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Displaying items by tag: Red Bull Flugtag

#Flugtag - The long-awaited return of the Red Bull Flugtag to Dun Laoghaire Harbour is just two days away.

As previously reported on Afloat.ie, the event this Sunday 20 May will see over 50 teams attempt to push the limits of human flight as they launch their handcrafted flying machines in front of over 40,000 spectators.

The National Yacht Club invites its members to enjoy the spectacle “from your club’s best vantage point” with a barbecue as well as live music and entertainment from 1pm to 5pm.

Members should also be aware that there will be an exclusion zone in the Carlisle Basin with two patrol RIBs from the club to help channel the traffic.

It is also advised not bring your boat alongside the pontoons, as masts or high cabins would impede the view of the show.

The NYC’s launch service is not affected by the Flugtag, but there will be no renting of club boats this weekend.

For further details on the event, including road closures, parking and public transport, see the official Red Bull Flugtag event guide.

Taking flight from Dún Laoghaire Harbour on Sunday, 20th May, the Red Bull Flugtag will return to Irish shores this summer. It will see over 50 teams attempt to push the limits of human flight, as they launch their handcrafted flying machines in front of over 40,000 spectators. 

Red Bull Flugtag challenges the brave and brainy to design, build and pilot homemade flying machines off a 9-metre high flight deck, in the hope of soaring into the wild blue yonder…or more often, to plunge into the waters below. Flugtag, which means “flying day” in German, pushes the envelope of human-powered flight but competitors need more than airtime to reach the podium. Teams are judged on three criteria: flight distance, creativity of the craft, and showmanship. These criteria have inspired flying tacos, prehistoric pterodactyls, and even Snoopy and the gang to grace the Flugtag flight decks! 

In 2011, Dublin celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Red Bull Flugtag series and they are bringing back the madness to the capital on 20th May, 2018. 

If you are interested in participating, applications open 21st February. Five-member teams of aspiring aviators and courageous craftsmen and women can apply for a chance to compete at Red Bull Flugtag 2018 by submitting flying-machine plans. The deadline to submit craft designs is 31st March. 

Applying to participate in Red Bull Flugtag is free. Pilots and participants must be 18 or older.

The Red Bull Flugtag celebrates its 100th event in Dun Laoghaire next Sunday, and organisers have posted details for spectators planning to spend the day cheering on those magnificent flying machines!
The site for the free event will open at 12 noon, with the show taking place from 1pm till 4.30pm. All public access to the event site is via Dun Laoghaire Harbour/East Pier beside the National Yacht Club (the viewing area for those with disabilities is on Carlisle Pier beside the Royal St George).
There are a number of road diversions and parking restrictions to be aware of, full details of which are listed HERE. Temporary signage will advise motorists of impending diversions, and there is ample parking available at the Pavilion, Bloomfields and the IMC cinemas.
Visitors can also arrive by public transport, with bus routes 7, 7a, 46a, 75 and 111 all running to Dun Laoghaire. DART services will also run every 30 minutes and extra capacity will be provided.
The organisers wish to remind all spectators that the Red Bull Flugtag is a family event, and the consumption of alcohol in public will not be permitted.
Watch the world flugtag record being set in Minnesota last year. Maybe a new one will be set in Dun Laoghaire next weekend?

The Red Bull Flugtag celebrates its 100th event in Dun Laoghaire next Sunday, and organisers have posted details for spectators planning to spend the day cheering on those magnificent flying machines!

The site for the free event will open at 12 noon, with the show taking place from 1pm till 4.30pm. All public access to the event site is via Dun Laoghaire Harbour/East Pier beside the National Yacht Club (the viewing area for those with disabilities is on Carlisle Pier beside the Royal St George).

There are a number of road diversions and parking restrictions to be aware of, full details of which are listed HERE. Temporary signage will advise motorists of impending diversions, and there is ample parking available at the Pavilion, Bloomfields and the IMC cinemas.

Visitors can also arrive by public transport, with bus routes 7, 7a, 46a, 75 and 111 all running to Dun Laoghaire. DART services will also run every 30 minutes and extra capacity will be provided.

The organisers wish to remind all spectators that the Red Bull Flugtag is a family event, and the consumption of alcohol in public will not be permitted.

Watch the world flugtag record being set in Minnesota last year. Maybe a new one will be set in Dun Laoghaire next weekend?

Published in Dublin Bay
The Red Bull Flugtag will celebrate its 100th event when it comes back to Dublin this summer.
Twenty years on from the first flugtag in Austria, this year's contest promises an "Irish twist" on the formula, whereby homemade flying machines shoot off a 30-foot deck in the vain hope of not splashing into the water below.
Budding pilots will take their creative flying contraptions to Dun Laoghaire on 22 May for a day of entertainment and spectacle for all ages.
Organisers are hoping for "plenty of the outrageous and innovative machines for which the Red Bull Flugtag has become famous - and who knows, maybe we'll get a world record to round off what we hope will be the perfect event!"
For more details visit the Red Bull Fluhtag Dublin 2011 Facebook page.

