(Rabi's note: In light of some website technical difficulties which deleted our original post, and the pure comedy we are enjoying from the comments left by Creative Loafing's readers to Wade "Gunner" Tatangelo's "interpretation" of the Flugtag, we are reposting Becca Nelson's review and the official photos, courtesy of Red Bull.)

Red Bull must have received divine intervention yesterday (an arrangement I would not doubt their ability to secure), when the world's favorite energy drink company hosted it's first ever Flugtag Competition in Tampa. On the first perfect day this summer--literally not a menacing cloud in the sky and a suspiciously dramatic lack of humidity--over 100,000 Tampons flocked to the convention center to watch the action.

The first Red Bull Flugtag (a German word meaning flying machine) took off in Vienna, Austria in 1991 and has since visited more than 30 countries around the world attracting crowds of up to 300,000. The idea of the competition is simple: design a machine that will fly, weighing no more than 450 pounds and relying solely upon foot power for flight. Then try to launch it off a barge 25 feet above the water and hope for the best. Currently, 195 feet stands as the farthest flight which was set back in 2000 in Austria, but the US isn’t far behind with a record of 155 feet set just last year in Nashville, Tenn.

Of the 35 teams that "competed" (and I use that word loosely, as most of the "flugtags" barely made it off the launch pad before falling apart, much less actually taking flight) only 9 were from Tampa, the rest coming from as far as Texas and Massachusetts. The winning team, however, was local, and the first team to compete: Tampa Baywatch, a prestigious group of Tampa gentlemen dressed as David Hasslehoff and wowing the doting crowd with a loose rendition of the opening credits to their namesake television show. Their winning device, which consisted of what appeared to be a hang glider attached to a shoebox (which I guess constitutes the "machine"), floated out gracefully over the water about 25 yards, caught an updraft which propelled it another three or four, and deftly landed the record at just around 100 feet.

It was all downhill... er... overboard from there. No one else made it past 30 feet, and as beer and Red Bull inebriated and energized Tampa's finest, we all watched Flying Day turn into Falling Day. One can never get enough of watching people plummet into the ocean wearing speedos and, in some cases, covered in pink chicken feathers (courtesy of the Tampa Derby Darlings, the People’s Choice winner for their hotpink winged-rollerskate.)

The record turnout for Flugtag was for 2003's London production, which drew over 250,000 spectators. During the event Hyde Park was closed for capacity... something that has only happened one other time in the city's history, for a free Rolling Stones concert. Before yesterday, the record turnout for a stateside event was 85,000. So congrats, Tampa! You've once again proven that we are a city that cannot get enough of outdoor drunken pseudo-sporting events, especially those with easy access for yachts! But we may be outdone: Americans will have two more chances to watch people push big cardboard boxes with wings into the water with the fianl Flugtag for the year set in Chicago on September 6.