Red Bull Storm Chase

The Red Bull Storm Chase is an extreme sports event in windsurfing , which has been held annually since 2012. The waiting period usually begins after the windsurfing world cup season and ends in March of the following year. During this time, the entire organization team and the drivers wait for a storm with at least 10 wind speeds to be announced, which they can reach within 48 hours. When this is done, a contest takes place, in which, as with wave events of the World Cup, the best jumps and wave rides are scored.

history

The idea of ​​the Storm Chase came about in 2005 during the Windsurf World Cup on Fuerteventura during a lull. Jobst von Paepcke and Florian Gebbert and their event agency bsp-Media sent the basic idea of ​​surfing during a storm, filming it and then producing a clip from it, to various possible partners. Two weeks later, Red Bull got in touch .

After the first Storm Chase was planned as a one-off event in 2006, bsp-Media and Red Bull started a continuation of the project in 2011, which has now been expanded to include the contest idea and should no longer be regionally linked to Northern Europe, but take place worldwide can. The first waiting period began in autumn 2012 and after three competitions in January 2013 in Ireland , in August 2013 in Tasmania and in February 2014 in Great Britain , the first Storm Chase in the new format was completed with Thomas Traversa as the winner.

In the coming years, the waiting period was proclaimed from autumn to spring , but there was only a sufficient storm on the west coast of Ireland in March 2019. The winner this time was the Australian Jaeger Stone .

Procedure and organization

As soon as a storm announces itself somewhere in the world in a good five days, which meets the criteria that it has wind speeds of over 100 km / h (10-11 Bft ) and that the waves have a swell of a good 10 meters , the planning phase begins. First, the whereabouts of the drivers and the team are queried, which then set off for the destination a good 48 hours before the storm arrives. The best spot is selected on site and the necessary infrastructure such as B. set up a medical care center . Afterwards, the contest is held on mostly two days, which is permanently accompanied by media. A few days after the competitions a clip with the highlights will be published from this material.

Due to the extreme conditions, every driver who is on the water has his own jet ski with driver and a life and impact protection vest with built-in live tracking via GPS . All locations on the bank are constantly monitored and there are also two sifters that the drivers observe using binoculars.

Although the Storm Chase has no influence whatsoever on the Windsurf World Cup , he is still closely linked to him in terms of personnel. On the one hand, (almost) all participants are World Cup drivers and, on the other hand, z. B. the PWA Head Judge Duncan Coombs also as Head Judge of the Storm Chases. The photographer John Carter, who is responsible for almost all official photos of the World Cup, also takes photos at the competitions. Klaas Voget , who is also active as a driver in the Windsurf World Cup, acts as sports director .

Competitions

Forerunner (2006)

The first Storm Chase was held in 2006, which, however, differed significantly from the way it is held today. During a single storm in nine different European countries, two surfers surfed at one spot. These were chosen beforehand via internet voting. A film and photo team was on site at the individual spots, and a DVD was released with their material at the end.

Hurricane Britta reached Ireland and Great Britain on October 31 . The following day it reached mainland Europe, where it caused the All Saints Flood , one of the most severe storm surges on the German North Sea coast since 1906. A measurement by the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency north of Borkum measured the highest swell since 1981. The waves were on average around ten meters high, with a maximum of 17 meters.

Attendees

In most cases the surfers competed in the country from which they come. Except for the Swede Emma Johansson and the German Steffi Wahl, only men took part in the Storm Chase.

Ballyliffin	Rhosneigr	Amble Machrihanish Torness	Knokke-Heist	IJmuiden	Brusand	Løkken Vorupør	Villshärad	Norderney	Behrensdorf	Dranske
Timo Mullen Oisin van Gelderen	Phil Horrocks  Ben Proffitt	James Cox (Guest Star) John Hibbard Stephen Moore Dario Ojeda (Guest Star)	Tom Scheirlinck Filip Loosvelt	Kevin Mevissen Chris Nolles	Orjan Jensen Hans Kristian Waarum	Mads Bjørnå Robert Sand	Emma Johansson Kristoffer Living	Torben Sunday  Klaas Voget	Matzo bath Steffi Wahl	Oskar Hollmann Jan-Mark Möde

First Storm Chase (2012-2014)

Before the start of the waiting period in autumn 2012, the US east coast , Tasmania , Iceland , Japan , Spain , Ireland and the north coast of France were selected as possible venues , as these best combined the combination of good windsurfing spots and an international airport within easy reach. Initial plans to use Hurricane Sandy for a contest at the end of October were canceled due to the expected severe damage. A storm near Tasmania also fell into the water due to a Lufthansa strike .

