Displaying items by tag: Red Bull

18th May 2021

Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series Returning to Ireland This September

The Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series is set to return to Ireland on 12 September, with Downpatrick Head in Co Mayo hosting the fourth stop on this year’s international circuit.

It’s one of the four new locations for the elite cliff diving competition, along with spots in France, Norway and the Caucasus.

It also marks the fifth Irish edition of the event — following three visits to Inis Mór in the Aran Islands and 2019’s contest in Dun Laoghaire, which attracted an estimated 145,000 spectators.

Elite divers representing 18 nationalities will take part in the 2021 series, which kicks off at Cap Dramont, south-west of Cannes on France’s Mediterranean coast, on 12 June.

The athletes then head to Oslo in Norway (14 August) and Mostar in Bosnia and Herzegovina before their Irish stop, continuing on to Polignano a Mare in southern Italy (26 September) and Baku in Azerbaijan (16 October).

Published in Watersport

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28th January 2013

Red Bull Storm Chasers Take off in Kerry

#redbull – The organisers of Red Bull Storm Chasers have scrambled all their crews and teams who had 48hrs to travel from across the globe to Ireland for the first "Mission" on the 3 mission challenge writes Brian Carlin.

Today saw the majority of the country hit with storm force winds. It's results included debris filled roads, heavy traffic, structural damage to buildings and generally unwanted among the most of the country.

Well, not quite the same could be said if you were standing on the back beach in Castlegregory, Co.Kerry locally known as "Dumps" this morning.

It's simple, Red Bull Storm Chase set a 4 month challenge where they require 3 "missions" to be completed. There is 7 possible locations, United States, Iceland, Ireland, Spain, France, Tasmania and Japan.

The conditions seemed just right for the organisers who pulled the trigger Saturday, a logistically nightmare to get the gear, teams, TV crews, helicopters to Ireland.

The first session of the day kicked off in Dumps, Co.Kerry at 7am. A dark morning that quickly brightened by mid-morning. There was a small gathering, massively understated as I read the event is "Windsurfing's Most Challenging Contest". It wasn't long before I understood the attitude, these guys were interested in the sport, they didn't care about hitting news headlines or making the papers, they spoke and were friendly but it was obvious the feeling was focused on the event and nothing else. Serious dedication. In fact I spoke with a competitor who told me his opposition flew in from Maui at 1.30am Monday to Dublin airport. He jumped straight into a car drove through the night. Had his breakfast and showered, then proceeded to suit up for the days challenge.

The crowds did begin to grow and by 12pm about 100 spectators looked on. The winds increased with gusts recorded over 50 knots. As the wind slightly shifted from south west to west south west the organisers decided to move the camp and head to "Hell's Gate". You couldn't build what seemed to be the God's natural Amphitheatre for this event. A little rocky cove that backed onto the North Atlantic, slightly sheltered which made launch and recovery much easier. The cliffs were lined with a variety of young and old, even the local farmers stopped traffic in their tractors to what must have been a rather unusual sight, Red Bull cars and vans, a low flying helicopter and handful of windsurfers who seemed to spend as much time in the air as in the water.

Six sailors now advance to the next mission, where and when? only the weather can decide the time and date.

Published in Surfing

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7th August 2012

Russian Wows Aran Islands Crowds at Red Bull Cliff Diving Event

#CLIFF DIVING - Russian cliff diver Artem Silchenko wowed the crowds on Inis Mor at the weekend, scoring big with a "breathtaking" new dive to take his second victory in a row in the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series.

As the Irish Independent reports, 700 lucky spectators who won tickets to the limited-capacity event in the Aran Islands saw the 28-year-old steal the thunder from veteran diver Orlando Duque on a weekend that witnessed some spectacular 28-metre dives at Poll na Peist.

"My armstand with blind entry was brilliant and I beat by Orlando by just four points," Silchenko told Red Bull after his victory, which came just two weeks after he topped Duque to claim his first win of the series in the Azores.

"When I came to the platform after Orlando dived I saw nine and nine-and-a-halfs from the judges but I knew what I had to do for my final dive [a back triple triple].

"You know it’s a good dive only when you’re underwater. You’re travelling so fast it’s impossible to take it all in. Only after the entry can you say 'yes, it’s a great dive.'"

Silchenko had to pull out all the stops with Duque putting together his best set of dives all year. And the Colombian, whose programme included a back triple triple and his trademark reverse twister, says it bodes well for the rest of the season.

"This was probably the best competition I’ve done this year," said Duque. "It’s a challenge the way Artem is performing but I’m also doing better.

"This was my highest score of the season. If I can keep up this level then it’s going to be difficult for the others."

