The Red Bulletin UK 08+09/24

BEYOND THE ORDINARY

CRICKET PHENOM ALICE CAPSEY ON A NEW ERA FOR THE WOMEN’S GAME

THE FUTURE FACE OF

Konstantin Reyer

Shooting Alinghi Red Bull Racing’s BoatOne was a unique job for the seasoned Austrian: “The acceleration makes it hard to capture on a bumpy sea. Also, the boat emanates a sound like an orchestra warming up.”

Alice Austin

Interviewing producer/DJ

I Jordan had long been on the London-based writer’s wishlist. “I’ve been a huge fan for years,” she says, “and after our chat I’m an even bigger fan. They’re so grounded, funny and compassionate - and supertalented on top of it all.”

Alex Grymanis

“The project was full of adrenaline, even for me,” says the Greek-born lensman, who shot the world’s first wingsuit flight through Tower Bridge. “We had a tiny time window, so I relied a lot on my Canon R3. The shots still give me goosebumps.”

Every sport must evolve, even one with as long and storied a history as cricket. And Alice Capsey is here for it. She’s a player so talented that she has reached the pinnacle of her sport at just 19. Now the England star is taking the women’s game into a vibrant new era. It’s technological innovation that has kept historic sailing contest the America’s Cup fit for the modern age – so much so that these boats no longer float so much as fly. We follow Swiss team Alinghi Red Bull Racing as they prepare for battle. And there’s cultural evolution as we witness the birth of hip hop through a British lens: London photographer, DJ and broadcaster Normski shares key memories and stand-out shots from hip hop’s golden years. Enjoy the issue.

life rearing cows on her

How two flying Austrians named Marco – Fürst and Waltenspiel – blew minds in the heart of London

Snapshots and memories from the shutter-clicking Londoner who captured the golden age of hip hop

inside story of the formation of a sailing powerhouse and its quest to claim the ultimate prize

Castle Valley, Utah, USA Rock classic

When photographer Jeremiah Watt praises Excommunication, he’s not talking about a metal band – though he is a rock fan of sorts. Enter sandstone… “Excommunication is five pitches of desert splendour on a sliver of sandstone on a windy ridge in Utah’s Castle Valley,” says Watt. “Our paths first crossed nearly a decade ago… I’ve been intrigued since.” In spring last year, with the help of professional climber Rob Pizem and a drone, the site rewarded Watt with this arresting shot, and a Red Bull Illume Image Quest semifinal spot (Innovation by MPB category). redbullillume.com

Tribiano, Italy

Wakey wakey

TLC famously warned not to go chasing waterfalls, but does that prohibit us from wakeboarding them? Frenchman Maxime Giry clearly doesn’t fear ’90s R&B trios, hence his disregard during a summer trip to visit photographer Maurizio Marassi in Milan. But then, his ride on what Marassi describes as “a medium-sized waterfall on an irrigation river between cornfields” won the snapper a semifinal place (Photos of Instagram) in the Red Bull Illume Image Quest, so surely T-Boz and Chilli (RIP Left Eye) can cut him some slack, right? redbullillume.com

Teahupo‘o, French Polynesia

Perfect blue

“This day was exceptional!” enthuses French ocean photographer Ben Thouard, a finalist in the Red Bull Illume Image Quest (Masterpiece by Sölden category) thanks to this striking image. “Conditions at Teahupo‘o were as good as it gets – not one cloud in the sky at sunrise, no wind – so the surface of the water was glassy and allowed you to see through the wave.” And behind the briny veil? That’s Tahiti-born Kauli Vaast, a 22-year-old surfer with not only his board but the world at his feet.

redbullillume.com

Trikala, Greece

Piping hot

Putting the trick in Trikala – a city in central Greece – this composite image by photographer Alex Grymanis shows the first full loop of a 7.5m-high pipe by a BMX athlete. Greek rider George Ntavoutian’s Full Pipe Project in April this year was as much a triumph of tenacity as a show of skill: on the first day, a too-short ramp left him crumpled on a safety airbag, immobilised with pain. On day two, though, fresh supplies of wood (for the ramp) and steel (in his resolve) helped the 25-year-old smash it. Instagram: @georgentavou; redbull.com

Greg Gonzalez Sheet music

The singer/guitarist of Cigarettes After Sex picks the perfect bedroom playlist for moments of heartache and intimacy

Greg Gonzalez knows what people want. It’s why, as the frontman of dream-pop trio Cigarettes After Sex, the 41-year-old Texan has more than 24 million monthly listeners on Spotify and has created music that’s been used 6.4 billion times (and counting) on TikTok. Despite this, the band retain an air of mystery and are yet to release a music video. On the third Cigarettes After Sex album, X’s, Gonzalez sticks to what he knows best: writing songs for the post-coital comedown. Its 10 tracks deal with everything from erotic fantasies to the end of an intense four-year relationship – “To me, it’s pure therapy,” Gonzalez says. Here, he picks four songs that get him through heartache and would make the cut of his bedroom playlist. cigarettesaftersex.com

Scan the QR code to hear our Playlist podcast with Greg Gonzalez on Spotify

Françoise Hardy Doigts (1971)

“I recall listening to this in my car before I was about to meet an ex-girlfriend, and it felt like someone had reached in and grabbed my heart. It was a very strange feeling, like a ghostly kind of positive spirit came in. And I just thought, ‘Wow, this is exactly what I want my music to sound like, just this song.’ It’s so beautiful.”

Sade By Your Side (2000)

“One Valentine’s Day, I’d broken up with a girlfriend. I was heartbroken and in a really desperate place. But then I heard this song and it just gave me peace; it calmed me down and helped me through what I was feeling. Then I had it on repeat. My new album is kind of based on the memory I had of this song.”

The Doors You’re Lost Little Girl (1967)

“There’s something about those very mellow songs that The Doors did. I remember thinking, ‘Wow, this is so strange and hypnotic.’ And when, at age 13, I first heard that guitar solo by Robby Krieger, it knocked me out. It’s like a shooting star. That’s something I want my music to have. There’s got to be these little cosmic flourishes.”

Marvin Gaye I Want You (1976)

“Marvin Gaye is one of my favourite singers and a big influence, especially this track. I feel like it’s his most kind of darkly romantic record; it has a sexuality to it. And I wanted a bit of that for my new album, where it would feel more like a ’70s kind of dancefloor thing. That’s especially like Marvin.”

Extreme sitting

Seat of learning

From Antarctica to American deserts, Robby Silk is reconnecting with nature via the world’s slowest endurance sport

Cuverville Island has long been a popular stop-off for Antarctic cruise ships thanks to its famous colony of gentoo penguins, but few visitors to this rocky haven spend their entire stay just… sitting. Not so Robby Silk. When he arrived in February 2022, the 51-year-old travel writer from South Florida took out his trusty folding chair and simply sat for four hours, taking it all in: the inquisitive penguins, the glaciers, the freezing wind blowing in off the ocean. Silk is a pioneer of what he calls ‘extreme sitting’. He first had the idea 20 years ago after reading a novel in which a Bedouin tribesman stares out into the desert, “just waiting”.

“It captured my imagination,” Silk explains. “I don’t think it’s our natural state to be tethered to electronics. This is about separating myself and connecting to the daily cycle of the sun.”

For his first-ever extreme sit, the American set forth into California’s Joshua Tree National Park on June 21, 2020, having chosen the summer solstice to make the experience “more extreme”. After the trip, however, feeling that he hadn’t given adequate thought to location or preparation, Silk developed a list of rules for future sits, including: “No cell phone. No tweeting. No connectivity at all”, “No reclining chairs”,

and, crucially, “Standing and stretching are allowed. So are breaks for bodily functions. But the participating athlete is to remain within a short distance of the chair at all times.” (The full list is available at the International Extreme Sitting Association website, below.)

Four years later, Silk uses the same chair every time and scouts locations from Palo Duro Canyon in Texas to Doha, Qatar, looking for the perfect 360° vantage point to sit and soak in his surroundings from sunrise and sunset. “There’s a mental discipline to it,” he says. “It might be a 15-hour day. You have to sit through the rain or heat. You’re done when the sun’s gone. There’s something primal about that.”

Patience is rewarded. While sitting amid Nebraska’s untouched prairies at dusk last October, Silk was suddenly joined by dozens of inquisitive cattle. A fence separated them but, he says, “It was a really cool experience that I wouldn’t have had if I hadn’t been sat there.” Silk has found focus in these small interactions with nature: “I get a feeling of accomplishment. It’s stopping and saying, ‘Wait a minute, this is what’s important.’”

In terms of extreme sitting as a sport, Silk explains, “Once you come up with an objective way of determining the most challenging sits, you can introduce a competitive element. How long was the day? What was the maximum temperature? Was it really buggy?” To that end, if he can figure out what to do about the mosquitoes, the Florida Everglades in summer might form his next challenge.

But beginners needn’t be so extreme, he says. “Find a nice spot where you feel disconnected,” Silk advises. “It doesn’t have to be all day. Just go with the mindset of disconnecting, trying to be a little disciplined, and really observing your surroundings.” extremesitting.org

Chairman of the not easily bored: (from top) Silk on Cuverville Island in February 2022; taking the weight off at Palo Duro Canyon, Texas

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The best way to get a cowboy to open up, says photographer Ivan McClellan, is to ask about their horse: “You say, ‘Wow, that’s a mighty beautiful palomino,’ and then they’ll start talking.”

The 41-year-old American has photographed hundreds of cowboys over the past nine years, documenting a section of the community that many –himself included – didn’t even know existed. “I thought that a Black cowboy was like [1974 comedy] Blazing Saddles – a thing made up in Hollywood,” says McClellan from his home in Portland, Oregon.

All that changed in 2015 when he was invited to his first-ever Black rodeo. “I saw thousands of Black cowboys,” he recalls. “They were playing R&B and hip hop out of their horse trailers. There was a haze of barbecue smoke over the lawn. There were young men riding around with no shirt on, with gold chains and Jordans. There were women with long braids blowing behind them as they rode at 50mph, clutching the reins with their long acrylic nails… It was this fantasy land.”

Originally from Kansas City, where his choir were the only Black people in attendance at the annual American Royal rodeo, McClellan experienced a moment of awakening: “This culture had been under my nose my entire life. But I believe that, in America, a Black person personifying the attributes of the cowboy –grit, integrity, independence – is at odds with popular prejudices. In the media, this has resulted in erasure.”

McClellan, formerly a street photographer, set out to capture the world of Black cowboys on film, from the ranches and rodeos of the US South – “I go to places that don’t even show up on Google Maps” – to urban cowboys in Philadelphia and LA. His work now features in a book, Eight Seconds: Black Cowboy Culture, named after the time

Back in the saddle

When street photographer Ivan McClellan attended his frst Black rodeo, he discovered a culture he never knew existed

a cowboy must stay on a bull or bronco to qualify for a rodeo.

But, says McClellan, the name ‘cowboy’ is misleading: “The Black cowboy world is definitely a matriarchy. The women run a lot of the rodeos. The silent communication between animal and athlete is something I’ve noticed with women – the horse feels the energy of the rider. It’s this symbiotic relationship.”

Admitting that the culture is “definitely dwindling”, McClellan has even set up his own Black rodeo in his home state. “It’s kind of a crazy thing to do, because Portland is known as the whitest big city in America – the furthest

thing from a rodeo town you can imagine.” But last year’s inaugural event was a huge success: “Seeing these events for the first time, people were losing their minds. They were climbing on fences, throwing their hats in the ring.”

McClellan hopes that through his pictures – and his rodeo – others will share his joy. “I enjoy being surrounded by these folks and their animals on a 105°F [40°C] day in August, belly full of smoked turkey leg and strawberry soda. There’s nothing to beat it.”

Eight Seconds: Black Cowboy Culture, published by Damiani, is out now; eightsecs.com

Black cowboy culture

Steering the way: (from top) horse rider Marlon Lamont, as shot by Ivan McClellan; the photographer and rodeo owner himself

X Trillion

Life in plastic

When on an epic sailing expedition to research the impact of microplastics, flmmaker Eleanor Church had a clear challenge: to make the unseen seen

Gazing out across the waters of the North Pacific Gyre, filmmaker and photographer Eleanor Church scanned the horizon. Despite the gyre –a large system of circulating ocean currents – being known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, she couldn’t see a shred of evidence. “As a filmmaker, that was challenging,” recalls Church, 41, from Colchester, Essex. “When we put the trawl through the water, we saw it was just full of trillions of tiny, tiny pieces of plastic. Occasionally we’d see a chair float past, or a toothbrush. But mostly it was completely invisible to the naked eye.”

In 2018, Church was one of 14 women from various disciplines – a scientist, an economist and a packaging designer among them – on a three-week, 3,000 nauticalmile ocean research expedition from Hawaii to Vancouver to collect data on plastic waste. In the absence of visible trash, she focused on the human story of the trip, raising awareness through its message of collective activism.

“I’d never met anyone else on board before, other than over Zoom, and I very much had the intention of making an observational film,” Church says. “The way to do that is by filming everything – all the details and the emotions, mundane things, big things… So I had to get the crew to trust me really quickly.”

Conditions were tough, and the crew endured regular

Waste measurements: (from top) X Trillion director Eleanor Church on board; tiny plastic debris trawled from the ocean during the expedition

storms and seasickness. Due to persistent bad weather, the boat was often at a 45° angle: “Even walking through the boat was really hard work, and sleeping involved holding onto the sides to stay in your bed. My core muscles were quite strong by the end!”