The Red Bull Flugtag will celebrate its 100th event when it comes back to Dublin this summer.

Twenty years on from the first flugtag in Austria, this year's contest promises an "Irish twist" on the formula, whereby homemade flying machines shoot off a 30-foot deck in the vain hope of not splashing into the water below.

Budding pilots will take their creative flying contraptions to Dun Laoghaire on 22 May for a day of entertainment and spectacle for all ages.

Organisers are hoping for "plenty of the outrageous and innovative machines for which the Red Bull Flugtag has become famous - and who knows, maybe we'll get a world record to round off what we hope will be the perfect event!"

For more details visit the Red Bull Flugtag Dublin 2011 Facebook page HERE.

Published in Dublin Bay

Howth 17 information

The oldest one-design keelboat racing class in the world is still competing today to its original 1897 design exclusively at Howth Yacht club.

Howth 17 FAQs

The Howth 17 is a type of keelboat. It is a 3-man single-design keelboat designed to race in the waters off Howth and Dublin Bay.

The Howth Seventeen is just 22ft 6ins in hull length.

The Howth 17 class is raced and maintained by the Association members preserving the unique heritage of the boats. Association Members maintain the vibrancy of the Class by racing and cruising together as a class and also encourage new participants to the Class in order to maintain succession. This philosophy is taken account of and explained when the boats are sold.

The boat is the oldest one-design keelboat racing class in the world and it is still racing today to its original design exclusively at Howth Yacht club. It has important historical and heritage value keep alive by a vibrant class of members who race and cruise the boats.

Although 21 boats are in existence, a full fleet rarely sails buy turnouts for the annual championships are regularly in the high teens.

The plans of the Howth 17 were originally drawn by Walter Herbert Boyd in 1897 for Howth Sailing Club. The boat was launched in Ireland in 1898.

They were originally built by John Hilditch at Carrickfergus, County Down. Initially, five boats were constructed by him and sailed the 90-mile passage to Howth in the spring of 1898. The latest Number 21 was built in France in 2017.

The Howth 17s were designed to combat local conditions in Howth that many of the keel-less boats of that era such as the 'Half-Rater' would have found difficult.

The original fleet of five, Rita, Leila, Silver Moon, Aura and Hera, was increased in 1900 with the addition of Pauline, Zaida and Anita. By 1913 the class had increased to fourteen boats. The extra nine were commissioned by Dublin Bay Sailing Club for racing from Kingstown (Dún Laoghaire) - Echo, Sylvia, Mimosa, Deilginis, Rosemary, Gladys, Bobolink, Eileen and Nautilus. Gradually the boats found their way to Howth from various places, including the Solent and by the latter part of the 20th century they were all based there. The class, however, was reduced to 15 due to mishaps and storm damage for a few short years but in May 1988 Isobel and Erica were launched at Howth Yacht Club, the boats having been built in a shed at Howth Castle - the first of the class actually built in Howth.

The basic wooden Howth 17 specification was for a stem and keel of oak and elm, deadwood and frames of oak, planking of yellow pine above the waterline and red pine below, a shelf of pitch pine and a topstrake of teak, larch deck-beams and yellow pine planking and Baltic spruce spars with a keel of lead. Other than the inclusion of teak, the boats were designed to be built of materials which at that time were readily available. However today yellow pine and pitch pine are scarce, their properties of endurance and longevity much appreciated and very much in evidence on the original five boats.

 

It is always a busy 60-race season of regular midweek evening and Saturday afternoon contests plus regattas and the Howth Autumn League.

In 2017, a new Howth 17 Orla, No 21, was built for Ian Malcolm. The construction of Orla began in September 2016 at Skol ar Mor, the boat-building school run by American Mike Newmeyer and his dedicated team of instructor-craftsmen at Mesquer in southern Brittany. In 2018, Storm Emma wrought extensive destruction through the seven Howth Seventeens stored in their much-damaged shed on Howth’s East Pier at the beginning of March 2018, it was feared that several of the boats – which since 1898 have been the very heart of Howth sailing – would be written off. But in the end only one – David O’Connell’s Anita built in 1900 by James Clancy of Dun Laoghaire – was assessed as needing a complete re-build. Anita was rebuilt by Paul Robert and his team at Les Ateliers de l’Enfer in Douarnenez in Brittany in 2019 and Brought home to Howth.

The Howth 17 has a gaff rig.

The total sail area is 305 sq ft (28.3 m2).

©Afloat 2020