Flugtag in Austin

[geshaw30]

As Tone mentioned in the "Upcoming Events" we will be heading up to Austin on 8/24 and 8/25 to cheer my eldest son and his Flugtag team:

The Chupacabra Iditarod Sled Team
www.redbullflugtagusa.com/Texas2007/teams.aspx (and click the name link)
as they launch into the murky bat guano waters that make up Town Lake. For those of you who aren't well versed in exactly what Red Bull's national sponsored tourney is here is another link to brighten your day a little bit:
www.io.com/house/flugtag4.html
He and his team of idiots were lucky enough to be offered an entry into the event as hundreds of other "I wanna crash into the lake" entries were turned away. A film crew has already been down here to document the building effort as Jeremiah puts together his flying PVC pipe sled.

We will be leaving here around noon on Friday for the trek northwest. As a matter of record Cary & I will be headquartered out at the Hyatt on Town Lake both days. Give Tone a hollar, follow our pilgrimage up there, or leave message for me at the hotel if you have a desire to attend. Dinner on Friday or lunch on Saturday with a group of folks would be great. I think the wife would like to take the "bat boat" float on Friday night (nightly event in Austin of watching 1.5 million bats fly out from under the bridge....wear a hat) as she missed it the last time I went to visit. That boat ride alone is worth the trip as it is an amazing spectacle .

I have put in an appeal to the team to strap a Hot Wheels VX to the sled's front as matter of national record, video posterity, and mostly as a cheezy hood ornament. Not sure I'm gonna be granted that request though as he mentioned something about "disruption of aerodynamic flow".

I've been to the Flugtag in Miami a few years back. It's a hoot

[tom4bren]

Dang. I'll miss it by a week. I'll be in Austin on business next week.

Guess I'll just have to console myself by eating a big juicy steak instead.

[VX crazy]

Dang. I'll miss it by a week. I'll be in Austin on business next week.

Guess I'll just have to console myself by eating a big juicy steak instead.

Do we need to have a mini austin dinner meet for ya??

[tom4bren]

Probably won't work out. They have me scheduled for 14 hour days whilst I'm there. I'll have to come back to work for a vacation after that.

Next trip I'll schedule a free evening. We can even see how far off road a rental car can go if you'll be so kind as to tow me back to the hotel!!!

[VX crazy]

Probably won't work out. They have me scheduled for 14 hour days whilst I'm there. I'll have to come back to work for a vacation after that.

Next trip I'll schedule a free evening. We can even see how far off road a rental car can go if you'll be so kind as to tow me back to the hotel!!!


Oh that sounds fun! Gotta love rental cars!

[tom4bren]

Yeah, I've only totaled 2 rentals so far. It's about time for another.

[Dumke]

So are there still plans? My brother is wanting to go for his birthday and I mentioned some vx'rs may go he said cool. I have that weekend free. Are there dinner/lunch or whatever plans?



Also do you know when your son will be going? Or is it like heats/brackets and last till sunday?

[geshaw30]

Dumke- The deal is a "one flight for distance only" as the bulk the the flying machines die a horrible death once they hit the drink so it will be over Saturday night. I'm not sure what time the Chupacabra Iditarod Sled Team goes off the ramp but I know the deal starts in the late afternoon/early evening.

I spoke with Tone and the inital plans haven't changed much from my original post. Cary & I plan on arriving in Austin mid afternoon, on Friday, at the Hyatt on Town Lake. I think we'll meet up with the local crew at the Hyatt around 5 and grab dinner (that mexican place we ate at in the hotel the last time I was there was pretty tasty) then do the bat boat run if time and crowds permit. If the event is the same as in Miami the "contestants" will be setting up in the park that Friday night. It's a lot of fun looking at the entries up close, with various cocktails in hand, so I think we'll meet up with my son then and "browse".

Saturday during the day is still up in the air but I'd kinda like to go check out Julian's rides that are stacked up in his garage if we can get an invite :p . I think we'll go grab lunch on the local's folks recommendations before the event. I suspect the crowd for the actual deal will be huge so I plan on getting down "lake side" about 4ish to see Jeremiah's sled team and make one last plea to glue a Hot Wheels VX to the sled or glider frame. If you want to meet up with us somewhere in "all the above" my cell is 281-924-3007. Call me and I'll let you know where we are. The central meeting point for both days will be the Hyatt.

Here is the Red Bull press release on Jeremiah's team entry:
****************************
Pilot: Jeremiah Shaw
Hometown: Houston, TX

Jeremiah Shaw has a unique strategy for capturing the crowd’s attention at Red Bull Flugtag Texas. “Creativity, showmanship, and threats of rampant blood drainage,” he says with a matter-of-fact shrug. “The chupacabra thing is just plain awesome.” You see, Shaw seems to have a mild obsession with the hypothetical species that supposedly sucks the blood of goats. (He once fronted the name “Houston Chupacabras” for the city’s soccer team but got only 7 percent of the vote.) Fortunately, the pals joining in Shaw’s Flugtag effort – Dixie Dismukes, Danny Hall, Luis Mesen, and Bryan Osborne – share his vision, and thus a chupacabra entry was born.