Church’s film X Trillion, released this year after delays due to funding and COVID, shows the all-female team recording an average of half a million microplastics per square kilometre of ocean and depicts the emotional impact of witnessing first-hand the planet’s pollution crisis.

“We’d be sailing through the dark and having these existential conversations,” Church says. “You can sort of delve into parts of your mind that you don’t ever have the time to get into in normal life. We all got to the point where

we were totally knackered and depressed. It was exhausting.” Spirits were buoyed, however, by the appearance of a pod of dolphins in the otherwise empty-looking sea: “When the dolphins came up, it genuinely was that feeling of, ‘Oh my God, this is great. This is life. It’s a sign from the heavens.’”

On their return, the team’s findings were distributed to 10 scientific projects around the world; six years on, the film’s release coincides with the final stages of development of a global treaty on plastics, which gives Church hope.

“The problem is still there – we’re actually producing more plastic now. But there’s so much more understanding. The foundations are being built, and if we can get a really ambitious treaty, we can be led to a better place.” xtrillionfilm.com

Mushroom sounds

Play that fungi music

The names Reishi and King Oyster don’t look out of place on a nightclub line-up. Until you realise they’re mushrooms and you’re about to hear them perform

It was a Friday night at arts venue EartH in Hackney, east London, when Brian d’Souza discovered that fungi make an unreliable duet partner.

“I’d taken a couple to test the day before and they were giving me some great stuff,” says the Glasgow-born music producer and DJ, better known as Auntie Flo, who was playing to 600 people that night. “But then, on the day, I could sense they were giving less and less. It was essentially that they were decomposing;

they were dying. So one way of framing [the gig] is that it was the sound of the mushrooms’ lament.”

The concert was part of his recent experimental journey making music using biodata sonification – the practice of translating the electrical signals emitted by plant life into sounds – which D’Souza likens it to “eavesdropping” on nature. D’Souza’s Mycorrhizal Fungi EP – the first release on his label, A State of Flo –features tracks composed

using signals from four species of mushroom: oyster, reishi, lion’s mane and shiitake.

At EartH, he performed with reishi and king oyster mushrooms, processing their signals through a self-built modular synthesiser designed to emulate the sounds of the mycelial network – the unseen subterranean connection between fungi via their roots.

“What I would like to translate, from a musical standpoint, is this polyphony,” D’Souza says. “You have multiple things going on at one time, all interacting or repulsing or coming together in a harmonious sense.”

But what do mushrooms actually sound like? “Most of the time, it’s very random and very up and down the scale,” he explains. “From my perspective, they’ve got this alien-like, extraterrestrial quality to them.”

Stemming from his love of field recording, D’Souza’s first forays into biodata sonification involved capturing the electrical signals of various herbs, but projects for the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and Glastonbury Festival last year turned his focus to fungi. He captures data using PlantWave, a device that measures biological changes in plants and translates them into pitch, which he then runs through a MIDI synth, assigning sounds to each mushroom’s unique electrical output.

“These minuscule changes in voltage are, I guess, an identifier of life and of the biological process that’s going on all the time,” D’Souza says. “I’m like a conduit. I was going to say conductor, but I’m not even really a conductor. I’m just taking the raw signals and trying to make the best decisions as to the sound aesthetics. I’m not trying to change it too much from a compositional point of view. The mushrooms are the ones playing the notes.”

Listen to Mycorrhizal Fungi at astateofflo.bandcamp.com

That’s mycellium: (from top) the gear; the gig; the Glaswegian musician and his fellow performers

Rest for the Restless

Llywelyn Williams

He’s Wales’ first world champion surfer, but his journey to the top was one he could never have imagined

Words Ruth McLeod Photography Remco Merbis

Llywelyn Williams, from Gwynedd in Wales, got hooked on surfing at the age of 12, heading out at his local breaks of Hell’s Mouth and Porth Ceiriad in all weathers and seasons. Now 29, Williams is a double world-beater with a fondness for the warm waters of Indonesia and the world-famous Californian breaks that made him Wales’ first surfing champion. But his journey here has been shaped by something even more unexpected than international success.

In 2011, a 16-year-old Williams was on his longboard skateboard, heading home to Bwlchtocyn, near Abersoch, when he was hit by a car. He was due to start a college course in agriculture the next day but instead ended up in hospital. After two weeks in an induced coma, he awoke to find his right leg had been amputated.

In the years since the accident, even more important than the exotic locations visited and trophies won have been the solace and motivation that Williams has gained from para-surfing. Here, he talks about determination, dreaming big, and how the ocean helped him heal…

the red bulletin: What do you remember of your accident?

llywelyn williams: I don’t remember anything, really. My parents were told I wouldn’t make it through the [first] night. The first thing I remember is waking up in hospital with one leg. Soon after, my friend asked me what I wanted to do, and I said, “I want to surf. And I want to do it better than I did before.”

So surfing motivated you straightaway? I was hooked from the age of 12, so yeah, I did loads of physio to get back into the water. I got run over in September, but magically I was home before Christmas. I had a bad bed wound on the back of my head that wouldn’t heal. I kept pestering the doctor to let me go in the sea, and eventually he said yes, as long as I wore a swimming cap to protect it. My mates carried me down to Porth Ceiriad to bodyboard wearing my old wetsuit with the empty right leg dangling about. As soon as I hit the water, the cap came off, but my bed wound healed within the week. When I came up out of the water, I had this feeling of being alive.

How did you adapt to para-surfing? Before I lost my leg, I worked in a local surf shop. When I was in a wheelchair, the owner gave me my job back so I could get into the surfing culture again. He got my wetsuits adapted, and he cut down an eight-foot [2.4m] foam surfboard to a five-foot [1.5m] board for me to practise on. I was body surfing, and when I got my strength back I started popping up onto my knee. That’s when I found my stance.

Was competing a natural progression? I saw pictures of the first ISA World Para Surfing Championship in 2015, and when it was announced that surfing was going into the Olympics in 2020 I thought it’d mean the Paralympics, too. So my partner convinced me to post on Facebook about my desire to represent Wales, and an organisation called Surfability [UK] got in touch. Two weeks later, I was off to California for a competition in the Men’s Kneeling category – the one that I compete in. Surfing still hasn’t made it into the Paralympics, but I hope to represent Team GB in Los Angeles in 2028.

Describe what it felt like to become a world champion… I’d come close in 2021, so in 2022 [in California] I was determined to win. It was a mind-blowing feeling becoming the first-ever surfing world champion from Wales. Then last year I kept going, improved my board and did it again. I want to win the World Tour title this year. If I manage it, I’ll have won gold in everything possible in para-surfing.

What makes you so good?

Fitness, love and determination, I guess. I’ve always been a competitive guy. The whole community here have helped me – like my friends carrying my surfboards down to the beach. And I work for my dad, in ground construction, so every time there’s surf I get to sneak off…

Beyond competition, what does surfing give you?

Surfing is my whole life. I wake up every morning, check the forecast, check the wind… If you’re having a down day and you go to the water, everything else disappears. A lot of people I’ve met in competitions have similar stories about how the ocean has helped them, mentally, to get over their injuries.

Is that your experience?

Yeah. If I haven’t surfed for a week or two, I feel stressed and my brain’s all over the place. But as soon as I put on a wetsuit and get out into the sea, I come out a totally different person. This year, I’m starting my own surfing club for local kids with disabilities. As well as it being beneficial, I want to show them everything’s possible.

Now you’ve travelled the world, where’s your favourite break?

Do you know what? It’s still my home break. It’s where you catch your first wave and you fall in love with surfing. I’ve built incredible memories there.

Board master

Name Llywelyn Williams

Nickname Sponge, after SpongeBob SquarePants (“I had a gap in my teeth when I was younger”) Age 29

From Bwlchtocyn, Wales Awards Two-time gold-medal winner, Men’s Kneeling category, ISA Para Surfing World Championship, 2022 and 2023 Instagram @spongeabersoch

“When I put on a wetsuit and get into the sea, I come out a different person”

Llywelyn Williams knows the restorative powers of the water

I Jordan

With their debut album, the Doncaster-born, London-based DJ and producer is celebrating trans joy while exploring and reclaiming their identity as a queer, working-class Northerner

Words Alice Austin Photography Kairo Urovi

DJ and producer I JORDAN, also known as Jordan Tek, didn’t have many role models while growing up in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. It was only when they watched the 2002 television adaptation of Sarah Waters’ novel Tipping the Velvet that they were exposed to queer and non-binary identities.

Jordan learnt to DJ while studying philosophy at university in Hull, and they found their LGBTQ+ electronic music community after moving to London in 2014. Through music production, they gained the courage to explore and reclaim their identity as a queer, workingclass Northerner.

All this and more are packed into their very personal and defiant debut album, I AM JORDAN, which features 12 tracks spanning a whole range of club genres, from Northern favourites such as donk, speed garage and hard house to house and techno. Jordan says that through the album they’re seeking to inspire joy within the trans community.

the red bulletin: When did you first get into music?

i jordan: My mum was a single parent, and she was always into music. She owned a load of records, so I remember hearing Phil Collins, Prince, Simply Red, George Michael, Eurythmics… When I got into music myself, I was really influenced by Northern electronic dance music, so I used to get trance CDs ripped from car boot sales because we couldn’t afford the £15 versions you’d find in HMV.

Any favourite experiences from those early days on the club scene?

I was really into drum’n’bass, so when I was 16 I used to go to a club in Doncaster called The Priory, because they let us in without ID back in the day. I saw Grooverider play in Doncaster in 2007, and I took the Megabus down to London for a Drum&BassArena party at Scala in King’s Cross – I saw Goldie, Doc Scott and John B, then got the bus back the next day. When I started uni in Hull, I went to a Hospital Records party at a club called Matter at the O2 [in London]. That was really formative for me – I actually have the club’s logo tattooed on my wrist.

Was there a queer community when you were growing up in Doncaster? Absolutely not. I had to choose between finding my community of people who were into the same music as me, and finding my community in terms of my identity. In Hull, there was no decent music scene for the queer community. The queer parties played pop music, and I don’t like pop that much, so I didn’t engage with any LGBTQ+ community until I moved to London and went to parties that centred on electronic music.

When did you start releasing music?

The drum’n’bass scene was extremely masculine, cis-het men vibes, so there was a lot of gatekeeping, and they made out that you need a PhD in musical engineering to go anywhere near producing drum’n’bass. But as soon as I moved out that scene, I learnt that I could actually do this. I came out as non-binary in 2019, after my first release, DNT STP MY LV. People were writing about me in the press using the wrong pronouns, and it felt super-uncomfortable. Then, in 2020, my For You EP came out, and it did

well and won awards. The record is mostly about experiencing bullying and homophobia while growing up, and coming to a place of self-acceptance.

Has it been difficult navigating your identity in the public eye?

It’s very intense. For the last year and three months, I’ve been on testosterone, my voice has changed and I have a little beard. It’s a very visible transition. So it gets quite lonely, especially when I’m the only trans and non-binary artist on the line-up. There’s always a lot of safeguarding that me and my team have to go through, so that’s been a journey in itself.

How important is community to you?

It’s a necessary form of survival for all trans people. It comes in so many forms, like having a community of like-minded artists and also receiving support and general advice. I get support from people in group chats who I’ve never met.

What themes do you explore on your new album?

It’s called I AM JORDAN because this is who I am. This is me as an artist. It’s made entirely by trans artists: the photographer, the creative director, the collaborators are all trans. Every track has a story and narrative behind it, and the connection to my Northern sound is important. There’s a reclamation element, which you can see in the video for Real Hot n Naughty with [Sex Education actor and activist] Felix Mufti. We shot it in a working men’s club bingo hall, and I cried on the day. I grew up in [those] places, full of homophobes and racists, and I always had to bite my tongue, so it felt important to reclaim that space. It’s the most myself I’ve ever felt. I feel like I’m finally being true to myself and I’m happy and comfortable in my own body. To celebrate that in art feels so special.

True

north

Names I JORDAN; Jordan Tek Birthplace Doncaster, South Yorkshire Current home London Awards Resident Advisor’s Track of the Year, 2020

(For You); DJ Mag’s Breakthrough Producer, Best of British Awards, 2020 Latest release

I AM JORDAN, out on Ninja Tune Instagram @i.jordan

“Community is a necessary form of survival for all trans people”

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Daniel Pemberton

The award-winning composer is taking his Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse score on tour. From sampling taps to recording in wells, he talks us through his methods

Words Tom Ward

As Daniel Pemberton takes a seat on the sofa of his London home, his occupation is evident: the composer is surrounded by instruments – guitars, synthesisers, a mandolin, a lute… But it’s the incessant buzzing noise coming from Pemberton’s iPhone that gives an insight into how he creates. The sound is, he explains, the whining of taps heard at a friend’s country home. “I spent three minutes recording that,” he says. “I’ll turn those into an instrument, probably for SpiderVerse 3 or something.”

