The Kirby Extreme Team from Ventura will compete in the upcoming Red Bull Flugtag, a contest which involves building a human-powered flying machine that will be launched off a 30-foot flight deck in Long Beach. The five-member team will play this Saturday against other team participants coming from all over the West Coast for the Red Bull Flugtag Hall of Fame. 
According to Scott Houston, Communications Manager of Red Bull, Flugtag or “Flying Day” in German, has more than 400 applications from which the most creative teams were chosen to have their brief moment at human flight. Spectators will certainly enjoy this super wacky visual event as participants display their “technical expertise, creativity, fun-loving attitude and bravery,” Houston said. The Communications Manager, who plays a major role in the Red Bull Flugtag Long Beach from planning to its execution, further described the event as both fun and family friendly.
Expert surfer Dan Hill of the Kirby Extreme Team who has ridden big waves and gotten used to plunging into the ocean often as high as 25 feet, said he isn’t nervous at all about crashing. Growing up in Ventura, he has hit water so many times that the thought of having to launch off a flight deck as high as that in the contest then plummeting into the waters below actually sounded “fun” to him.
Their team is named after the Kirby Kia Dealership in Ventura where all the team members work for and who likewise sponsored them together with Body Glove in Redondo Beach. The team’s human-powered flying machine called The Shark Attack Project is like a hang glider with a little modification of a surfboard. It was patterned from the kite once made by Brill, only now it features a huge black shark made of lightweight framework covered with fabric.
It’s very interesting to note that the Best Day Foundation, a non-profit organization helping special kids through adventure sports, which the team supports will receive donation pledges for every foot the guys will fly. Kudos Kirby Extreme Team!!!
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