But that ain’t all. Joining urban legend with sports legend, the teammates have incorporated an “Iditarod sled” as their aircraft. A chupacabra will be the musher of a sled pulled by – you guessed it – a team of goats. It’s not the first time this group has pulled off something silly; all of the “goats” have known each other since their days at Texas A&M. Shaw can’t wait for his next chance to get crazy, declaring, “Strap me to a flying toboggan and dress me up like a giant Mexican goat-sucker, and it’s on like Donkey Kong!”

[The Chupacabra Iditarod Sled team consists of pilot Jeremiah J. Shaw and flight crew Dixie Dismukes, Danny Hall, Luis Mesen and Bryan Osborne. The team is headquartered in Houston, TX.]

[Dumke]

LOL that is awesome. Well are the other vxers going out to lunch or something?


I will probably leave fort worth area saturday morning if we plan on lunch. I guess just wondering if you all are planing lunch what time i need be down there. Also want to see the sleds up close and such. This will be mine and bro's 1st event so woudl liek to see what goes into a sled.


Anyways I guess any info like that would be cool if not or dont have any set lunch plans with tone and whom ever else vx wise then will call see where everyone is when we get to austin.

[geshaw30]

Look forward to seeing you then. Plan on Saturday lunch around 1pm. Gimme a call when you get into town.

[VX crazy]

There is a good mexican resturant that was the Real World Austin house, they turned it into a restruant after the show ended! It is down by the Hyatt! OR if you want to try barbeque.....I say we can decide at the time what everyone feels like! Because there are so many great roads here, and views. Anyone hear from Julian? Also if we can coordinate with Julian to see his rides, we could grab a cocktail at my house which is a little more north of Julians, but a pretty drive.....and 'slight' offroading if we want!

[geshaw30]

VX crazy- The one at 301 San Jacinto (Rio Grande Mexican restaurant)? If that's the place then you're right--it's 2 blocks from the hotel across the bridge. I say your suggestion is a winner. Let's plan late dinner there on Friday night after the bat boat ride.

I haven't heard from Julian yet.

[Dumke]

lunch/dinner dinner/lunch. I will call when otw but dont know austin all that well. If you all are meeting som where for lunch I guess i may need directions as I was going to try and plan it out b4 i got there. But will call when i get close. see you all there. :)

[VX crazy]

Dumke are you coming down friday or saturday? Austin really seems like your kind of place! Message me and I can send you my # since I dont know how well George knows his way around Austin.......

[geshaw30]

George knows Austin as well as his friends and his Garmin get him around :cool: .

[tom4bren]

geshaw - good luck to your son this weekend. I saw some ads on TV for it while in Austin - looks like fun.

VX crazy - Loved visiting your neck of the woods. Hopefully next trip we can hook up.

[geshaw30]

Thanks Tom- he'll need it. I just want him to come out of this thing alive without the Austin PD Dive Team fetching him off the bottom of Town Lake.

Dumke- Do a mapquest for the Hyatt (208 Barton Springs-Austin) and figure that to be the easiest meeting place. If you're coming for the event on Saturday only then these are the current plans I have locked down: I am going to have to take the wife to the hotel around 3:30 that afternoon for a "health rest" until 5. We plan on meeting in the Hyatt lobby a little after 5, maybe grab a cocktail in their watering hole, then walk over to the event next door. Dinner will be once the Flugtag is finished or my son gets carted away to the nearest medical facility-which ever comes first.

Prior to 3:30 on Saturday is still in the air I'm afraid. I suspect early lunch somewhere then a trip to vxcrazy's or Juilian's house (or both). As I said the main thing I need to get done is make sure the little misses gets some rest before heading over to the park.

[VX crazy]

For sure message me or email me when you know next time and we can arrange a get together!


geshaw - good luck to your son this weekend. I saw some ads on TV for it while in Austin - looks like fun.

VX crazy - Loved visiting your neck of the woods. Hopefully next trip we can hook up.

[geshaw30]

For those attending the event this weekend -I just received this:
(see you all Friday evening)
************************************************
Ahoy!

So after two months, the day I've been tirelessly preparing for has come...

Tomorrow (Thursday) morning, I leave for Austin to put the final touches on The Chupacabra Iditarod Sled and ready it for Saturday's Red Bull Flugtag, an event that will undoubtedly catapult both myself, and my loyal team of goats, into the annals of flight history.

For those who are interested in witnessing the event/carnage first-hand, doors open at Auditorium Shores in downtown Austin at 5pm.
The first is jump slated for 6:30pm. (We're jumping 4th.)

And for those of you who cannot make it, WE STILL NEED YOUR HELP!