Having started out as a video-game journalist at the tender age of 13, by 16 Pemberton had bought his first synth and recorded a debut album, 1994’s Bedroom. This led to commissions to make music for TV and, later, scores for film and games. Pemberton’s out-there approach has won him gongs including a Critics’ Choice Documentary Award and an Annie Award, as well as numerous BAFTA, Oscar and Emmy nominations for his work with top directors such as Ridley Scott and Danny Boyle. His next challenge? Translating his biggest hit into a live experience combining orchestra, turntables and electronics – Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Live in Concert

the red bulletin: Where did your interest in music come from?

daniel pemberton: There was a very exciting electronic music scene in the ’90s. I’d be at underground raves in Brixton and listening to bands like The Grid, which showed me a different

way of looking at music – it didn’t have to be focused on a beat or melody; it could be about creating these worlds.

Your approach is certainly distinctive – for the comedy series Peep Show, for instance, you recorded sounds down a well. What inspires your work? I’ve always been a big collector of interesting sounds. Starting out, I didn’t have a lot of kit, so I’d buy reducedprice cassettes in Woolworths and make drum loops on a MiniDisc player. Now, I’ve worked with a crazy array of people like [film directors] Michael Mann, Ridley Scott, Aaron Sorkin, and every one is different. The skill of a film composer is working out how to do the best thing for a director’s film… though sometimes they might not realise it. I did a film called King Arthur: Legend of the Sword with Guy Ritchie, and the score revolves around me heavy breathing and screaming into the microphone.

How did you know the Spider-Verse project was for you?

When they mentioned the 2D pig, Peter Porker, I knew they were exactly the kind of people I wanted to work with. You could feel everyone was pushing hard to make something really special. The recordscratching hip hop element was exciting in the sense that there was a way to embrace that world but do it with my own slant. But you’ve got to be willing to flex and move as the movie moves.

Was working on an animated film a very different experience for you? You have to rely on your imagination as you often don’t see the finished scene until the film’s in the cinema. The big end fight had a circle with an arrow

saying ‘Kingpin’ and a rectangle with an arrow saying ‘Miles’, and they were just bouncing into each other. We were running out of time, and I thought, “What the hell am I supposed to do with this?” When I saw the scene for the first time at the première, I thought, “My God, this is amazing.”

How difficult is it to turn a soundtrack into a live performance?

I try not to make my scores conventional, but touring needs a conventional set-up. We almost had to rebuild the score from scratch, because a lot of times a piece of music is chopped up but that would sound stupid live. It took a long time. We have electronics on a track, and then you have to create space for the live performers. Spider-Verse is a raucous film visually and sonically, which allows the crowd to be energetic.

What’s been the audience’s reaction?

Seeing it live makes you appreciate what musicians bring to a film. This might be the first time some people have seen an orchestra play, or the first time they’ve seen a record-scratching DJ perform. It’ll definitely be the first time they’ve seen both of those things together. At the first show, in Brooklyn [in March last year, when Pemberton toured his Spider-Man: Into the SpiderVerse score], people were cheering when Spider-Man Noir turns up during the leap of faith. It felt like watching the film for the first time, but on steroids.

You’re working on Spider-Verse 3. What can you tell us about it?

I’ll tell you they could have easily done a quick tie-in with the second one, but they said, “No, we’ve opened this little gap… Let’s blow it wide open.” To get the opportunity to work in the most exciting and groundbreaking way is a once-in-a-lifetime thing. So far, we’re two for two. I want to be three for three.

Web of sound

Name Daniel Pemberton Age 46

Scores include Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse; Steve Jobs; The Trial of the Chicago 7 Awards include Film Composer of the Year, 2021; Critics’ Choice Documentary Award, 2021; ASCAP Composers’ Choice Award, 2024; Annie Award, 2024 Latest tour Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Live in Concert; spiderverseinconcert.com

“One score revolved around me breathing and screaming into a microphone”

Daniel Pemberton is always keen to think outside the box

Big hitter

Words Richard Edwards Photography Elliott Wilcox

CRICKET

All-round talent: Alice Capsey, photographed for The Red Bulletin in London in May this year

Cricketer Alice Capsey is on an upward trajectory that shows no signs of slowing. And, as she scores run after run in front of record crowds worldwide, it’s the women’s game that’s the winner

“I reckon I could smash that window if I got it right out of the screws,” says Alice Capsey with a grin. The world-class cricketer is standing in the Honourable Artillery Company’s (HAC) empty ground in the heart of London, and the window in question is probably 80m away and at least nine floors up. It would be quite a hit. But Capsey’s unusual talents mean no pane of glass is safe when she has a bat in her hand.

Situated anonymously between centuries-old houses, office blocks and the City Law School, this cricket ground represents 300 years of history and seems a suitable backdrop for a player who’s helping to shape the future of the women’s game. Still only 19 years old, Capsey has been making national headlines since her show-stopping entrance in The Hundred, back in summer 2021.

The hundred-ball tournament was introduced by the English Cricket Board (ECB) to bring the sport to a new audience, with the inaugural edition held at one of world cricket’s most famous grounds, Lords. It marked a 16-year-old Capsey’s first experience of performing in a major tournament, and just her second appearance for South Londonbased side Oval Invincibles. Entering with no expectations, Capsey scored an incredible 59 in front of a packed house, earning her the Match Hero award. And her world changed.

“Everything just sky-rocketed,” she tells The Red Bulletin. “It was just one thing after another. Did I think it was so significant when I was out there?

Absolutely not. I didn’t even think about getting the Player of the Match [award]. I just thought it was nice to have scored some runs.”

The tournament’s first edition was also a runaway success. Providing an equal stage – and equal prize money – for male and female cricketers, and with matches taking place on the same day to maximise crowds for both, the competition represented a big step forward for the women’s game. With remote audiences also factored in, that opening game was the most-watched women’s cricket match on record in the UK. And 267,000 people attended the tournament – which, true to their name, the Oval Invincibles went on to win – marking a global record for a women’s cricket competition.

Now all eyes were on Capsey.

“Iremember having to do a piece for Sky before the next game,” says Capsey, “and it was like, ‘Why am I getting picked for this? I’m playing with all these amazing cricketers and little, 16-year-old me is getting wheeled out to do interviews.’ It was really strange.” Capsey has had to do her growing up on a very public stage since that day. Having played her first match for Surrey at just 14 years old, she’d already been marked out as one of England’s most exciting young players. Then, after that attention-grabbing debut at The Hundred, in July 2022 Capsey made her T20 debut for the national team in a victory against South Africa. That September, she played her first One Day

“For me, it’s all about the team. I’ve never been a selfish cricketer ”

International for her country. To date, despite not turning 20 until August this year, the all-rounder has already won 50 caps for England.

“I was really thrown in at the deep end,” Capsey says of entering the national spotlight in 2021. “But, for me, it was probably the best thing that could have happened, that baptism of fire. I can see the skills I’ve learnt as a result. Before that day at Lord’s, I would have found all [the media attention] so hard because I’m naturally such an introvert.”

Capsey is a talented off-spin bowler, and she actually started her career as a wicketkeeper. But today it’s the allrounder’s batting talent that’s on show. Her manager Michael Lumb, a former England cricketer who won the Men’s T20 World Cup for his country back in 2010, throws ball after ball to Capsey, who duly smashes each one in turn, thankfully avoiding windows. It’s not brute force that makes this such an impressive sight but the young cricketer’s timing and grace – skills that the sport’s gods pass on to only the few, and which are then honed over years.

Capsey was introduced to cricket at an early age, when she began playing at the local club in Capel, a village in Surrey. “Her hand-eye coordination was incredible,” says Simon Markham, chairman of Capel Cricket Club, who recalls Capsey arriving to play the sport for the first time at the age of six. “She was pretty remarkable. We didn’t have a girls’ section, so all the teams were mixed. She was the first name on the team sheet in all the age group teams she played in. There were five or six girls who played at the same time, and she was very competitive, which I guess you have to be if you’re the youngest of five!”

Being 10 years the junior of her closest sibling, Capsey spent her formative years having to fall in with whatever activity her elder brother was involved in. “I was the grotty child running around with shorts and a short-sleeved T-shirt on, getting dirty, loving life and running around following my siblings,” she says. “I was always there when Mum or Dad were ferrying my brother around, whether it was cricket, football, rugby… There are some really nice photos of me with his football team – they adopted me as their mascot. I was always in or around a sporting environment.”

She also spent a lot of time around the 350 cows on the family’s dairy farm, though she’s never been tempted to follow in her parents’ footsteps. “That was an education in itself,” Capsey says. “During COVID, everyone was at home, so I’d help out with the milking, doing the calving, moving fences. It’s hard. Getting up a 3.30am… I couldn’t hack it. I think I’ll stick to cricket.”

“I’ve got the coolest job in the world, haven’t I?”

It wasn’t long before Capsey proved her sporting talents would one day eclipse those of her siblings. She represented her county at tennis and could also be found playing squash or hockey or, when time allowed, making a splash at the pool. However, it was clear early on that the cricket pitch was where she felt most at home.

“I always say that the fastest way for a young girl to improve is by playing boys’ cricket,” Capsey says. “Boys don’t want their bowling to be hit, and they don’t want to be out to a girl, either. That’s where my competitive edge came from, because that was exactly what I wanted to do.

“I was pretty lucky at my club in Guildford [the club she played for after leaving Capel]. I had a really good group of friends who’d look out for me. I opened the batting with my best mate, and the opposition would be saying, ‘She’s opening?’ Then I’d hit them for four or six and everyone would be taking the piss out of the bowler. I loved that.”

Fitness permitting, Capsey will be a regular in the record books by the time she hangs up her pads and gloves for a final time. Though all the chances Capsey creates for herself are the result of her own considerable talents, the young cricketer readily admits that had she been born a decade earlier, her experience could have been very different. When Charlotte

Future focus: changes to women’s cricket have opened up a world of opportunities for Capsey

Edwards – perhaps the best-known female cricketer in the pre-professional era – made her debut for England, back in 1996, she had to pay for her own team blazer. Earlier, in 1968, another England cricket icon, Enid Bakewell, spent months raising the funds after being picked for the women’s Ashes in Australia. The Nottinghamshire-born player sold potatoes at her garden gate to pay for her airfare. The only reward she received was a post-tour dress from Marks & Spencer.

It still wasn’t possible for a woman to play professionally when Capsey started out, but the last decade has seen significant progress. In 2014, the ECB handed 18 full-time professional contracts to female domestic cricketers in England. This figure rose to 41 in winter 2020, and in October 2022 the number was upped again to 80. The country’s centrally contracted cricketers – one of which was Capsey after November that year –now enjoy financial rewards that Edwards and Bakewell could only have dreamt of.

“I’ve been very fortunate to be on this path, as the women’s game has been progressing so quickly,” says Capsey, who was born in Redhill, Surrey. “I’ve probably timed [my career] to perfection. Every single year I’ve been in the right place at the right time.”

Capsey isn’t only becoming a household name in England. As the status of the women’s game advances around the world, she’s also big news in Australia and India due to her involvement in the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) and Women’s

Premier League (WPL), which have provided an opportunity to broaden her skill set. “I’ve loved both,” Capsey says. “The WPL, which is pretty much taking place in the home of cricket [India], is just incredible. The buzz around it, the crowds we get, the noise… it’s great fun.

“The Big Bash is in Australia, which is hands down one of my favourite countries. The culture, the relaxed vibe… it’s just a fantastic place to play cricket. It’s also [a longer competition], so it feels more like a season. You spend a lot of time with your teammates, so you really get to know the girls. I’ve been fortunate to go out there for two years in a row, and the friends I’ve made out there are friends for life.

“Playing in those countries, on different pitches in different conditions, you just learn so much. There’s also the general awareness you get from living away from home.”

The WBBL and WPL tournaments have made an enormous contribution to the growth of the women’s game since their inception in 2015 and 2023 respectively. The WPL, in particular, is emblematic of the opportunities now available to players like Capsey.

In February last year, England all-rounder Nat Sciver-Brunt was snapped up by WPL team Mumbai Indians for around £320,000. Capsey, meanwhile, was signed by the Delhi Capitals for £75,000. These figures are a relative snip when compared with the record men’s fee – £2.3m, paid by the Kolkata Knight Riders for 34-year-old

Swinging into gear: Capsey in action for the Oval Invincibles in The Hundred at Lord’s in

“Being a role model is almost the thing that drives me most”

Australian Mitchell Starc at the Indian league’s auction in December last year – but it gives a good idea of the direction of travel. “It’s just amazing to see how far the women’s game has come – not just on the field but off it, too.” Capsey says. “Now young girls can dream of becoming a professional cricketer, there’s a pathway, and the rewards when you get to the top would have been unthinkable even five years ago.”

A significant turning point for national cricket came in August last year, when it was announced that match fees would be equal for England’s men and women. “It’s funny, I still can’t believe I’m getting paid to play cricket,” said England T20 star Danni Wyatt. “It still feels surreal.

“Every year, it goes up and up and up,” she continues. “It’s a shame, really – I mean, I’m not retiring now, but I’m coming to the end of my career, whereas these young ’uns... In 10 years’ time, I wonder how much someone like Alice Capsey will be earning. It’s going to be mad.”

Speaking to Capsey, her love for the sport is so obvious that you get the impression she’d happily play matches with her mates for free. On the pitch she may be a figure who – rightly – strikes fear into the opposition, but off it Capsey is still a bubbly teenager from a dairy farm in Dorking.

“I’ve got the coolest job in the world, haven’t I?” she says, smiling. “But when you go back to the family, you get humbled pretty quickly. You’re back on the farm, back to home life, back to being the

“We want to show the world what we’re capable of”

youngest, so you have to know your place! It doesn’t matter if you’ve scored zero or 100 [on the cricket pitch]. That will never change.”

