JOE headed to the Azores (it's a dirty job, but someone has to do it) to catch up with the lads taking part in the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series, and tried to find out what makes them tick
Standing 27 metres above the rough waves of the Atlantic Ocean below, the Red Bull cliff divers must surely be looking down at what awaits them and having second thoughts, feeling the natural fear that every person would in their situation.
Still, if they were, we couldn't tell, as one after another, they performed somersaults, back flips, ridiculous twists, and came crashing back down into the water.
On the way down, the athletes experience forces of between 2-3Gs and when they finally hit the water, they're traveling at around 90km/h, so to say that this sport is for adrenaline junkies might be a bit of an understatement. Injury is part of the everyday risk, and a poorly executed entrance will not only dislocate shoulders or arms, but, if you hit it at the wrong angle, can force you to...evacuate your bowels, shall we say.
Knowing all this, we wanted to try and figure out what exactly brought these athletes to the edge of the cliff, literally, and what impulse made them want to take that first leap.
We caught up with nine-time world champion Orlando Duque, winner of the last three Red Bull World Series competitions Gary Hunt, and a man who could well be a wildcard in this year's competition, Eber Pava who is returning to the sport after a two year absence.
JOE: In today's event you guys jumped off a cliff and the platform, is there a big difference?
Orlando Duque: Oh there's a huge difference. The cliff here, even though it's not that far back, unconsciously you're pushing yourself right out to get away from the rocks, and in diving that's not the best technique, judges are looking for you to make a straight leap up and down. I think that's what makes it fun though, you have to kind of reset yourself to make the platform jump after coming off the cliff.
JOE: Both of the spots where you landed, even off the platform, were really close to the rocks...
Gary Hunt: It does get the heart rate pumping alright, all through the dive you can see the cliff face and the rocks and you're just thinking “I hope I hit the water!”
OD: The dive that Gary is doing too, the trick he's performing, he's facing the rocks the whole way down right until he hits the water, which is pretty scary.
JOE: Is it different driving into fresh water or a pool as opposed to here in the ocean?
OD: If it's fresh water and it's flat, then it's harder to break the surface at the moment of impact. I feel that it's a little bit softer on a day like today when the water is moving a lot. It's still not soft though, none of the impacts are ever soft!
GH: Every impact is different, you can hit totally vertical two times, and you'll feel them totally differently because you did something different under the water or something.
JOE: Do you prefer jumping for the platform or the cliff
GH: To do a whole competition from the rocks is totally different to doing one from the platform. We can hit bigger tricks off the platform and try the harder dives, but it's so great to have the mix like we do here.
OD: For me, the essence of the sport is the cliff, and to at least be able to one dive from there is great for us. When you're up there, you can stand back and say “alright, this is cliff diving”.
Orlando Duque shows that doing an extreme sport gets you all the birds
JOE: For a lot of our readers, this will be a totally new sport, how did you start off?
Eber Pava: I started young, with the Olympic dives [from 10 metres] and doing some diving shows, but Orlando invited me to come out and try the cliff diving with Red Bull, and I ended up staying with it. It's scary some times, but it's a huge adrenaline rush.
JOE: What about the moment right before you jump?
EP: Before I jump, I prepare my body and my mentality for the dive. I'm thinking all the time, imagining what the dive is going to be like and picturing it so I can get it right. Once I jump off then you have to think about the part in the air, getting the somersault right, you're constantly focused the whole time.
Eber getting prepared for his dive, taking the old "hop, skip and a jump" saying quite literally
JOE: Is there ever any fear?
EP: Always. There's always fear. Today even it was a little more so than normal, because the sea was rough and the waves were really crashing in hard, so that makes you concerned about sticking the landing. Thankfully, everyone made it through safely and is feeling pretty good right now.
JOE: And what about practising, can you guys make it to a cliff every day to try out your routines?
EP: I practice in the swimming pool, normally the ten metre jump and I'll practice maybe half of my dive for the competition. So if I'm going to do do three somersaults and three twists, I'll do two somersaults and two twists in the pool. It really depends on the dive, but I still work out in the gym of course, and do yoga too to help me relax and stretch.
JOE: Finally, how did you guys feel you got on today in the preliminary rounds?
EP: I'm happy with my dive today, I hope tomorrow will be better, I'm just back from a two year hiatus from the Red Bull World Series, so I'm feeling pretty good at the moment.
OD: Tomorrow will be the real battle I think!