By texting the number "4" to "72855 [or "RBULL"] between the hours of 7 - 9pm on Saturday, you can cast your vote for The Chupacabra Iditarod Sled as your choice for "Crowd Favorite." And since our craft is about as aerodynamic as your garden variety bulldozer, this is the part of the contest we have our sights on.
So tell a friend, and help us out!

Thank you all for your support and, pending I survive the fall, I'll see you upon my return.

Jeremiah Shaw
-Chupacabra-
**********************************

and this was written in today's Houston Chronicle:


Aug. 22, 2007, 10:04AM
Look! It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a ... roach?

By LANA BERKOWITZ
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

Chupacabra Iditarod Sled Team promises blood before it makes its plunge into Austin's Town Lake on Saturday. Texas Roach Wranglers plan to make a splash with a giant roach.

Chupacabra and Roach will be representing Houston in the U.S. Red Bull Flugtag. The competition features human-powered flying craft that are launched off an elevated ramp. Teams of up to five people perform a 30-second skit before the pilot is sent into the air and eventually into the water.

Flugtag — or "flying day" — originated in 1991 in Vienna, Austria, and marketers for Red Bull energy drink brought it to the U.S. in 2002 with a competition in San Francisco. The U.S. flight record of 155 feet was set in Nashville, Tenn., in June. The only other U.S. stop for 2007 is Friday's Austin extravaganza.

David Sutherland, mastermind of the Texas Roach Wranglers, wanted a Texas theme but thought a bucking bronco would be too tame. He will be riding a wild, Texas-size roach.

Sutherland, an Art Car Parade veteran, has spent two months working on the project. On Saturday Sutherland and his assistant, Roddie Shuster, were bugging out — stapling fabric on the body of the 12-foot bug and painting the legs roach-brown.

Jeremiah Shaw, who petitioned for the Dynamo soccer team to be named Houston Chupacabras, will be his team's chupacabra (a mythical devil creature). Dressed in black Lycra, Shaw will ride a sled pulled by teammates dressed as goats.

Team Chupacabra has constructed a sled from a gutted hang glider. The contraption is about 15 feet long with a wingspan of 25 feet. Construction is taking place at the home of the lone Austinite on the team, Bryan Osborne.

Last weekend they were working out how to use the fake blood, but Shaw is most concerned about his outfit.

"I'm trying to figure out how to keep that G-rated because Lycra gets clingy when it gets wet."

lana.berkowitz@chron.com

[LittleBeast]

Hey all Houston VXer's, George, Lisa, Tone, all, sorry I missed the last meeting, I have been really upset with the Isuzu dealership for ruining my transmission and then not fixing the problem and now just not doing anything, so I have not felt up to crippling my VX and it's touchy transmission out to see everybody, but supposedly the dealership is going to rebuild the tranmission pump and see if that fixes the pressure problem that the transmission is experiencing because of their negligence in leaving the VX over one quart low on trans fluid last time they did maintainance on it.

But because of all this I decided to buy a 2nd set off wheels while the VX is out at the dealer sitting there not getting fixed, I will try to pt up pics of the new ride soon. Have fun this weekend in Austin, sorry I can't make this one either I am going home to Waco to see my family for the weekend. Be safe.

[VX crazy]

Ryan, sorry to hear you are still having problems with the dealership! That is my biggest concern, something like that they can not figure out and I am without a vehicle since the extended warranty is over.

What did you get????? Tell us about the new ride!

Enjoy your weekend with family, you will be in our thoughts!

[Dumke]

Bro and I will be heading down after work today to austin. So will be there tonight. I have never been so he said he would show me around some "6th" street i do believe. Anyways lisa Will see you all for lunch tomorrow.

[VX crazy]

I did not know you guys were coming in town tonight! You need to meet us all at Rio Grand Mexican resturant downtown at 8pm tonight! It was were real world austin was made! its on 3rd and rio grand I believe

[Dumke]

Well becasue i was late this morning <shh dont tell boss> we are leaving later so wouldnt be down there till about 10 pm or so :( We will probably leave here maybe 7pm is and actually that would make it around 9pm. Will give you a call if we are close. comming down 35 and will have to google map it or whatever to see where I am going.

[geshaw30]

A quick thanks for the Austin hospitality. As always I enjoyed the time spent with friends- both old & new. As a quick recap my son came out of the deal unscathed. He entertained the 85,000 strong on both banks (and water) of Town/Lady Bird Lake. One of the many interviews from local television is here. You’ll see his entry several times. Once when you hear “to the moon” hit pause and you’ll see, or sorta see him, in the black outfit & goggles in the back ground. Then the film cuts to the sled launch and finally an interview (Jeremiah Shaw) at the end.
http://www.myfoxaustin.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=4173090&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1

Was good to meet you Dumke (and your bro)- sorry I didn’t get the chance to see all you on flight day but there was no way to get over to the other bank through the huddle masses. I’m not sure what idiot planned a Texas event in August but I doubt the folks at Red Bull will make that mistake again. The temps had to reach 105 or more.

But all in all it was time well spent.