Cricket is brutal – not only because of the pace of its bowlers (South Africa’s Shanim Ismail delivered a ball at a blistering 132.1kph in this year’s WPL) but also in its relentlessness. In this sport, particularly in its shortest formats, one mistake and you’re walking back to the boundary’s edge with nothing but your thoughts for company. And the tournaments come in quick succession.

Far from the peace of today’s empty stands, Capsey will soon be back amid the hubbub and expectancy of sell-out crowds at the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh this October. With the world watching, the young England cricketer will be doing her best to bring the trophy back to her home country for the first time since 2009.

Before then, she’ll have completed another edition of The Hundred and numerous other England commitments. It’s a packed schedule, made harder by the nature of her role at the top of the batting order. But Capsey takes a pragmatic approach.

“You’re never going to score runs every time you bat,” she says. “You can’t get too down when you fail, or get carried away when things are going well. For me, it’s all about performing for the team. I want to go out there and score runs as quickly as possible. I’ve never been a selfish cricketer.”

With the appetite for women’s cricket in all its forms increasing every year, Capsey’s schedule is only set to get busier. But there’s still a lot of work to do before the women’s game has secured true parity. Even in The Hundred there remains a sizeable pay gap, with the top-tier men being paid more than double the fee for top-tier women.

This year, however, female players will be paid three times what they received for the inaugural tournament in 2021, a reminder that progress is being made. And this is thanks in no small part to the talents of Capsey and the likes of Sciver-Brunt driving the sport’s popularity. Both are keenly aware of being flagbearers for future generations.

“That responsibility of being a role model, it’s almost the thing that drives me most,” says Capsey. “I really want to take the sport as far as possible. When you see kids at the Oval [the home of the Invincibles] it’s all about taking the time to sign autographs, chatting to them and giving them photos. That was exactly what I wanted when I was the same age. I wanted one of those ‘4s’ or ‘6s’ cards signed by Jason Roy or Jos Buttler.”

Now, it’s players like Capsey who are bringing a new generation of cricket lovers through the gates and onto the field of play. And, with millions watching around the world when the World Cup begins in October, Capsey’s rare skills will make the case for parity every time she sets foot on the pitch.

“I can’t wait,” says Capsey of the England team’s mission in Bangladesh. “We all just want to go out there and show the world what we’re capable of.” redbull.com; Instagram: @alicecapsey_

Right off the bat: the England all-rounder has high hopes for the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh this October

Soaring ambition

Marco Fürst and Marco

Waltenspiel’s world-first wingsuit flight through London’s Tower Bridge triggered global headlines. From vision to reality, we dive behind the scenes to examine the anatomy of an aerial marvel

Words Mark Bailey

WINGSUIT FLYING

Flight control: the two Marcos approach London’s Tower Bridge to make wingsuit history on May 12 this year

Blades of glory: looking out over London’s landmarks as they climb by helicopter to their launch altitude

London, 5.22am, Sunday, May 12, 2024.

Illuminated by an electric pink sunrise, two blue meteorites trailing streams of red smoke hurtle, at 246kph, through the sky near London’s world-famous Tower Bridge. Londoners on red buses gawp open-mouthed. Bleary-eyed clubbers wandering home stare skywards in awe. But as these shapes get closer, it becomes clear they’re human beings. Dressed in wingsuits, the figures are zooming directly towards the steel and stone of the bridge. Then, with eye-ofa-needle precision, they miraculously glide through the narrow 65m x 32m window between Tower Bridge’s iconic towers, walkways and rising bascules. Now just 35m above the uninviting water

of the Thames, the wingsuited duo suddenly shoot upwards before launching parachutes and coolly floating back down to land. The mysterious figures whoop and hug. Their names are Marco Fürst and Marco Waltenspiel. And the two Austrians have just pulled off the first-ever wingsuit flight through Tower Bridge.

Fürst and Waltenspiel’s mission may have been over, but the news kept flying, sparking headlines across the globe, from the New York Post to Sky News Australia. Viral videos. Awe. Respect. Two-and-ahalf years of secret planning crystallised into one 45-second fragment of history. From impossible vision to headlinemaking phenomenon, this is the inside

story of how an unlikely creative dream became a unique reality.

Find your passion

Rewind to the noughties when two Austrian teenagers named Marco both dreamt of flying. Not that either boy knew of the other at that stage: the two lived 250km apart – Marco Waltenspiel in Salzburg, Marco Fürst in Bregenz.

Waltenspiel watched and dreamt as his dad skydived for thrills at weekends. “I grew up on the drop zones, being allowed to fly in the plane and helicopter,” recalls the now 39-year-old, “but I was pissed that I was too young to fly myself.” Then, in 2000, at the age of 16, he finally felt the thrill of human flight during his first skydive. “From that point, I was hooked. I knew this would be my life.”

Nine years later, Fürst, aged 18, felt the same euphoria. “Cycling, windsurfing and sailing were fun, but when I did my first tandem jump I knew I’d found my passion,” says the 33-year-old. “You feel like a bird. You have total freedom, especially now in a wingsuit, to fly left, right, up or down.”

The duo have each notched up more than 10,000 skydives, BASE jumps and wingsuit flights. To fund this, Waltenspiel did bar work and taught snowboarding;

“You move like a bird, trying to feel the wind”

Taking wing: two-and-a-half years of planning culminate in an awe-inspiring 45-second flight

Fürst was a skydiving coach. The pair first met in 2007 and lived together in Thalgau for a year while training for shows and competitions. “We’re similar, but he likes hard rock and I like electro,” laughs Fürst.

In 2014, they joined the Red Bull Skydive Team, cooking up boundaryshifting projects including wingsuit flights over Indonesia’s Mount Bromo volcano and Austria’s Streif ski run. Find your passion, they learnt, and it’ll fuel you for life. “I’ve held onto that feeling since I was a kid, and I still go after it every day,” Fürst says.

Think creatively

In a fog-choked London in 1890, two shadowy figures fight to the death on the ghostly, half-built skeleton of Tower Bridge. This is the dramatic climax of the 2009 movie Sherlock Holmes, a scene that, twoand-a-half years ago, gave Fürst a big idea. “The movie got me thinking about Tower Bridge,” he says. “We were talking about doing something cool in England, like maybe a jump on a castle, and I was like, ‘No, it has to be Tower Bridge!’”

Built between 1886 and 1894, Tower Bridge is a globally recognisable London landmark, captured in countless tourist photos and Hollywood movies. “We had the idea of flying through it in a wingsuit, though we thought nobody would agree as it’s super-extreme,” says Waltenspiel. “But Red Bull said, ‘Interesting!’ We thought, ‘Fuck! This could get real.’”

But then, wingsuits allow ambitious skydivers to chase seemingly impossible dreams. The suits feature nylon wings between the arms, torso and legs that

“No one has ever tried to fly as low as 42m”

generate lift, enabling the wearer to convert the vertical descent of a skydive into the horizontal glide of a wingsuit flight. The result is a fast, agile and liberating ‘superhero’ style of flight –exactly what’s required to jump from a helicopter and through Tower Bridge.

“If you travel the world doing stuff not everyone is doing, it’s normal that you be creative,” says Waltenspiel. “We want to push the limits of our sport,” adds Fürst.

Make it real

In autumn 2021, Fürst and Waltenspiel felt like explorers moving into unknown terrain. “We had to discover if the plan was even possible,” Fürst says. They began liaising with aerial specialists, helicopter pilots, air traffic controllers and water safety experts to verify feasibility. Over two-and-a-half years, they made six visits to Tower Bridge, scouting angles and details, before doing practice jumps in the mountains near Maria Alm in Austria.

“We began by jumping out of a plane at 4,000m, just training the parabola [flight curve],” explains Waltenspiel. “But we could only get to 3,000ft [around 900m, due to air traffic control rules], so you don’t have much time to gain speed or adjust on the descent. Over time, we set

the jump distance at 0.5 nautical miles [926m] parallel to the bridge, and the approach at a 90° angle. And the GPS data showed, yes, this jump was possible.”

Crush all obstacles

Huge challenges still loomed, starting with that high-precision aerial navigation through Tower Bridge, a structure made from more than 11,000 tonnes of steel, 1,200 tonnes of iron and 6,650 cubic metres of Cornish granite and Portland stone. “And if you approach at our steep angle, the window gets even smaller,” explains Waltenspiel.

At a training base in Oxfordshire, two cranes were erected in front of a lake to replicate the London landmark. “On practice jumps we started the lower limit at 150m, then we went down to the 42m height of Tower Bridge,” says Fürst. The necessity to go below 42m was risky. “No one has ever tried to fly that low,” Fürst says. “There’s not much of a way out.” A 246kph collision with the Thames would be catastrophic, so he and Waltenspiel wore wetsuits beneath their wingsuits and carried Restubes (rapidly inflatable buoys).

To avoid hitting the water, the pair had to perfect a complex ‘flare’ manoeuvre, using the lift of their wingsuits to soar rapidly back up from a height of around 35m to 80m – an altitude that would provide adequate time to deploy their chutes and slow their descent. They also wore Squirrel ‘race’ wingsuits with a thinner aero profile, allowing more control and precision for that tricky ‘flare’.

They practised this complex manoeuvre in Oxfordshire, with a photographer suspended from the cranes in a basket to capture their attempts. “We went lower and lower,” says Fürst. “The photographer’s basket hung at 50m and we flew right underneath him. Then everyone realised, ‘The project is going to happen!’”

Fürst and Waltenspiel also practised precision landings to allow them to safely touch down on a 30m x 5m floating barge in London. “We put out targets like a square metre of paper – you can fly that precisely,” says Waltenspiel. With 200 practice jumps in the bag, confidence was building.

Team up

Despite the doubts and dangers, the former flatmates weren’t going into battle alone. “Our bond is really cool – before a jump, I can see in [Waltenspiel’s] eyes when he’s ready,” Fürst says. “[Fürst] is a ninja in the sky,” adds Waltenspiel. The duo have total trust in each other. “If someone doesn’t feel it, we tell each other,” says Fürst. “Four eyes are better than two.”

Threading the needle: the two Austrians glide through the narrow 65m x 32m window between the bridge’s iconic towers, walkways and bascules, with Waltenspiel (foreground) flying lower than Fürst

But despite the synchronised nature of their London flight, there was still room for individual expression. Both men are playful, adventurous and quick to laugh. Waltenspiel, six years older, is perhaps more cautious, opting to fly lower beneath the bridge. “The [aerial] walkway was in my mind, and steel is not soft, so I set my point of attack lower,” he shrugs. Different strategies, same goal.

Front up to fear

The Tower Bridge jump was the pair’s most ambitious project yet, but mental practice nurtures composure. “It’s not fear, because I’ve trained for it,” says Waltenspiel. “Before a jump, I decide if it’s real fear or just a brainfuck. And if you can separate those wisely, fear doesn’t need to be there when it’s time to shine.”

The two wingsuit skydivers utilised visualisation, imagining every sight and sensation of the flight to steel their minds. As fathers, for Fürst and Waltenspiel the hazards can be hard to accept, but they use self-talk to overcome nagging doubts. “I was ready to jump one day near Salzburg and suddenly my son pops up in my mind,” Waltenspiel says. “I was like, ‘What?’ I had to talk to myself and say, ‘No, this is not the right moment [to think of him].’”

Find your flow

There were setbacks and delays on the path to London, due to the complex nature of this unique challenge. But on May 11, 2024, with the weather looking clear, the mission was set. “At the hotel, we didn’t want to sleep,” laughs Fürst. “It took me an hour to sleep. I told myself, ‘Trust the process. It’s going to be good.’”

“We want to push the limits of our sport”

At 5am, after four or five hours’ sleep, the pair were in a Eurocopter AS355N Ecureuil II helicopter 900m above London, 1.2km west of Tower Bridge, with permissions confirmed and safety boats in place. “There was a lot of excitement, so we tried to calm ourselves,” says Fürst. “We said, ‘Ready? Ready!’” Waltenspiel adds: “At the three-minute call, it was on. You don’t look around. You check your gear twice. You’ve played it all through in your mind. Now it’s like, ‘OK, come to me!’”

At 5.22am, two and a half years of anticipation became reality. “When we went onto the helicopter skids, I had a couple of seconds to really suck everything in,” says Fürst. “It was a moment I’ll remember my whole life.”

Leaping from the chopper at an altitude almost 10 times the height of Big Ben, the Austrians felt the chill of rushing air on their necks and hands. “I could see skyscrapers, Tower Bridge, Big Ben, the whole city,” says Fürst, who – appropriately – jumped first. Waltenspiel was stunned by the “supercool” sunrise but had a different visual experience: “I was just focusing on Marco, because he was lining us up, until we said, ‘Accelerate! It’s on!’ That’s the first time I saw Tower Bridge. And then it’s like a tunnel. But you see so clearly because your senses are so sharp.”

Trailing red smoke for visibility, the two wingsuited men flew in sync towards Tower Bridge at 246kph, navigating their trajectories with subtle body adjustments. “You move like a bird,” explains Fürst. “You lean with your whole body and you try to feel the wind.” Then, in a sudden flash of stone and steel, they threaded through Tower Bridge together, with Waltenspiel slightly lower as planned.

Next came that flare – “the critical part,” as Waltenspiel describes it – 35m above the Thames. The duo jolted sharply upwards, deployed their parachutes and, after just four or five seconds beneath the canopies, landed – Waltenspiel on the barge, and Fürst in the water nearby. “When I hugged Marco, that was the moment,” says Fürst. “Man, we did it!”

