LONG BEACH >> The first National Red Bull Flugtag drew 110,000 spectators to Rainbow Harbor on Saturday to watch 28 teams hurl their flying machines off the pier in the hopes their contraptions would take flight.
The Chicken Whisperers, a team of aerospace and mechanical engineers from Palo Alto/Mountain View, proved barnyard fowl can fly when their craft actually gathered lift for some 15 seconds and flew 258 feet, a new world record that earned them first place.
“Honestly, I come for the crashes, but that was pretty awesome to see,” said Elizabeth Hurth of Long Beach after watching the winning flight.
Coming in second with an overall distance of 108 feet flown was Long Beach’s own Legendary Flying Machine, a team from popular Belmont Shore sports bar Legends that aimed to rekindle the dream of Howard Hughes and his Spruce Goose.
The team was made up of Legends co-owners Eric Johnson and David Copley, who also own the Auld Dubliner on Pine Avenue south of Ocean Boulevard, and George Schano, Legends bar manager, Erik Bakker, a products developer, and Steve Gugerty, graphic designer.
Third-place winners Oakley Factory Pilots had an Anglerfish-themed craft. Team Red White and Brew, from Reedley, Calif., took the People’s Choice Award with its Americana-themed craft, Red Bull reported.
On the other end of the spectrum was Team Haunt, which initially scored a negative distance measurement when a gust of wind picked up its flying saucer and blew it back onto the flight deck. Not a team to let a little thing like nature get in the way of a launch, the crew members picked up their disc, tossed it into the water and jumped in after it.
Saturday’s event was dubbed the first National Flugtag, because it was the first time multiple competitions were held on the same day. The other locations were Washington, D.C., Miami, Chicago and Dallas/Fort Worth.
This was the second time the Flugtag, or “flying day,” was held in Long Beach. The first was in 2010, when it set a single-day attendance record for a Long Beach event, with 105,000 people.
A strong police presence was visible Saturday, with officers in patrol vehicles, on motorcycles and bicycles, and on foot. The Coast Guard was patrolling the harbor.
Extra police patrols were deployed not only to secure the Flugtag but to deter a potential bash mob that had been rumored on social media.
Traffic was the biggest issue Long Beach police had to contend with for the event, police officials said Saturday afternoon.
Hurth and her boyfriend and her sister rode their bikes to the harbor to avoid traffic.
“A friend of ours came to the one a few years back, and he said traffic was a nightmare back then,” Hurth said. “It is today, too. I’m really glad we decided to take the bikes.”
The Chicken Whisperers’ team of five, who are all aerospace and mechanical engineers from the Palo Alto/Mountain View area, built their 85-pound craft out of foam, aluminum tubing and balsa wood, a Red Bull news release stated, adding that the team’s homemade flying machine was incredibly lightweight. So lightweight, in fact, that when team members put their craft in the “hangar area” Friday night they put sandbags on the base to prevent it from flying away, Red Bull reported. The team broke the previous world record of 229 feet set by a German team from a 2012 competition in Mainz, Germany.
“I was lucky to catch a nice wind after takeoff, and I was able to steer the craft, using grip-controlled rudders in the back of the structure, to go even further,” the Chicken Whisperers’ pilot, Laura Shane, told Red Bull.
Along with the record-breaking chicken flight, there were other memorable moments, one that took place even before any flight team member hit the water.
Austin Huffman, the pilot for the Illuminaughty, took the plunge and asked his girlfriend to marry him right before jumping off the edge of the pier. She said yes.
During a post-flight interview with Red Bull officials, Huffman said he was more nervous about asking his girlfriend to marry him than hitting the water.
Most teams flew only a few dozen feet after being pushed off the pier, but most said they were not discouraged, including members of the Viajes de los Muertos team made up of members of the Cal State Long Beach Society of Hispanic Professional engineers. They vowed to try again the next time Flugtag comes to Southern California.
“I’ve been itching to come to one of these events for years,” said Rob Nelson of Santa Monica, who had his own flight to catch early Saturday afternoon. “But I just had to come by and watch it.”
Nelson and his friend, Lisa Pettit, mugged for pics in front of the Red Bull inflatable arch ushering people into the harbor.
The lawn across from the pier was covered with spectators eagerly waiting for the next team to take the plunge.
One after another, the flight crews made their way to the edge of the pier, performed a short skit and threw caution and their crafts to the wind.
Spectators cheered and raised numbered cards bestowing a score from 0 to 10 upon the teams.
The official judges, who hung out on a yacht near the splash-down area, included Adam Devine, Anders Holm and Blake Anderson from the Comedy Central show “Workaholics,” world-record cycle-jumper Robbie Maddison, Kevin Ryder of KROQ’s Kevin & Bean Morning show, Mexican music show host Yarel Ramos, and NBC-TV host Carson Daly. “Baywatch” star David Hasselhoff was expected to judge but was called away for a family reason.
Multiple jumbo screens were set up around the The Pike, allowing people to enjoy the various flights at different locations.
“I tried to grab a spot a little closer, and it’s just way too packed,” said Evan Burkle, who was sitting with friends near The Pike’s merry-go-round watching the Flugtag from one of the large screens.
For others, the Flugtag inspired their need to create.
“I definitely want to try it the next time it comes by,” said Nelson. “I’ve been thinking about it, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to do it.”
The first Red Bull Flugtag took flight in Vienna, Austria, in 1992, but it took 10 years before the event reached American soil. In the years since, more than 35 Red Bull Flugtags have been held around the world.
Contact Beatriz E. Valenzuela at 562-499-1466.
