La Rochelle, an historic coastal town in one of France’s sunniest regions. It’s the middle of June we should be lounging by the port, basking in sunshine, quenching our thirst with cold beers and watching round one of the latest stop on Red Bull’s Cliff Diving World Series.
What we have is cold, lashing rain and a howling wind coming in off the Atlantic. Taking cover in a local bar we wait patiently for a break in the weather and hope the competition will get underway. We watch as divers and officials venture out onto the platform, stick their finger in the air then quickly hurry back to the safety of St Nicolas tower. With gusts of 90kph we can appreciate their reluctance to stay out there for long.
In the harbour below, the rescue team practice their routines watched over by a second rescue team, another clue that things aren’t looking good. By six o’clock it’s official there will be no diving today. A frustrating afternoon for both us and les plongeurs but at least we have those beers to take the edge off our disappointment!
By competition time the next day the clouds have cleared, the wind has eased slightly and to everyone’s relief the all clear is given for the diving to begin. There’s a short time frame when the tide is high enough for safe diving at La Rochelle, I say ‘safe’ but that’s open to interpretation. Just ask Hassan Mouti who landed badly during a recent dive and ruptured a lung.
With a huge crowd of 70,000 lining the port there’s a great atmosphere and you can sense the divers are keen to get underway. I’ve watched these events on TV and on the web but, as always with sport you can’t appreciate exactly what’s involved until you experience it live. These guys are diving from a platform 90 feet up, accelerating from 0 to 60 in three seconds and hitting the water with a force equivalent to jumping from 42 feet on to concrete. Oh, not forgetting their mid air gymnastics on the way down to impress the judges and score some points.
As each diver steps out on to the platform a respectful silence settles across the crowd. With the wind still causing unease for some they take their time settling themselves before launching out over the harbour. Some keep it simple some throw caution to that wind and perform complex twists, tucks and spins as they literally fly through the air.
From where we are it’s hard to keep track of who is scoring highly but as the competition progresses it’s the current champion, Gary Hunt looking favourite to win. As he steps out for his final dive a cheeky back flip on the platform is evidence of his confidence. He goes on to perform what is considered the hardest of all dives. It looks perfect and scores a maximum 10 from three of the judges.
The Brit’s first statement after an emotional win: “It does get better every time! Today was particularly tough because we weren’t even sure if the competition would go ahead this morning and so it was difficult not knowing. I’m happy that everybody got through the competition and with good diving. The crowd were amazing as they always are here. I was in a good mood which is why I did the backflip on the platform and then after that I did what I had to do.”
Czech diver Michal Navratil claims second place on the podium with Alain Kohl from Luxemburg taking third. Gary Hunt is now 22 points clear in this year’s championship table and looking good to retain his title. Positions two to six were shuffled after this round and are separated by only ten points. With three stops of the series remaining the competition is looking tight for the runners up spot.
A great weekend in La Rochelle, despite the weather and we’ve an increased admiration for those divers. Now, let’s book that trip to Lake Garda.
More photo’s from the competition are available here
Photographs by Romina Amato, V Curutchet of Red Bull Cliff Diving and Jel Edwards. Copyright protected.
