to Ocean View, which is about 8km, in 20 minutes once," the 61-year-old Otago Polytechnic carpentry lecturer said. He bought his blokart from a North Island manufacturer six years ago, for between $3000 and $4000.

"I don't really want to say exactly how much, because my wife [Annette] doesn't know."