First Mission (Ireland)

On January 18, 2013, a storm with over 50 kn (or 10 Bft ) and waves up to ten meters high in the North Atlantic announced itself . After consultation with the available drivers, the "Go" was given on January 25th. The Moroccan Boujmaa Guilloul then had to travel to Marrakech to apply for a new visa, Víctor Fernández López traveled from Chile and Thomas Traversa and Kenneth Danielsen from South Africa . Three days later the contest began with gusts of over 70 kn (or 12 Bft ). Robby Swift was able to stand a monstrous pushloop forward , even though his board broke on landing and Thomas Traversa showed a perfect wave 360 . Even after the spot change from Dumps to Hell's Gate , which had become necessary due to the changing wind, the slender French dominated the event and thus secured the event victory over Dany Bruch and his compatriot Julien Taboulet.

Second Mission (Tasmania)

In August the Second Mission was held in Marrawah , Tasmania ( Australia ). The competition started rather sobering, as there were waves a good eight meters high on the first day, but relatively speaking only moderate wind, which is why the contest could initially be canceled and later only driven one lap, albeit with the exception of the winner of the first mission Thomas Traversa , none of them got along well with the conditions. The announced storm with wind peaks of up to 85 kn (or 12 Bft ) then moved in overnight . Although the wind dropped to 11 Bft in the morning , the necessary conditions were in place at the newly selected spot Back of the Lighthouse . In addition to Traversa, the Germans Leon Jamaer and Daniel Bruch, as well as Marcilio Browne, qualified for the third and final mission.

Third Mission (Cornwall)

The final did not take place in Cornwall until next February , although the region was not on the list of possible locations. Here the four remaining riders competed against each other in winds of up to 70 kn (or 12 Bft ) and waves over 10 meters high. In the end, as in the first two missions, Traversa dominated the competition and also picked up the extra points for the highest jump and the most radical hit.

Attendees

Philip Köster and the reserve drivers Alex Mussolini and Ben Proffitt had to cancel their participation due to injury. Also Ricardo Campello and Kai Lenny could not attend. The best six and four of the previous competition qualified for the second mission and the third mission . Since Robby Swift and Boujmaa Guilloul injured themselves at the World Cup event in Tenerife and Josh Angulo took part in the Slalom World Cup in Turkey, Leon Jamaer moved up for him in the second event.

First Mission (10 participants)	Second Mission (6 participants)	Third Mission (4 participants)
Josh Angulo  Marcilio Browne Daniel Bruch Kenneth Danielsen  Víctor Fernández López Boujmaa Guilloul Leon Jamaer  Robby Swift Julien taboulet  Thomas Traversa	Marcilio Browne Daniel Bruch  Víctor Fernández López Leon Jamaer Julien taboulet  Thomas Traversa	Marcilio Browne Daniel Bruch Leon Jamaer  Thomas Traversa

Placements

In all three competitions, the Frenchman Thomas Traversa was able to prevail against the competition despite his low weight of a good 60 kg, while others weigh around 90 kg and thus have significant advantages in such strong winds and thus crowned himself the winner of the series .

date	place	1st place	2nd place	3rd place
01/28/2013	Brandon	Thomas Traversa	Daniel Bruch	Julien taboulet
August 18 - August 19, 2013	Marrawah	Thomas Traversa	Daniel Bruch	Leon Jamaer
02/09/2014 - 02/10/2014	Hayle	Thomas Traversa	Marcilio Browne	Leon Jamaer

Second Storm Chase (2019)

After the Storm Chase had entered the waiting period between 2015 and 2018, but there was never a storm sufficient for the competition, it was canceled a good week before the end of the waiting period for winter 2018/19 (October 20, 2018 to March 15, 2019) a storm off Ireland .

