Video: Red Bull’s Cliff Diving World Series Kicks Off In France

>


For its fifth year, the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series has begun, offering daredevils around the world the chance to compete for a championship title and bragging rights.

Held for the fourth time in La Rochelle, France, the competition lasts for five months and through eight separate competition events, during which the cliff diving elite will launch from almost three times the Olympic diving height (a total of 27 meters high) in venues all over the globe, showing their most spectacular and difficult tricks, and overcoming rational fear to impress the judges and spectators alike. And to spice it all up, the 2013 World Series comes to its scariest location first: La Rochelle, France.

The above video highlights some of the weekend’s craziest stunts and the winning dive by 29-year-old Russian Artem Silchenko. During the two-day event, nearly 70,000 fans watched jumpers take to the catacombs of the Saint Nicolas Tower, where they flipped, twisted and turned in a three-second free fall from a 27 meter platform into 12°C water below, falling at speeds up to 85 kph. This year’s competition was made even more difficult by the cold temperatures and the 50kph winds.

The tour has several stops with a select pool of divers moving to each next round. The next stop on the tour is Copenhagen, Denmark, on June 21 and 22, followed by Portugal, Italy, Boston, the United Kingdom, Brazil and Thailand.

Can you think of a more extreme vacation activity? We sure can’t.