The famous Red Bull Flutag comes to Auckland. Our friend Tyler from “Yana” drives us 2.5 hours into the city for the first time. It is a beautiful drive on a 2-lane highway through green, lush mountains. It was a wonderful way to arrive into the big “city.”
Crowds start to gather along the rail early at the center of Wynyard Quarter (where the America’s Cup was held in 2020).
It was a rainy and ugly day, but we managed to squeeze a marvelous time out of it. We bellied up to a tall table in a restaurant called The Good George. We could see the launching platform, the large TV screens, and enjoy the comfort of rain cover. Plus, we had tasty food and craft beers!
So, what are the particulars of Flutag?
- The platform is 6 meters high
- The longest flight was 78 meters (258’) in Long Beach in 2013
- 30 teams registered for the Auckland event, but only 21 showed and 1 had to drop out
- Judging is based on creativity and distance
- Creativity includes showmanship, pre-flight show and dance, costumes, music
- Flight is distance flown
Rules:
- The craft has to be homemade
- Craft must be human powered
- 1 pilot and 3 crew
- Maximum length is 6 meters
- maximum weight is 180kg
Prizes: 1st Prize $15,000, 2nd Prize $10,000, 3rd Prize $5,000 plus lots of sponsor prizes.
I headed to the Red Bull Flutag center during one of the rain lulls to check out the activities and crafts.
The Crafts:
Since this was my first Flutag I was determined to go “back stage” to see the crafts up close and personal!
They certainly were very creative
This large, red, well designed craft gave everyone high hopes. We all were convinced it would do well, but in the end it just went splash like the others.
Another air craft with high hopes managed to fly less than 10 meters.
It was the same story for most of the air crafts – flying between 8-10 meters and not making the podium.
Until the Red Barren and Snoopy came to take their turn. They managed to fly a whopping 47 meters taking first place! They are no stranger to Flutag. The same team won first place during the event held in Auckland. Check out the Red Barren and Snoopy at 2hrs54 minutes.
Super fun day with good friends and awesome entertainment! I highly recommend checking out a Red Bull Flutag if they come to your neck of the woods!
The events from this blog occurred in early December. In our last blog post we celebrate my 55th birthday.