(December 18, 2009) When the discussion turns to making sailing more marketable for television coverage, the ideas stream on what changes need to be made for a race format to better fit the viewing audience. Other sports have gone down this road, and once the genie is out of the bottle, there is no stopping how extreme things can get.
Flash forward to Red Bull, the drink that could power the tortoise past the hare. The marketing people at Red Bull must be avid drinkers of their product, as they come up with some pretty inventive ideas on making various sports more extreme...and watchable.
Red Bull is building a tradition of amazing stunts on New Year's Eve, and this year finds action sports icon Travis Pastrana launching his car off a pier...toward a floating barge...in Long Beach, CA. This event will occur in the same harbor used for the start of the Transpac Race, and at the doorstep of Scuttlebutt friend John Sangmeister's restaurant 'Gladstone's Long Beach'.
Maybe next year's Red Bull event will see the America's Cup multihulls getting launched off floating ramps for distance. One could only hope...enjoy:
Here is what has been done before...
...and here is a tease of what will occur on December 31, 2009