During the training on March 9th, it hailed and snowed in parts with wind peaks of up to 62 kn (or 11 Bft ). At the end of the first day, the four-time world champion Philip Köster , who took part in the Storm Chase for the first time, led. After a day of rest on March 12th, temperatures around 5 ° C and winds of up to 70 kn (or 12 Bft ). Ricardo Campello just couldn't stand the never-before-shown double pushloop and Köster showed an impressive air taka . However, no one could come close to Jaeger Stone ( Australia ), who was also able to clear away the points of the Wave Hit Bonus and won at the end of the day, ahead of the first leading Köster and the third of the last Storm Chase, Leon Jamaer.

Attendees

As a result of the result, the four first placed drivers of the previous Storm Chase were set ( Traversa , Browne , Jamaer and Bruch). However, Marcilio Browne decided not to participate due to the approaching birth of his child. This increased the number of participants who could be voted online to five.

First Mission (8 participants)
Adam Lewis Daniel Bruch  Ricardo Campello Leon Jamaer  Philip Koester  Jaeger Stone  Robby Swift  Thomas Traversa

Placements

date	place	1st place	2nd place	3rd place
March 10 - March 12, 2019	Magheraroarty	Jaeger Stone	Philip Koester	Leon Jamaer

Web links

• Official website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} surf magazine 4/2014, Andreas Erbe: Finale Furioso (Red Bull Storm Chase), pp. 6-14
2. ↑ Windsurfers / Florian Gebbert: Red Bull Storm Chase, page 1 , accessed on April 14, 2019
3. ↑ ^{a b} DailyDose: Strom Chase - Behind the Scenes , accessed on April 14, 2019
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} surf magazine 3/2013, Manuel Vogel: Hells Angels (Red Bull Storm Chase), pp. 76–85
5. ↑ ^{a b} Windsurfers: No Storm - Red Bull Storm Chase postponed , accessed April 14, 2019
6. ↑ ^{a b} DailyDose: Storm Chase 2013 - Mission 1 , accessed April 10, 2019
7. ↑ ^{a b} DailyDose: Red Bull Storm Chase 2019 - Day 2 , accessed April 10, 2019
8. ↑ Red Bull: The Best of the Red Bull Storm Chase , accessed April 11, 2019
9. ↑ Lower Saxony State Office for Water Management, Coastal Protection and Nature Conservation: Severe storm surge on Lower Saxony's North Sea coast - historical highs in the mouth of the Ems , accessed on April 12, 2019
10. ↑ DailyDose: Red Bull Storm Chase 2006 Part 2 , accessed April 14, 2019
11. ↑ Hip-Hop.de: Red Bull Storm Chase 2006 , accessed on April 12, 2019
12. ↑ Windsurfing & Kitesurfing News: RedBull Storm Chase spots by redbull, published on November 9, 2006 , accessed on April 12, 2019 (English)
13. ↑ DailyDose: Storm Chase / Mission # 2: Day 1 - Temma Beach , accessed April 14, 2019
14. ↑ ^{a b} surf magazine 10/2013, Leon Jamaer: Mission Marrawah (Red Bull Storm Chase), pp. 46–51
15. ↑ Red Bull, Josh Sampiero: Red Bull Storm Chase Comes to Cornwall , published February 7, 2014, accessed April 14, 2019
16. ↑ Windsurfers: Red Bull Storm Chase - Thomas Traversa triumphs , accessed April 14, 2019
17. ↑ DailyDose: Storm Chase / Mission # 2: Day 2 - Back of the Lighthouse , accessed April 14, 2019
18. ↑ ^{a b} Windsurfers: It's on! - Red Bull Storm Chase 2019 , accessed April 10, 2019
19. ↑ Red Bull: Events - Red Bull Storm Chase , accessed April 10, 2019
20. ↑ DailyDose: Red Bull Storm Chase 2019 - Day 1 , accessed April 14, 2019
21. ↑ Windsurfers: Red Bull Storm Chase 2019 - Jaeger Stone triumphs , accessed April 11, 2019