Sunday, November 11, 2012

Flugtag San Francisco

I'm pretty sure that the Red Bull Flugtag was the silliest thing going on in San Franciso on Saturday afternoon. Teams compete to build unlikely human-powered flying machines & launch them into McCovey Cove by pushing them off the end of a high ramp. Scores take into account creativity as well as length of flight, so wacky costumes & dance skits are part of the show. I watched Stanford students, drag queens, & the cast of Scooby Doo, among others, take flying leaps into the water. Some of the most aerodynamic-looking crafts collapsed before making it to the end of the runway, while a shopping cart made up as a banana launched its pilot farther than most.

Flugtag San Francisco 2012, 11.10.2012 Flugtag crowd at San Francisco AT&T Park.I was overwhelmed by the crowds, which were at least 10 deep on both sides of McCovey Cove. There were an inordinate number of tall people, so I gave up trying to see the launches directly & instead watched the video screens in AT&T park, where the field & the stands were full as well. The videos stream was slickly-produced & included excellent instant replays from various angles. Announcers claimed that 100,000 people were in attendance. AT&T Park concession stands were open. Red Bull did not seem to be the most commonly imbibed beverage, however.

§ Red Bull Flugtag San Francisco 2012
McCovey Cove
11 November 2012

2 comments:

Civic Center said...

I was envying you seeing Das Flugtag, because I liked their commercials so much showing pratfalls from earlier editions, until you came up with the 100,000 number. Not fun. Thanks for playing intrepid reporter.

Axel Feldheim said...

I think if I had known it was going to be so crowded, I would have avoided it too! The open ballpark was really necessary to provide crowd relief.

I spent all Saturday in crowds, since my BART rides to & from Cal Performances that evening coincided exactly with the Cal football game mob.