Treasure your success

Childhood dreams, decades of experience, one creative spark and years of planning had culminated in 45 seconds of aerial euphoria. “It was a dream come true,” says Fürst. “My parents and my wife and baby were there watching.” His flight partner was elated, too: “We had a big party on the pier,” Waltenspiel says. “My mum was crying. To see the project from the ‘outside’ was really nice.”

Interviews with the global media and celebrations into the night followed. But soon the excitement melted into a deeper sense of pride. The kudos from the wingsuit community was especially humbling. “The community respected our piece of art, and that’s important to me,” says Waltenspiel.

Walking incognito beneath Tower Bridge the next day, just two strangers amid a crowd of tourists, the duo felt a new bond with the famous landmark. “I now look at Tower Bridge with a different perspective,” says Waltenspiel. “The emotions are popping on a different level.”

To celebrate their triumph, the two skydivers got matching tattoos – ‘TB’ for Tower Bridge, alongside the date of the jump – at Studio Almost in London. The ink commemorates a dream, a friendship and a moment in history. “My dad said to me, ‘Man, I’m really proud of you,’” says Fürst. “He read the history of Tower Bridge and how a plane flew through [piloted by British aviator Frank McClean in 1912] and how motocross rider Robbie Maddison jumped over it [backflipping an almost 8m gap in the bascules in 2009]. And he said, ‘Now you’re part of Tower Bridge history. For ever.’”

Scan the QR code to see the two Marcos make history with Red Bull Wings Through Tower Bridge

Smoke on the water: parachute open, Fürst makes his descent

YOUTH AGAINST APARTHEID EVENT

CAMDEN

TOWN HALL, LONDON, 1985

“This was taken at the Youth Against Apartheid Hip Hop Alliance event at Camden Town Hall. It’s a really early hip hop jam in 1985, back when they were more like community centre jams. They got a little room together with a stage, some DJs, they had some guys doing graffiti painting, and these are the kids at the front. It was very multicultural. The kid at the front on the left, he’s a football kid. The Nike hat is the most hip hop thing you can see in this photograph – some of these boys have got jumpers on! We haven’t even got the American look yet; we had a different thing going on. This is the epitome of innercity London kids at a hip hop jam.”

theRespect shooter

British photographer Normski was a vital witness to what has become known as rap’s golden age. Here, he revisits the important role he played in capturing hip hop’s early years

Words Will Lavin Photography Normski

Londoner Norman Anderson, known as Normski, has a knack for being in the right place at the right time. In 1980, aged just 14, the British-Jamaican photographer, DJ and broadcaster bore witness to the inception of hip hop. Armed with his 35mm camera, he immortalised what would later be known as hip hop’s ‘golden age’, capturing the journeys of US acts such as LL Cool J, Run-DMC, Public Enemy and NWA as they rose to global superstardom in the mid-’80s and early ’90s. “I was a young Black British homeboy photographer,” he says. “I wasn’t on the sidelines –I was in the thick of it.”

As well as photographing rap culture, Normski, now 58, documented the early history of three of hip hop’s other pillars: DJing, graffiti and breakdancing, which were becoming intrinsic parts of the youth scene in the States. And, as an exciting electronic

music scene began to develop in the UK, giving rise to homegrown genres such as jungle and drum’n’bass, Normski found himself in a key role once again. Travelling between Detroit – the US home of techno – and London, he recorded the evolution of these emergent musical and social movements, too.

His book, Normski: Man with the Golden Shutter, features previously unseen photographs of young artists from this time, including Ice Cube, Goldie, Queen Latifah, De La Soul, Salt-N-Pepa, Cypress Hill, and many more. “There are young Black males in a lot of my photographs,” he says. “That’s because I understood those guys; I felt their journey reflected mine. I had an honest interest in their world, which meant that I was respected and accepted into their circles, and, in turn, they made me the photographer I became. In time, I was lucky enough to be at the genesis of movements – notably hip hop, techno and jungle – that would become global phenomena.”

Here, Normski walks us through his expansive career and shares what it was like witnessing the birth of hip hop in real time...

the red bulletin: What’s your earliest memory of being interested in photography?

normski: The first time I remember ever seeing photos was in a catalogue. My mum was into the Great Universal catalogue [a British mail-order directory]. As a little boy, I’d dream of getting something from the toy or bike section, or later the stereo section. That catalogue was my first magazine.

When did you get your first camera?

I was about nine or 10. I wasn’t well and was off school. My mum wanted to cheer me up, so she took me to an auction happening at the Royal Horticultural Halls. I was desperate for a bike, but

JAZZIE B AND CHUCK D NEW YORK CITY, 1989

“I knew Soul II Soul from Camden Town. I’d hung out with them several times, and my mates were making music with them. The group had just hit number one on the Billboard chart [in the US], and they were also number one in the UK. When I heard the news, I thought it was epic. Next thing I know, they’re in New York to do a

live gig supporting Funkadelic at the Palladium, and I happened to be there. So I extended my stay and waited in the car park at the back of the venue to surprise them. This picture was taken right after they got out of their limo. Chuck D [of Public Enemy] was a VIP guest who’d come to congratulate the group on their number one.”

CARL CRAIG DETROIT, 1987

“This photo was taken on my second trip to Detroit. Carl Craig was a secondgeneration Detroit techno musician and protégé of [Metroplex Records founder] Juan [Atkins] who was on the come-up, so he was shyly just having a little mix kneeling down on the floor. The Metroplex building we’re in was like a madhouse of techno people. Juan’s studio looked like a living room he’d converted, and there were tape machines all around where they would put these amazing loops together.”

MC DUKE

MUSIC OF LIFE RECORDS, HANWAY STREET, LONDON, 1988

“We used this shot for Duke’s single I’m Riffin’ I really love this shot. This is me trying to create a lovely, stylish, fashionable, black-andwhite portrait, and we got it. And look at those rings! There’s the signet ring, the money rings – they’re so English. He was an east London boy. We didn’t have chunky jewellery like the Americans; we had a different way, slightly more refined.”

GOLDIE METALHEADZ, BLUE NOTE, LONDON, 1996

“Goldie always talks about how this one picture captures his soul more than any other. This was at one of his Metalheadz events at the Blue Note club in Hoxton. I was on the floor, and then – bam! –he walked straight into me. It was the prime of our lives, really. I had my sneaky little Olympus compact camera with me, and I did the rabbitin-headlights kind of shot on him, which was a bit unfair. I’m lucky because he could have hated it. But he really didn’t. He loves it.”

QUEEN LATIFAH EMPIRE STATE BUILDING, NEW YORK CITY, 1980S

“This was a crazy day. We were shooting for [now-defunct mag] Hip Hop Connection, and the interviewer suggested that it might be cool to go to the top of the Empire State Building and shoot young Queen Latifah like the queen of New York. It was super-windy, and her hair was blowing all over the place – it really proved to be quite difficult. But we did manage to get this moment. And she didn’t get blown off the roof.”

PUBLIC ENEMY’S CHUCK D AND FLAVOR FLAV

DEF JAM TOUR, HAMMERSMITH ODEON, LONDON, 1987

“I’m very proud of this photograph. It was the ‘87 Def Jam Tour [also featuring Eric B & Rakim and LL Cool J], which was the turning point for hip hop. The whole world changed when Public Enemy came on that stage to the armageddon siren. They shouted things that

we all never even knew we were thinking, and I’m right at the front. I had never seen people run up and down the stage like that. They had the S1Ws [Security of the First World] marching in formation, Terminator X was cutting and scratching… I didn’t know what to look at. It was insane! I’ve had this photograph reposted by Chuck D, proudly saying this was the first time they ever played London. A huge moment in hip hop.”

“This tour was a huge moment in hip hop”

B-BOY DREW COVENT GARDEN, LONDON, 1985

“In this photograph, I’m shooting on colour slide film for the first time. This is me learning, shooting at night and using flash, which was something that I hadn’t really done much at that point. I caught the emotion of Drew, though.

He was one of the baddest B-boys. It was a spectacle. It was amazing just standing around in a circle, watching these nutters swinging around and making it look cool. The finish and freeze put the exclamation point on it.”

COVENT GARDEN B-BOYS LONDON,

1983

“This is the first hip hop photograph I ever took. It’s really early on and hip hop was just starting out. While I don’t know the name of this crew, I recently found out that the guy on the right is actually MC Duke, and it’s his little crew that performed down there from 1980 to ’81. Covent Garden was derelict and busted up, but buskers would go down.”

we got there late and there weren’t any left. All they had left was a little bundle of items, and when a camera came up we bought it. I have to thank her because she pushed [the camera] on me a bit. She thought it would be a good thing for me to do.

Your professional entry point into photography coincided with the birth of hip hop as it made its way from the US to the UK. How did you come to be at the centre of this budding new culture? When it all kicked off in London, there was no way I wasn’t going to be a part of it. I found myself actively doing something that could contribute to it: documenting the culture. There were a lot of other things I could have documented, but very quickly I found myself obsessed with hip hop. There was so much going on at that time.

You’ve taken photos of some of the biggest names in hip hop. Is there a conversation with anyone from that time that sticks out?

I’d probably say [US visual artist and hip hop pioneer] Fab 5 Freddy. To meet a guy like that early on in my career made me want to get into the scene even more. There weren’t a lot of big-name Black people around back then that weren’t rappers. He was cool, and I related to him a lot. He was always like, “Man, you guys have got a scene out here. That’s really cool!” He made you feel good about yourself. He always came across as very brotherly.

You’ve said that taking pictures changed your relationship with people. Can you explain? There was a time when I really didn’t like people at all. I’d always had an interest in them, but only in documenting them. When I’m in a darkroom, I’m on my own, and when I’m walking around with my camera, there ain’t no one walking around with

“I wasn’t on the sidelines – I was in the thick of it”

me. However, when it comes to working with people [in photography] you learn quickly to be comfortable and make them comfortable. I went from only having a relationship with my camera to learning to have one with the people on the other side of the lens.

The first big live hip hop event you covered as a photographer was the legendary UK Fresh at Wembley in 1986. What was it like walking in?

I remember it being very scary, because I hadn’t done anything that huge before with my camera. It was ridiculous! There was at least 10,000 people there. I remember being at the front and not venturing from there pretty much the entire time. There was so much going on, and I didn’t know where to look. The breakdancers are what got me. Anything super-visual caught my attention during those days of hip hop.

Breakdancing is one of the main pillars of hip hop. Having watched the culture grow, how important has B-boying been to its rise?

The most important thing in hip hop is movement – it’s what the culture makes you want to do, and it’s how we communicate. Being present at a show, at a party, on the dancefloor, by the [DJ] decks, watching someone cut and scratch a record, or just having a dance-off with someone and throwing some shapes with another person… that’s communication.

Could you imagine at the time how far breakdancing would come, and the influence it would have on contemporary dance?

Not at all. It’s advanced now to the point that street dancing is as big as ballet. Back when we were getting chased off Covent Garden, I never would have thought it would ever get this big. There are now contemporary B-boy dance lessons. The level of hip hop’s influence [in mainstream culture] is surreal.

You were a key figure in the popularisation of techno, documenting its Detroit origins and pioneers. When did you discover it?

The first time I heard anything that was vaguely techno was really through electro, at the beginning of hip hop. That’s the part of hip hop that really caught my attention when it first dropped. It was Rapper’s Delight, then it was Buffalo Gals and Planet Rock. That electro element piqued my interest. I also related a lot of techno energy to dub [reggae], which I listened to a lot in my darkroom days. Techno was just another record in my bag. It was already a part of me.

You’ve said your involvement in the rise of techno was “a privilege”. Why’s that?

My first trip [to Detroit] was to work on the first-ever techno compilation album made by a non-Detroit company to sell worldwide. I honestly had no idea that would be the very beginning of this new movement coming out of Detroit. I was at the birth of something again. I was at the birth of hip hop in the UK and then suddenly I was at the birth of Detroit techno. What an honour.

Normski: Man with the Golden Shutter, published by ACC Art Books, is out now; accartbooks.com

High flier: the Alinghi Red Bull Racing America’s Cup crew trains off the coast of Barcelona in June 2024. BoatOne’s hydrofoils allow it to fly above the water at twice the speed of the wind

The sea changers

What happens when one of history’s greatest sailing teams joins forces with the reigning F1 world champions to compete in the ultimate yacht race? Entering the uncharted territory of Alinghi Red Bull Racing’s bid to win the America’s Cup

Words Tom Guise Photography Konstantin Reyer

Getting up to speed: as a new team, and with the rules requiring sailors be from the country that the team represents, the Alinghi Red Bull Racing crew have never raced in an America’s Cup before. They’ve had to learn fast

It’s February 2003, and the 31st America’s Cup is taking place off the coast of New Zealand, in the Hauraki Gulf. Shielded by peninsulas, this stretch of Pacific Ocean is perfect for a contest that for more than a century and a half has been the benchmark in high-speed yacht racing.

Team New Zealand are the twice-defending champions. As per the arcane rules, the Cup’s defender is obligated to host the competition and decide the protocol – a tradition that bestows the Kiwi champions with considerable advantage as they face an underdog new contender, Alinghi, from a country without seas, Switzerland.

