flugtag sf

Yesterday we went down to Pier 30-32 to check out the Red Bull Flugtag, watching people hurtle themselves into the bay on all sorts of crazy contraptions. With some notable exceptions, performance art upstaged engineering merit, but it was a blast regardless. My favorites were the boys from Cal trying to fly a super-sized paper airplane, the giant red bull with the embedded catapult, and El Toro Guapo, a giant medieval-style catapult that launched a man 61 feet! Aw, good mindless fun.

   

Next year I want to build a flugtag. I know enough engineers and artists that we could do something fairly interesting. Right now I 'm thinking of a slingshot catapult that launches a man into the air -- with the man hooked into a spring-loaded hang-glider that he can deploy at the apex of his flight. That would be dope. Let me know if you want to join the team.