Nine-time world champion Duque retains the lead of the overall ranking going into the second half of the 2012 series, which next heads to Boston at the end of August.

Published in Island News

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28th October 2010

Rossnowlagh Surfing to Feature in New RTE Show

Bulletin TV will be bursting onto your screens every Thursday from the 28th of October at 7pm on RTE 2. The adrenaline-jammed 8 part series brings The Red Bulletin Magazine to life and features extreme sports in full throttle from Ireland and around the world.

Aidan Power and newcomer Daniella Moyles guide viewers around the pulsating world of heroes, music, fashion and high energy sports meeting some of the worlds brightest stars and biggest risk takers along the way.

Aidan and Daniella delve deep into the world of culture and cover everything from rising music performers and fashion designers to getting down and dirty with Ireland's graffiti artists.
Bulletin TV will bring you through the USA, Switzerland, Austria and Italy as well as travelling the length and breadth of Ireland to experience firsthand events such as Rossnowlagh Irish Intercounties Surfing Championships and The Red Bull X Fighters. Along the way they meet Irish & international athletes and find out what dBUerives them beyond the amazing to achieve the incredible.
In programme 1, Aidan catches up with Ireland's top female surfer, Easkey Britton as she leads an all-girl team in the Rossnowalgh Intercounties Surfing Championships in Donegal; Daniella finds out from Karina Hollekim if BASE Jumpers are really as crazy as they seem; David Coultard burns rubber in Belfast City Centre; Keith Walsh tells us of the pain of skateboarding; with the help of Isaac Newton, Travis Pastrana jumps his car 82 meters in the air and Akte Blani demonstrates that if you don't like your seat on a plane you should move....to another plane.
In programme 2, Daniella joins one hundred motorcross and enduro riders as they do battle over the original steeple chase route in Co. Cork; Aidan talks to Felix Baumgartner about his plan to be the first person to break the sound barrier without a vehicle; Mountain Biker Aaron Chase tells us what his spinal chord and a doughnut have in common; and Daniella catches up with award winning Irish fashion designer Amanda Grogan.
So, sit back, belt up and enjoy the world of extreme sports and culture with Bulletin TV. It promises to be an unforgettable ride.

Bulletin TV is a fully funded television series produced by COCO Television for Red Bull Media House GmbH.

Published in Surfing

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Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta

From the Baily lighthouse to Dalkey island, the bay accommodates six separate courses for 21 different classes racing every two years for the Dun Laoghaire Regatta.

In assembling its record-breaking armada, Volvo Dun Laoghaire regatta (VDLR) became, at its second staging, not only the country's biggest sailing event, with 3,500 sailors competing, but also one of Ireland's largest participant sporting events.

One of the reasons for this, ironically, is that competitors across Europe have become jaded by well-worn venue claims attempting to replicate Cowes and Cork Week.'Never mind the quality, feel the width' has been a criticism of modern-day regattas where organisers mistakenly focus on being the biggest to be the best. Dun Laoghaire, with its local fleet of 300 boats, never set out to be the biggest. Its priority focussed instead on quality racing even after it got off to a spectacularly wrong start when the event was becalmed for four days at its first attempt.

The idea to rekindle a combined Dublin bay event resurfaced after an absence of almost 40 years, mostly because of the persistence of a passionate race officer Brian Craig who believed that Dun Laoghaire could become the Cowes of the Irish Sea if the town and the local clubs worked together. Although fickle winds conspired against him in 2005, the support of all four Dun Laoghaire waterfront yacht clubs since then (made up of Dun Laoghaire Motor YC, National YC, Royal Irish YC and Royal St GYC), in association with the two racing clubs of Dublin Bay SC and Royal Alfred YC, gave him the momentum to carry on.

There is no doubt that sailors have also responded with their support from all four coasts. Running for four days, the regatta is (after the large mini-marathons) the single most significant participant sports event in the country, requiring the services of 280 volunteers on and off the water, as well as top international race officers and an international jury, to resolve racing disputes representing five countries. A flotilla of 25 boats regularly races from the Royal Dee near Liverpool to Dublin for the Lyver Trophy to coincide with the event. The race also doubles as a RORC qualifying race for the Fastnet.

Sailors from the Ribble, Mersey, the Menai Straits, Anglesey, Cardigan Bay and the Isle of Man have to travel three times the distance to the Solent as they do to Dublin Bay. This, claims Craig, is one of the major selling points of the Irish event and explains the range of entries from marinas as far away as Yorkshire's Whitby YC and the Isle of Wight.