The two 24m-long sailing yachts battle it out as plot twists abound. Team New Zealand’s boat suffers gear failures in the first race, its cockpit filling with water. There are rough seas, too much wind, no wind at all; for nine days the boats sit docked, waiting for a weather window. When it comes, it all proves too much for the Kiwis – their mast snaps. The Swiss rookies seal their victory – the first champions from a landlocked country, and the only ones to ever win on their debut.

Arnaud Psarofaghis remembers the moment. He was 14 at the time, living 200m from Lake Geneva. Switzerland may have no sea borders, but it has many lakes. “People enjoy the lakes in summer as

“To see the whole country cheering, it was like winning the World Cup”

much as the mountains in winter,” Psarofaghis says. “And unlike the sea, a lake is flat, so you can develop more extreme boats.”

He took to sailing at an early age. On the shore of Lake Geneva lies the Société Nautique de Genève, the yacht club whose colours Alinghi raced under in 2003. Psarofaghis was there when the team brought back the fabled Auld Mug trophy, one of more than 40,000 people gathered in the cold March air to celebrate their heroes’ return. “To see the whole country cheering – even people not into sailing –we knew it was something important, like winning the World Cup,” he recalls. “It gave me a dream to one day join this team.” In 2016, Psarofaghis became a sailor for Alinghi. His ambitions were on course, but the team’s had changed.

In 2007, Alinghi defended its crown, now against the newly branded Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ). Then, in 2010, it lost to US billionaire Larry Ellison’s Oracle Team USA. It was a contentious battle, fought as much in court – in a disagreement over the rules – as on water. Soured by the experience, Alinghi walked away from the competition.

The America’s Cup has many legends. There’s the one about a US schooner, America, arriving on British shores in 1851 to win a 100-guinea cup from the Royal Yacht Squadron, birthing the longestrunning international sporting competition. Or the tale of Sir Thomas Lipton, who spent three decades and his vast tea fortune attempting to reclaim the Auld Mug for Britain without avail. Then there’s businessman Alan Bond, whose yacht Australia II finally broke the Americans’ 132-year winning streak in 1983, for which he was awarded the Order of Australia in his homeland, only to be stripped of it and imprisoned for embezzlement 14 years later. But perhaps its greatest legend is still being written.

In 2021, 11 years after stepping away, Alinghi announced it was returning to the contest. In front of the gathered press, founder Ernesto Bertarelli, who’d sailed in its previous campaigns, declared it would “do something totally new”. He unveiled a joint venture with Red Bull to form a new team that drew on their expertise in F1 and yachting: Alinghi Red Bull Racing. A new course had been plotted.

Barcelona has a rich sailing history. But during 2023, its Port Vell harbour, already teeming with boat sheds, saw a few more mysteriously appear – the bases of teams competing for the 37th America’s Cup.

When ETNZ won the 2021 Cup, the team got to choose the location of the next contest and, in a rare

Arnaud Psarofaghis, one of Alinghi Red Bull Racing’s helmsmen

decision, relinquished home-ground advantage to host it here in October 2024. ETNZ’s brightly coloured base sits surrounded by those of five challengers; of these, the Alinghi Red Bull Racing building stands out, its red-and-blue branding familiar to fans of the F1 team. Passers-by peer into the reception, expecting to glimpse something magical, but the most powerful sorcery is practised away from prying eyes.

Out front sits a dry-docked boat in Alinghi Red Bull Racing livery: an AC75, the category of 20.5mlong monohull all the teams will race. Its canoelike aesthetic draws tourists to snap photos. This is BoatZero, one of ETNZ’s vessels from the last competition, bought by the Swiss as a training vessel. It has now served that purpose, its shell stripped of mast and sails, the team having developed a superior – and infinitely more secret – BoatOne.

“BoatOne, compared with BoatZero, is night and day,” says Silvio Arrivabene, the team’s co-general manager. “The hull, appendages, the way everything is conceived and put together … night and day.”

The Italian sailor and naval architect was part of Alinghi’s construction crew when it competed in 2010. In 2017, he joined American Magic – the team representing the sport’s oldest syndicate, the New York Yacht Club – working on its boat

for the 2021 race. Before that competition was even over, Arrivabene received a call from Bertarelli. “Ernesto was keen to get back in and asked whether I was interested,” he recalls. “It didn’t take much to convince me – probably the same phone call.”

Arrivabene’s history with the 2010 Alinghi team was a big draw, but his experience in the 2021 America’s Cup was perhaps even more vital, because in the intervening years a technological revolution occurred in the sport.

In 2012, hydrofoiling – the use of wing-like structures to lift a watercraft out of the water, reducing drag – wasn’t unknown. Popular in kiteboarding, it had been adopted by a smaller class of yachts, known as Moths. But it took ETNZ – this time challenging defenders Oracle Team USA – to entertain putting them onto bigger vessels, specifically the catamarans it was entering into the following year’s America’s Cup. When a grainy photo of its prototype flying above the water was leaked, immediate reactions were that it had to be fake or an optical illusion. But the genie was out of the bottle, and teams moved quickly to outdo each other. By the time the 2013 Cup was unfolding, it was among boats that were not just sailing but soaring above the water at more than double the speed.

“It was a sliding doors moment,” says Arrivabene. “Until the 2013 campaign, America’s Cup boats were attached to the water. Now, you didn’t need ballast or keels; there’s no heeling over [leaning of the boat]. The sail was a blade. And the speed…”

What Arrivabene is describing is a shift from hydrodynamics – the physics of moving through fluids – to aerodynamics, travelling though air. This is where the second part of Alinghi Red Bull Racing’s set-up comes into play.

Milton Keynes is not as glamorous as Barcelona. The British town, famed for its roundabouts – roughly 130 of them – has even been described as boring. But excitement is subjective, and there’s a reason why the town’s name thrills fans of Formula 1: it’s home to Red Bull Racing.

Across the road is Red Bull Advanced Technologies (RBAT), where the science that helped win seven F1 Drivers’ and six Constructors’ Championships is parlayed into other projects, from a hydrogen car for the 24 Hours of Le Mans to a BMX bowl light enough to suspend beneath a hot-air balloon. And, since 2021, boats that can fly.

“With hydrofoils, you’ve got to generate enough lift for six-and-a-half tonnes,” explains Dan Smith, head of aerodynamics at RBAT. “At top speed, the pressure gets so low that water boils at 23°C and

“Today, you don’t need ballast or keels. The sail is a blade”

Silvio Arrivabene, Alinghi Red Bull Racing co-general manager

BoatOne looks more like the Batmobile than a boat

Good to go: before BoatOne sets sail, the sailors and engineers check the systems

Sew vital: (above) a sailmaker works on a giant sewing machine in the Alinghi Red Bull Racing sail loft, which must remain spotless; (below) BoatOne is lifted from the dock and into the water

Sails figures

8

The number of crew: four Cyclors, two helmsmen, and two mainsail trimmer/flight controllers

20.5 Length in metres of the boat

50 The speed in knots that BoatOne can exceed when flying

26.5 The regulation height of the mast

15,000 The pressure in tonnes that some points on the mainsail endure at speed

6

The number of mainsails a team is allowed for the whole competition. They can use 15 jibs (the smaller sail)

turns into air. The hydrofoil isn’t supported by water any more, and you lose all lift – it’s called cavitation.”

The guys at RBAT understand hydrodynamics, but there’s a field they’re better versed in. “We were surprised at how focused the America’s Cup is on aerodynamics,” says technical director Rob Gray. “Our approach was, ‘You’re the experts on boats, we’ve got this technology – how can we help?’”

“The material science of these boats is very similar to F1,” says Adolfo Carrau, Alinghi Red Bull Racing’s design coordinator. “We use carbon fibre and titanium but have to be strict with our weight budget. If a department says they need three kilos, I ask, ‘How much boat speed are you going to give me?’”

“Aerodynamicists make things smaller, thinner,” says Ed Collings, head of composites and structures at RBAT. “Heavier materials with a thinner cross-section – in the rudder, for example – reduce drag. Lower that weight further and you can carry more control systems, leading to greater performance benefits.”

As you’d expect on a flying boat, sometimes the worlds of hydro- and aerodynamics interact. “The most obvious is the hull – it touches both water and air before take-off,” says Carrau. “It’s tempting to make a 100-per-cent aerodynamic shape, but if it’s too draggy in water – especially in Barcelona, which has big waves – it won’t take off.”

Carrau was a sailor before a designer. That, he says, is essential in an America’s Cup team where the design departments are small and must understand everything. “F1 teams can have hundreds of designers,” he says. “They spend their whole career developing a single component, like the front wing or suspension.”

One such component on the AC75 is the assembly that moves the mainsail. As a yacht, its engine is the sails, the fuel the wind, but the hydraulics used to trim the sails are charged by human power. In the past that was done via hand winches. In 2024 it’ll be by legs: four crew members, known as Cyclors, who will pedal deck-mounted cycling machines. “Any friction reduction saves energy to be used elsewhere,” explains Collings. “So we designed the whole traveller assembly from scratch.”

“Silvio said to me, ‘Rob, we’re the lumberjacks, you’re the watchmakers,’” notes Gray. Arrivabene recalls the quote. “Red Bull Advanced Technologies’ aptitude for micro-optimisation is a big advantage,” he says. “When you work on a car you have small tools, in our boat shed you need big tools, you make dust and noise. Sailing is coarse.”

Alumberjack aesthetic is not what comes to mind on entering the Alinghi Red Bull Racing Base. Overlooking the waterfront is the guest lounge, catered by local Michelin-starred chef Romain Fornell. Deeper within is a 250m2 gym lined with exercise bikes but also rowing machines. Some of the Cyclors come from cycling, but most are rowers, a sport that demands 60-per-cent legwork.

On the dock are three hangars. The first is the sail loft. Its floor is one ginormous table for laying out the huge sheets of fabric – a carbon-fibre composite that can face up to 15 tonnes of pressure at full

speed. The closest analogy in F1 are the tyres – the sails get less efficient as they wear. Each team is only allowed six mainsails throughout the competition.

One sailmaker is operating an oversized sewing machine. The Red Bulletin is told the whole area has been “cleaned” for our visit, meaning anything secretive has been removed from view. But the room itself is also clean in the literal sense – extractors draw every particle of dust from the air. Through a door into the next chamber – the rigging shed – a giant blue spear is glimpsed. “You shouldn’t see that,” notes our guide. It’s the AC75’s mast.

The last hangar is the biggest of all: the boat shed. Its door is open, but a veil hides its contents. BoatOne is inside. Many areas of the base are too sensitive for unauthorised eyes, but what won’t be found anywhere is a wind tunnel or wave tank –regulations require the boat only be tested at sea, shadowed by independent recon photographers who must share what they see with all the teams. This makes testing exceedingly difficult. Unlike F1, where a car can evolve throughout a season, BoatOne won’t get a sniff of a race until the last pre-regatta in August, two months before the Cup. But the team has another way of killing time – a simulator.

Access to the simulator room is restricted to authorised personnel only. This doesn’t include The Red Bulletin, but one person with clearance is Joseph

Ozanne, the simulator lead. When pressed on what form the machine takes, his answer is simple: “We’ve got a replica of the boat.”

It’s easy to imagine something akin to an F1 simulator – a moving chassis with a screen. Ozanne corrects that assumption: “In F1, you’ve got one guy who doesn’t move his head because he’s got mirrors. On a race boat, they can’t share one screen because the guys on each side of the boat can’t see the other.” Mixed reality was the solution: “VR, but you can see your hands.”

While the Cyclors train in the gym, the four members of the Driving Group – two helmsmen and two mainsail trimmer/flight controllers (who manage the sails and foils) – spend up to five hours a day in the simulator. At the start, this was just to learn how the boat works. Crews must be from the nation they represent and, as the Swiss team is new, none had piloted an AC75 before. “In the first

year, they did the equivalent of two laps around the world,” says Ozanne. Now, they’re focused on another crucial aspect: “Racing. They’re building an entire playbook in the virtual world before facing an opponent.”

The simulator has also been vital for developing every aspect of BoatOne itself. “We don’t put anything on without testing it in the simulator first,” Ozanne explains. When the yacht was completed, its designers became performance analysts, observing the AC75 and crunching that data back into the simulator. Accelerating that process is AI.

“The simulator can run by itself,” says Ozanne. “When I leave at night, I can press a button and by morning I’ve got hours of simulation. But it’s really to reduce the gap between design, optimisation and the real world. At the end of the day, it’s a sailing team that goes on the water, not a computer.”

I“Alinghi Red Bull Racing is new, the team is young”

t’s 9am, but many in the Swiss team have been on the dock since dawn. Today, BoatOne goes out on the water. As the vessel emerges, it’s clear how different it is from BoatZero. The bow sports a groove like a mouth. Its deck and sides have been recontoured. Most dramatically, the stern walls have been cut away to reveal a swooping transom. It looks more like the Batmobile than a boat. The 26.5m mast is raised by a crane and affixed to the deck.

As BoatOne is lifted onto the water, the recon team takes photos. A stationary chase boat is filled with engineers working on laptops. Another is loaded with buoys to be dropped in the sea as course markers. “We always have chase boats,” says Barnabé Delarze, one of the Cyclors and a former Olympic rower. “At all times there are people monitoring what happens on the AC75, jumping onboard between sessions to check everything is functioning. If something happens, they can tow us back. We also get towed out to sea – we don’t hoist sails near the dock, because if the wind blows it can go bad pretty fast.”

