The Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series is making its way to our now deliciously sunny shores and taking up residence on the beautiful island of Inis Mór at the end of June, and you may be have heard or seen a little bit about it already seeing as two of the divers, as well as one of our own brave writers, made a splash into the Liffey off the Jeanie Johnston earlier this month. But what is it all about? Well we went all the way to Havana, Cuba for the first leg of the tour to find out. Yes, jammy isn't even the word, we know.
Arriving into Havana is pretty much like you expect it's going to be: it's tropical (read: very hot for pale and pasty Irish folk), colourful and full of life. It's easy to see why Red Bull picked this as their first stop on the tour, although none of the locals would need any of the energy drink to keep them going as they're some of the liveliest people you'll ever come across. And it's also like being thrown back in time because the streets are full of classic cars from the '50s and '60s. We're talking Chevys, Buicks and Thunderbirds at every corner, enough to make Lana Del Rey wet herself with glee and American nostalgia. And if you're a car nut and fancy a spin in on, you're in luck: most of these old birds are taxis that will take you for a spin at the drop of a hat.
The main location for the competition in Havana was El Morro, an old fort that defended the city for centuries at the mouth of the harbour and now functions as a tourist attraction. Yes, as if these divers weren't mad enough and things weren't as dangerous as they were, Red Bull decided they were going to be jumping off the side of a Colonial fort. But you can't say it doesn't make for a pretty picture.
So what is this Cliff Diving all about? Well it's exactly what it says on the tin, diving off cliffs. It is said to have begun in Hawaii in the 18th century but their is a big difference between the original divers and today's, mostly that divers back in the day were seen as kamikaze adrenaline junkies and today's cliff divers are so much more. These guys are athletes through and through, some former Olympic divers, some professional cliff divers, and some even dive on the side while working normal jobs on their off time.
But back to the diving. It's similar to your regular diving, but the platform height is bumped up to 27m, almost three times the highest Olympic dive which is, to put it mildly, pant-soiling-ly high. Some fast facts about this kind of high diving? Well diving from this height means that athletes reach speeds of up to 85km/h before they hit the water, which they do after 3 seconds. The depth of the water is at least 5m, and the impact is nine times harder than diving off a 10m board and there is no protection for the body other than their own skin and muscle. Basically, if we were to do it, we'd probably die.
So presumably to cliff dive, you must be nuts right? Let's face it, jumping off a platform hanging 27m above the sea and risking your life every time sounds like something for those daredevil adrenaline junkies of old. But no, this is about competition and athleticism. Talking to the lads before the competition, they were all surprisingly calm for people who'd just jumped into the Gulf of Mexico from a 3m long platform suspended over rocks in gusty winds. Oh yes, we forgot to mention the wind. During the competition it was so windy that the Red Bull branded steel-based parasols that were keeping us cool and probably weighed 20 kilos were almost taking flight. And yet these boys were still diving from the tips of their toes and hands. Have you gulped yet? Because we did. A lot.
Previous 3-time Red Bull Cliff Diving champion Gary Hunt got into diving via swimming as a kid, but saw divers in the other pool and once he gave it a go 'instantly knew' he was going to be a diver. Having dived from the 10m board for 15 years, it wasn't until an ex-coach called him during his downtime and said they needed a diver for an 18m dive in Italy and once he tasted the high diving there was no turning back.
Training is also a somewhat terrifying prospect, at least to us. With no real 27m high platforms and pools existing for the athletes to practise on, these divers instead have to break their dives up into two parts, do both from a 10m board and hope that they can stitch the two together once they get to the competitions. Not that this sounds difficult coming from their mouths as they describe the process; they're as seemingly blasé about the inherent danger of the sport as they are the madness with which they craft and train for their dives.
When asked what their friends and family think, i.e. do they, like us, think that they're mad to do what they do, the answer is surprising. 'Not anymore', says Hunt, whose family's confidence in him has grown as he's bettered himself over the years, but still admits that 'after competitions I give my mum a quick call to let her know all's gone well'. And yes, the divers do get scared when they're up there. 'It's high, it's natural', says Orlando Duque, a veteran of the sport, 'but it's the attractive part of the dive', who admits to having gotten hooked by the rush that comes during after completing a dive.
The competition itself is intense. Wind aside, the level of diving skill has gotten more and more intense in recent years according to Duque. To him, there's never simply one person that you're trying to beat, as people are always changing up their dives and performing and placing differently, and when asked who his competition is, he rattles off a name of six or seven others, all of whom he says could take first place.
Blessed with view from a boat on the water, we were lucky enough to see it from the best perspective possible. Watching the divers hit the water is an experience like no other, and one that you don't get used to. Every time it happens, from watching them on the edge of the platform until they rise up out of the sea to give the safety divers the 'OK' sign with their hand, your breath is held. And once they start jumping from handstands? It's definitely more thrilling than any trip to the cinema, let's just say that.
British diver Blake Aldridge ended up taking top spot in the competition, throwing caution to the (very high) wind by successfully completing a big dive with big difficulty, a back armstand that took a few attempts to set up thanks to the gusts pelting him up on the platform. It was a dive that had haunted him for six months since he didn't hit it at the end of the 2013 series in Thailand, but with these 'two hurdles', the dive and placing on the podium, overcome, he's now focused on the series with a win in mind.
Mexican relative newcomer 25-year-old Jonathan Paredes took second place by a mere three points, thanks to his consistency in his dives. But he knows he has to increase the difficulty of his dives as the series continues, and is planning a new dive 'to try to fight more for first place'.
And Gary Hunt took third place, admitting 'it was risky doing a new dive' and that he had 'a big sense of relief' once it was all over, and was also genuinely happy for Aldridge's win as the two go way back to childhood, having met in the swimming and diving circuit and had even been fishing together in Cuba before the competition. And no, he hadn't yet called his mum, but he promised that he would.
And with that, eyes moved away to the next locations and Ireland, the third stop on the tour, will welcome Blake, Jonny, Gary, Orlando and all the divers on June 28th and 29th. The Aran Islands will host the competition, and the divers have varying opinions of the set up and choice of Inis Mór as one of the stops. One, who shall remain unnamed, isn't fond of Ireland because it's just so damn cold. We hear that.
Gary Hunt admits 'it's not one of the easiest competitions' as you're 'surrounded by harsh, jagged rocks and rough seas', but that it separates the men from the boys as diving well here in those conditions really shows their mettle. The site for the dive on the largest Aran Island, the ever-so-nicely named 'Serpent's Lair', is an almost rectangular 'blowhole' cut into the rock by the water rushes in and out of at high tide, and makes for spectacular and fascinating viewing as well as some very interesting diving.
Orlando Duque is one of its fans, loving the location but admits they 'got lucky' with the weather in previous years. Here's hoping that they get lucky again, but knowing what our summers are like you just never know. One thing is for sure, this is a one-of-a-kind event that you don't want to miss.
Having never even come across the sport before, we can sincerely and honestly say that it is one of the most riveting and engaging live sports you can watch, and if you pass up the opportunity to see it in person, you're a very special kind of eejit.
If you want to head along to the Irish leg of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series in the wild whest, and trust us you do, then you pick up tickets right here.