No other regatta in the Irish Sea area can claim to have such a reach. Dublin Bay Weeks such as this petered out in the 1960s, and it has taken almost four decades for the waterfront clubs to come together to produce a spectacle on and off the water to rival Cowes."The fact that we are getting such numbers means it is inevitable that it is compared with Cowes," said Craig. However, there the comparison ends."We're doing our own thing here. Dun Laoghaire is unique, and we are making an extraordinary effort to welcome visitors from abroad," he added. The busiest shipping lane in the country – across the bay to Dublin port – closes temporarily to facilitate the regatta and the placing of six separate courses each day.

A fleet total of this size represents something of an unknown quantity on the bay as it is more than double the size of any other regatta ever held there.

Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta FAQs

What is Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is Ireland's biggest sailing event. It is held every second Summer at Dun Laoghaire Harbour on Dublin Bay.

When is Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is held every two years, typically in the first weekend of July.

Where is Dun Laoghaire Regatta held?

As its name suggests, the event is based at Dun Laoghaire Harbour. Racing is held on Dublin Bay over as many as six different courses with a coastal route that extends out into the Irish Sea. Ashore, the festivities are held across the town but mostly in the four organising yacht clubs.

How big is Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is the largest sailing regatta in Ireland and on the Irish Sea and the second largest in the British Isles. It has a fleet of 500 competing boats and up to 3,000 sailors. Scotland's biggest regatta on the Clyde is less than half the size of the Dun Laoghaire event. After the Dublin city marathon, the regatta is one of the most significant single participant sporting events in the country in terms of Irish sporting events.

How old is Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

The modern Dublin Bay Regatta began in 2005, but it owes its roots to earlier combined Dublin Bay Regattas of the 1960s.

How many boats compete at Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Up to 500 boats regularly compete.

How many yacht clubs are represented at Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Up to 70 different yacht clubs are represented.

Where do the yachts come from to compete at Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

The Channel Islands, Isle of Man, England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland countrywide, and Dublin clubs.

How many boats are visiting boats at Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Nearly half the sailors, over 1,000, travel to participate from outside of Dun Laoghaire and from overseas to race and socialise in Dun Laoghaire.

What type of yachts race in Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

21 different classes are competing at Dun Laoghaire Regatta. As well as four IRC Divisions from 50-footers down to 20-foot day boats and White Sails, there are also extensive one-design keelboat and dinghy fleets to include all the fleets that regularly race on the Bay such as Beneteau 31.7s, Ruffian 23s, Sigma 33s as well as Flying Fifteens, Laser SB20s plus some visiting fleets such as the RS Elites from Belfast Lough to name by one.

What famous sailors race in Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Some sailing household names are regular competitors at the biennial Dun Laoghaire event including Dun Laoghaire Olympic silver medalist, Annalise Murphy. International sailing stars are competing too such as Mike McIntyre, a British Olympic Gold medalist and a raft of World and European class champions.

How much does it cost to enter Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

There are different entry fees for different size boats. A 40-foot yacht will pay up to €550, but a 14-foot dinghy such as Laser will pay €95. Full entry fee details are contained in the Regatta Notice of Race document.

Where can spectators view Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Spectators can see the boats racing on six courses from any vantage point on the southern shore of Dublin Bay. As well as from the Harbour walls itself, it is also possible to see the boats from Sandycove, Dalkey and Killiney, especially when the boats compete over inshore coastal courses or have in-harbour finishes.

How does Dun Laoghaire regatta compare to international regattas?

Very favourably. It is often compared to Cowes, Britain's biggest regatta on the Isle of Wight that has 1,000 entries. However, sailors based in the north of England have to travel three times the distance to get to Cowes as they do to Dun Laoghaire.

Why is Dun Laoghaire Regatta so unique?

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is unique because of its compact site offering four different yacht clubs within the harbour and the race tracks' proximity, just a five-minute sail from shore. International sailors also speak of its international travel connections and being so close to Dublin city. The regatta also prides itself on balancing excellent competition with good fun ashore.

Who organises Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

The Organising Authority (OA) of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta is Dublin Bay Regattas Ltd, a not-for-profit company, beneficially owned by Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club (DMYC), National Yacht Club (NYC), Royal Irish Yacht Club (RIYC) and Royal St George Yacht Club (RSGYC).

What does Dun Laoghaire Regatta contribute to the local economy?

The Irish Marine Federation launched a case study on the 2009 Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta's socio-economic significance. Over four days, the study (carried out by Irish Sea Marine Leisure Knowledge Network) found the event was worth nearly €3million to the local economy over the four days of the event. Typically the Royal Marine Hotel and Haddington Hotel and other local providers are fully booked for the event.