The most powerful of the chase boats is 1,800 horsepower. “It’s needed to follow the AC75, which goes up to 50 knots [92kph],” says Delarze. “The smaller one has 900hp, but it couldn’t keep up, so we doubled the engines.”

As the sails are attached, checks are run: logic system, electronics, hydraulics. The Cyclors, in their cockpits, test their equipment. “We have sails for different wind conditions,” explains Carrau. “We work closely with the meteorologist who needs to be spot-on with their predictions. If you’re stuck with the wrong mainsail, you’re screwed.” Unlike tyres in F1, you can’t swap them mid-race.

frustrating and not good for the sport. That’s why we want to win and change it.”

That vision for change includes something else: women sailors. The America’s Cup has no gender restrictions, but in its 173-year history only one woman has been on a winning crew – US sailor Dawn Riley in 1992. “Men are physically stronger,” says Coraline Jonet, Alinghi Red Bull Racing’s youth and women’s project manager. “But there are onboard roles that don’t require physical strength. The cognitive ability of women is the same as men, but you need experience.”

Jonet knows first-hand. The 42-year-old sailor has won seven championships for the team in smaller D35 yachts on Lake Geneva. Now, she’s overseeing a new generation. The Youth America’s Cup – for sailors aged 18 to 25 – has existed for a few years, but 2024 sees the debut of a Women’s America’s Cup. Both follow the same format: 12 teams in AC40s. “It’s the perfect machine to race,” she says. “It goes super-fast – 40 knots – and they’ll get experience of all the roles on board.”

The team opened applications to all Swiss sailors, selecting six women and six men. “Three of the women match the youth age criteria,” says Jonet, meaning they could race in both Cups. “It would give them a huge amount of experience.” And exposure –the final of the Women’s Cup overlaps with the higherprofile main event. “There will be media, guests, helicopters. Little girls are going to see women racing and they will say, ‘I want to do that. I can do that.’”

How soon could we see women on the AC75?

“Maybe next campaign,” says Jonet, smiling. And she’d love to be among them. “I’ve been sailing since I was seven. It would be perfect.”

The city beach at Barceloneta is crowded with sunbathers, most too preoccupied to pay attention to the boats on the Balearic waters. But if they did, they’d notice a few on the horizon, moving at breakneck speed.

The big reveal: BoatOne’s hull is carefully designed to perform in water and air. Much of this testing was done in a simulator, but every time Alinghi Red Bull Racing takes it out on the sea, the other teams get to spy on what it has achieved

The Driving Group emerges, clad in crash helmets mounted with waterproof comms gear. Psarofaghis is one of them, his childhood ambitions now aligned with those of the team he wanted to sail for. But for the 35-year-old helmsman there’s much left to do. In their first two pre-regattas – in nearby Vilanova i la Geltrú last September, and Jeddah in December – they came fifth, then third.

“First race, you don’t have any expectations; the second one, you know where you want to be,” he says. “In Jeddah we could have done better, but we identified what we needed to work on.” In both regattas, the team had to race in an AC40 – a halfsized replica of an AC75 eschewing the Cyclors in favour of motorised hydraulics.

“Racing the AC40 is not really meaningful for the AC75,” admits Arrivabene. He wants more opportunities to race the big boat, and to reduce the three- to four-year gap between Cups to just two. “You have all this momentum building for a couple of months, then crickets,” he says. “It’s

The Red Bulletin is in the 900hp chase boat following BoatOne. Our driver, Luis, is adept, but the flying vessel is outpacing us. It’s one thing to know how an AC75 works, it’s another to see it – no part of the yacht, except the rudder and one of the foils, is touching the water. As it arcs around, the boat doesn’t lean. It’s surreal. “I go out on the chase boat every day,” says Arrivabene, “and my eye is now used to an upright boat, wings moving up and down. We cannot imagine going back to traditional sailing.”

Is there anything more traditional than a sailing contest that has run for 173 years? And yet, one tradition has defined the America’s Cup: the pursuit of progress. Perhaps this team in this boat will steer that change.

“Alinghi Red Bull Racing is new, our team is young, the sailors have never been in the Cup,” says Arrivabene. “The other teams probably thought, ‘These guys have heaps to get up to speed.’ You know what I think? We’re up to speed.”

The Louis Vuitton Cup Challenger Selection Series begins on August 29. The 37th America’s Cup starts on October 12; alinghiredbullracing.com

Enhance, equip, and experience your best life DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH

Mountain biking in Colorado, USA

VENTURE

TRAVEL/ COLORADO

“Failing to stop will send me plummeting into a 30m-deep ravine, while my reward for surviving the descent of this expansive slab is a section of trail known as ‘Hospital Hill’”

After a sharp, boulder-strewn climb in the western US state of Colorado, the thin air stings the back of my throat. But it’s not just the high altitude that has taken my breath away. Before me, the sprawling city blocks of Grand Junction are visible in the valley below. Between us lies a section of trail known as the Wineglass – a 1.5km descent that plunges from a wide, inverted triangle of slick rock into a narrow, stem-like section of singletrack. It’s an early feature of the Ribbon Trail – a 4.5km black diamond downhill mountainbiking route that forms part of the city’s Lunch Loops network. Devon Balet, my local guide and photographer, warns that it’s possible to reach speeds of almost 100kph and braking too hard will turn the sandstone surface into an oil slick.

This tricky terrain is the final unique challenge on my five-day, mountain bike-based exploration of Colorado. Being a keen, London-based road-, gravel- and mountain-bike rider who has tackled trails and tarmac in the UK and Europe, the chance to experience the spiritual home of off-road for the first time was too enticing an opportunity to turn down. Colorado’s blend of granite singletrack, snow-capped alpine ascents and descents and Martian desert landscapes represent the best of the vast nation in microcosm, its full variety of trails boiled down into one easy-to-traverse location.

The city of Fort Collins, an hour north of Denver, and the trails to the west of Horsetooth Reservoir are the first port of call on my exploration. Settling into a 60-minute ascent from the waterside trailhead, I’m initially lulled into a false sense of security as I climb 500m in five challenging-but-rideable kilometres. I’m forced to get off to push my bike on a rugged, rutted final uphill section, but views to the west of the towering peaks of the Rocky Mountains’ Front Range take the sting out of proceedings.

Dropping into the Wathen, a 2km black diamond descent scattered with shining quartz rocks and loose, bermed corners,

HORSE RIDE

(Left) writer Charlie Allenby negotiates one of Horsetooth Reservoir’s technical spots; (right) tackling the North Shore features of Powderhorn Bike Park’s Ramble On Trail

my day comes crashing down – literally. A combination of reversed brake levers –what I’m expecting to be my back brake is actually my front – and slippery roots leaves me upended twice in quick succession. Although I’ve escaped unscathed, my confidence has been knocked. Nursing my way down the remainder of the twisting, narrow downhill, my breathing is laboured and I can hear the thud of my heartbeat in my ears.

After safely reaching the valley floor, I have to reset my state of mind. Riding rigidly isn’t conducive to negotiating the bumps and berms of an off-road trail. I need to loosen up and rediscover my flow. The rest of the day’s riding passes without incident, and by the end of it I’m back in my groove, sessioning red sandstone rock rolls and flying without fear along the meadow-flanked doubletrack.

I sample a smorgasbord of amazing trails over the next few days as I cross the

ROCKY ROAD Allenby peers over the edge at the start of the Ribbon Trail; (opening page) avoiding the overhang on the Palisade Plunge

DRINKING IN THE VIEW Allenby takes a breather and gazes across Palisade’s vineyards and peach orchards

Continental Divide and journey west across Colorado. While it’s hard to shake a feeling of apprehension before the start of every ride on unknown terrain, my confidence starts to grow.

The mountainous Snowmass Village may sit in the shadow of world-renowned resort Aspen, but its biking trails truly outshine its more famous neighbour, combining steep, switchbacking climbs through white-trunked forests of aspen trees and exposed, ridgeline riding with fun, flowing descents. On the machinebuilt Deadline Trail I catch air and clear jumps at speed, while the near-vertical dive down the West Government Trail enables me to put to bed some root-androck hang-ups that I’ve been carrying since Fort Collins.

Continuing my travels, I track the frothing Colorado River as it flows in a westward direction, high on a recent supply of fresh snowmelt. It’s hard to believe that this torrent of water never reaches the sea, instead trickling to its end in Mexico, several kilometres short of the Gulf of California. The skyline shifts: triangle-shaped apexes are replaced by flat, expansive summits;

THE MILE-HIGH CLUB

Colorado is the highest state in the United States, with an average elevation of 2,074m above sea level. There are three direct flights per day between London Heathrow and the state capital, Denver (which, at 1,609m, is known as the Mile High City). A rental car is the easiest way to get around, but it’s possible to take domestic connecting flights from Denver International Airport to airports within short transfers of Fort Collins, Snowmass Village and Grand Junction. colorado.com

verdant vegetation gives way to an arid, desert landscape.

Palisade’s peach-tree groves and vineyards appear on the horizon like a mirage, but my attention is firmly fixed on the towering peak south of the small town. Standing 3,454m tall at its highest point – Crater Peak – and with a total area only slightly smaller than Wales’ Brecon Beacons, the Grand Mesa is the world’s largest flat-top mountain. It’s also home to Powderhorn Bike Park – an upliftaccessible resort with six downhill trails – and the daunting, expert-only 51km Palisade Plunge.

I sample the technical final 2.5km section of the latter in dry, blazing heat. This is my first time riding on sandstone, and it comes with its own set of difficulties. My guide, Austin Roberts of Palisade Cycle & Shuttle, recommends I keep the front wheel rolling. He points out the best line on a cracked 4m-high rock roll and how to avoid an overhanging slab on a relentless, undulating section of sedimentary rock. I feel a surge of adrenaline as I overcome each challenge, my falls in Fort Collins fading into the past.

Clipping into my pedals at the top of Grand Junction’s Wineglass on my final day, however, it’s hard to silence the doubts. Failing to stop will send me plummeting into a 30m-deep ravine, while my reward for surviving the descent of this expansive slab is a section of trail known as ‘Hospital Hill’. Keen to avoid a visit to the emergency room, I decide that it’s one I should walk.

Gripping my handlebars hard, fingers hovering over the brakes, I let gravity take over. The pitted lunar surface attempts to buck me off like a bronco at a rodeo, but I tap into all that I’ve learnt from my time in Colorado. Relaxing my shoulders and crouching at the knees, I let the bike wriggle around beneath me, its suspension absorbing the worst of the blows. I daren’t look at the speed on my bike computer, but the wind whipping at my face suggests I’m approaching terminal velocity. As the trail narrows to the stem, I feather the brakes, slowing gradually to avoid skidding to a halt.

Reaching the Ribbon Trail’s end point, I tingle with a sense of achievement. I’ve overcome every obstacle Colorado has thrown at me, pushing myself outside my comfort zone in the process. Wherever in the world I find myself, I’m confident I can use the experience and muscle memory honed here to tackle any trail. Charlie Allenby is a London-based running, cycling and adventure writer. Instagram: @charlie.allenby

Over the last 50 years, the Air Zermatt rescue team has conducted more than 48,000 rescues on the Matterhorn and surrounding terrain.

THE BE NN O BOO ST. OF F ICIA L BIK E OF PE OPLE WHO D O AMA ZING THI N GS .

The Air Zermatt edition Boost with Bosch drive, dual battery and studded winter tyres is for the exclusive use of rescue team members and not for sale.

The Air Zermatt rescue team relies on their specially rescues. But the journey to the peak often begins on two the Boost, with trademarked Etility® Design, offers the capacity, agility and load-carrying capacity to move the team and their equipment around their mountain rescue base. While the Bosch Performance CX electric drive system with dual batteries delivers instant, long-lasting power. Benno is built to go beyond the ordinary. your pursuit of amazing.

ROUTINE GAINS

Desirable commuter kit that’ll make journeys a daily highlight

Photography Daniel Cheetham

HEDON Hedonist

Signature Black Helmet, hedon.com; DRAGON ALLIANCE Momentum Sunglasses, uk.dragonalliance. com; FINISTERRE Opie Chambray Shirt, finisterre.com; 686 Everywhere Pants, eu.686.com; STANCE Icon Crew Socks, stance.eu.com; SAUCONY Shadow 5000 Shoes, saucony.com; ORTLIEB Velocity PS Backpack, ortlieb. com; YAMAHA NEO’s Electric Scooter, yamaha-motor.eu

VENTURE

Below: GIRO Quarter FS Helmet, giro.co. uk; DRAGON ALLIANCE Billie Sunglasses, uk.dragonalliance. com; PICTURE

ORGANIC Maogany Tee, picture-organicclothing.com; PROTEST Prtanoa shorts, protest.eu; STANCE Icon Crew Socks, stance.eu. com; KEEN Hyperport H2 Sandals, keenfootwear.co.uk; STUBBLE & CO The Roll Top 20L Backpack, stubbleandco.com; HYDRO FLASK 32oz Wide Mouth Bottle, hydroflask.com; BENNO Boost Bike, bennobikes.com; all jewellery, model’s own.

Right: all items as shown below

Left: MET E-Mob MIPS Helmet, met-helmets. com; MESSY WEEKEND Dean Sunglasses, messyweekend.com; H&M MOVE StormMove Lightweight ThreeLayer Shell Jacket, hm.com; PICTURE ORGANIC Fraggi Tee; picture-organicclothing.com; THULE Chasm Laptop 26L Backpack, thule.com Below: H&M MOVE WaterRepellent Hiking Trousers, hm.com; SALOMON Odyssey ELMT Low Shoes, salomon.com; SUPER73 Super73-R Brooklyn Bike, uk.super73. com; jacket and tee as shown left

Right: SMITH OPTICS Dispatch MIPS Helmet and Lowdown XL 2 Sunglasses, smithoptics.com; THRUDARK Enigma Oversized Tee, thrudark.com; P&CO 304 Service Fatigue Pants, pand.co; STANCE Boyd Crew Socks, stance.eu. com; SAUCONY ProGrid Omni 9 Premium Shoes, saucony.com; DB JOURNEY Ramverk 1st Generation 21L backpack, uk.dbjourney.com; SWATCH Sunbaked Sandstone Watch, swatch.com; ORBEA Diem 10 Bike, orbea.com

Thanks to CHRIS, CAITLIN, EMMANUEL, JOSH, LUCIA and NATALIE

THE PERFECT PARTNER

Buying a new bike means making a lot of decisions. Fortunately, Sigma Sports takes away the strain

Whether you’re replacing an old commuter or coveting an n+1, choosing to buy a new bike is just the first in a long list of decisions you’ll have to make before taking it out on its maiden voyage. Even if your budget is an immovable factor, there are a host of options to mull over, whether you have the funds for a five-figure superbike or something more at the entry level.

One of the key considerations is what you’ll use the bike for. Road bikes may all look the same to the uninitiated but there are numerous differences between models, and that’s before you get into other styles such as gravel- and triathlon-focused designs.

The frame material of the bike is a biggie, too. Steel, aluminium, titanium and carbon all impact weight, durability, vibration dampening and handling, while geometry can affect comfort and performance. Componentry such as gears, brakes and aerodynamically

optimised features like wheels can also impact your riding experience.

When you don’t have the luxury of testing each option before you buy, making the right choice can feel daunting. Sigma Sports understands this, which is why the premium bike shop offers personalised appointments with its in-store experts to help you find the perfect ride. Available at its Hampton Wick and Oakham stores, the sessions allow you to discuss your needs at length and sift through Sigma Sports’

extensive range of models from reputable brands before finding the one that ticks all your boxes.

And the bespoke service doesn’t end once you’ve made your purchase. Your bike will be built, safety checked and set up to your measurements by one of Sigma Sports’ qualified mechanics, while everything about your new steed will be explained to you at your handover appointment –either in store or at your front door if you opt for Premium Bike Delivery.

This, combined with competitive prices and the option to part exchange – reducing the cost of your new bike while freeing up space in your collection – makes Sigma Sports a one-stop shop for your new premium road or gravel bike. sigmasports.com

Leigh Webber was a keen surfer while growing up in Sydney, Australia. But one day, when the surf was flat at Bondi Beach, he went snorkelling instead and made a lifechanging discovery. “I saw some money on the bottom,” he recalls, “and I thought, ‘I’ve got to get an underwater metal detector and see what else is there.’”

Now living in Amsterdam, the 44-yearold entertains a million-plus subscribers on his Bondi Treasure Hunter YouTube channel with weekly videos of his magnetfishing trawls of the city’s canals. “I usually find something interesting,” he says. “I found an Amsterdam street pole the other day that has XXX – the city’s symbol – on it. They’re collectibles.”

Although best known for underwater treasure hunting, Webber is also an experienced metal detectorist on land. “I cried when I found my first gold coin,” he says. “It was such a shock. When you first get a metal detector, that’s what you imagine, so it was really cool.”

But before you go digging up the local allotments in search of gold sovereigns, take note of Webber’s advice regarding legal considerations: “Make sure you have permission to detect the land first. And if you do find something amazing, don’t go ahead and dig it out yourself – call an archaeologist to do the excavation. You’ll still get your reward.”

Here are his essential tips on how to get the most out of treasure hunting…

Don’t give up your day job (yet)

“My advice for anyone thinking about doing this is, ‘Get out there and do it,’” says Webber. “But you’re more likely to strike it rich one time than have a consistent income off your finds. It’s like playing the lottery.” Budding treasure hunters in the UK have something of a home advantage, he says: “The amount of treasure that’s been found in the UK by metal detectorists is phenomenal. In fact, I would say the majority of all the treasures found in the last 20 years have been found by metal detectorists in the UK – I know someone who found a hoard worth millions of pounds.”

Prepare to fall in love with history

Webber says the most valuable finds won’t necessarily be the ones that make you money. “The canals I’m fishing in take on more meaning through the things I find,” he says. “For instance, the things I pull out might show that there was a battle there during World War II. It makes you think about your environment differently.”

HOW TO/ HUNT FOR TREASURE

Whether you

dream of finding Saxon gold or salvageable

tech, YouTuber Bondi Treasure Hunter can aid your quest

In the UK, you can go back even further in time

“You might go to a farmer’s field where there used to be a Roman settlement,” Webber says. “When you go out with your metal detector, it’s very exciting. Reading stories about the Romans or the Celts is one thing, but when you dig out a Celtic bronze axe or find a Roman ring, it’s magic.”

It’s haul in the planning

Different locations will yield different results, so be strategic. “Think about the kind of treasure you want to find,” Webber says. “If you’re magnet fishing and want to find safes, don’t try pretty neighbourhoods;

“When you dig out a Celtic axe or Roman ring, it’s magic”

Leigh Webber, aka Bondi Treasure Hunter

go to the dodgy, dark corners where you think, ‘This would be a good spot to push a safe from the back of a van and into the canal without witnesses.’ Or, if you want to find Roman artefacts, check maps showing where Roman roads went through the fields in your area, then ask the farmer for permission. For more modern finds in water, make sure you have a pretty good knowledge of what goes on there. If there’s kayaking in that river or it’s a cliffjumping spot, you could be in luck.” In one stretch of river in Australia, Webber found no fewer than six Apple Watches: “I think they have notoriously bad wristbands.”

Etiquette marks the spot

“Treasure hunting is a very secretive world,” says Webber. “If you’ve got a good spot, you don’t want to invite strangers – who knows who they’ll tell.” But, he says, it’s also bad manners to go back to a spot on your own: “We have respect. If you get invited to a location by someone, you go there only with them and never go back without their permission.” He also advises having an agreement on finds: “It can get complicated; it’s ended friendships. So it’s best to make a deal with your partner first on how you’ll split any finds, to save complications later on.”

YouTube: @BondiTreasureHunter

FITNESS/ BEAT THE HEAT

Struggle to exercise when temperatures rise? World

Ironman champion Lucy Charles-Barclay shares her heat acclimation tips

Summer weather allows you to take your exercise outdoors, but on the hottest days of the year you can start wilting. A solution? Heat acclimation training, which prepares your body with workouts in an artificially created warm environment, stressing the systems that regulate internal temperature and pump blood around the body. Research suggests that just eight days of prep can create adaptations such as an increased sweat rate, lower resting core temperature and greater blood plasma

volume – which improves endurance performance – lasting up to a month.

This is how the 2023 World Ironman champion Lucy Charles-Barclay prepares for races such as April’s Singapore T100. “Singapore was possibly the most brutal conditions I’ve ever raced in,” says the Brit, who finished second at the Marina Bay course. “You’re sweating more in that kind of climate, but when you add humidity too, the sweat on your skin isn’t able to evaporate, which makes it feel worse.”

The triathlete includes three-to-fourweek blocks of heat preparation as part of her training schedule (20-30 hours per week, split between swimming, cycling and running). Rather than heading for sunnier climes, Charles-Barclay works out in the controlled environment of her ‘Pain Cave’ – an outbuilding at her in-laws’ house in Essex, decked out with an endless pool, turbo trainer and treadmill.

But how do you safely conduct a heat block? And what’s the best way to stay cool in the heat of competition? Here, Charles-Barclay provides some Ironman World Championship-winning advice…

Easy does it

Charles-Barclay begins heat acclimation training with an hour of easy riding on a turbo trainer in her heat chamber – “it’s a tent that I make hot [with heaters]; I add humidity by boiling a kettle” – and increases intensity as her body adapts. The aim is to raise her core temperature by 2°C, and she uses a core body temperature sensor to steer clear of a dangerously high range. “You want to have that [heat] exposure multiple times per week; if you can, do it nearly every day. It’s important to hydrate and fuel those sessions properly, too – it can [negatively] impact your next workout if you haven’t done that right.”

Layer up

Building a tolerance when it’s cooler is a great way to survive any heatwave, and you can raise your core temperature without a heat chamber. Charles-Barclay has worn a bin bag over her torso and even donned winter gear to get her sweat on. “I go out running in loads of layers, a woolly hat, a scarf and gloves to try to get myself hot. It’s a cheaper way of doing it than running up heating costs.”

Extend the effect

Workout done, Charles-Barclay jumps in a sauna or a hot bath for up to 30 minutes. “You get more adaptation the longer your body is exposed to that elevated heat zone. Exercising in it is the best way to train yourself mentally, but [a sauna or a bath] help you build up a tolerance.” And for those looking to swerve the workout, studies suggest the sauna alone isn’t enough – you can only fully prepare for the sensations and physiological responses to exercise in the heat by putting in the hard (and hot) yards before or after.

Keep your cool

Pre-event heat acclimation gets you only so far. The triathlete keeps her temperature low and performance high during a race with a personalised hydration strategy that includes electrolytes in her water to replace the salt lost through sweat, as well as numerous external cooling techniques. “Try to get as much cooling on the body as you can. I had ice packs in my trisuit [in Singapore] before the start to lower my core temperature a degree or two. If you’ve got cold water, pour it over your head. Hold onto ice in your hands, mouth and sports bra. [Cooling] the groin area is really good, too – you’ll always see me put cold water there [on the bike].”

Lucy Charles-Barclay is racing in the Ibiza T100 Triathlon on September 28; t100triathlon.com

MENTAL FITNESS/ SWELL ATTITUDE

Hawaiian surf legend Jamie O’Brien, 41, on feeling the fear and paddling out anyway

“One of the best things I’ve ever heard was from a guy named Garrett McNamara, who surfs massive waves in Nazaré, Portugal. He said, ‘I take calculated risks, and the risks are worth the reward.’ I chase adrenaline, but when I walk out in my backyard at Pipeline [surf mecca of Oahu’s North Shore], sometimes I am scared. And in the moment you’re scared, the many hours spent in the water are so valuable, because you trust your ability to survive.

“The mind is a very powerful place; it plays these weird little games with you. Before I fall asleep, sometimes I hear the windows rattling and I’m like, ‘Oh, it’s big!’ I start thinking like, ‘It’s going to be gnarly [tomorrow] – I don’t want die!’ And then I’m like, ‘Why am I thinking this?’ Then you wake up in the morning at Pipeline, one of the world’s greatest stages for surfing, and you feel morning sickness; you make excuses like, ‘I’m gonna take my coffee, I’m gonna take the dogs on a walk…’

“I have this one [habit] from living at Pipeline my whole life. I see three sets, and if those three sets spit three times –which means that white stuff comes out

of the wave – I’m like, ‘I’m out there.’ Then I’m straight on it. I’m waxing on the board, and my adrenaline’s going. I’m scared, but I come back to the bank and go, ‘Hey, you’ve done this a million times. You put in the time, you put in the hours… You’ve done this for 20 years.’

“‘Mind over matter’ is sort of my mantra. It’s like anything in life, right? You get delivered a lot of surprises in life, but it’s about putting yourself and your mind in the right place, focusing and zoning in on the task. And that’s when we all as humans become superhumans. It might only be for five seconds. You go into instincts. You go into survival mode. You go into what you know and into believing in yourself. A very powerful part of being a human is to find that inner strength that would push you through these crazy moments. And when the timing and the placement and the calculated risk that you took gets you the result you want, that builds your confidence to the next level.

“At the end of the day, the risk is worth the reward. The ultimate risk is the ultimate thrill – it’s a crazy thing.”

RISK vs REWARD

“Fear is not necessarily a negative emotion –it can help us perform,” explains York-Peter Klöppel, head of mental performance at the Red Bull Athlete Performance Center in Thalgau, Austria.

“If I’m worried about speaking with my boss – like, what if I get fired? –I should feel some fear about that. Fear also means that I care, that I’m invested. It makes me more aware, more focused.”

“Jamie balances his fear with the knowledge that he’s taking calculated risks. If he’s not in the right mindset or the right physical state but still says, ‘I’m gonna go out there anyway,’ that would be an unnecessary, naïve risk to take.”

“A calculated risk means that I’ve spent time preparing, thinking about the benefits and the potential negative outcomes. If I’m in a work meeting and I suddenly think, ‘Maybe I should contradict my boss,’ that’s an unnecessary risk because I haven’t spent enough time thinking through the consequences.”

Scan the QR code to hear the Mind Set Win Podcast

EQUIPMENT/ HOTSTEP IT

Nike and recovery expert Hyperice have collaborated to create the ultimate pre- and post-workout wearable

Pressure point: the boots have three levels of heat and compression, which can be synchronised or set separately

In a perfect world, all exercise would be bookended by a warm-up and a cool-down. But, in reality, pre- and post-workout stretches are the first thing to go when you squeeze in a session. This has its downsides: your heart rate is still raised, but you’re likely to get off to a sluggish start as your muscles take time to fire on all cylinders. Neglecting recovery can also add to the time needed between workouts, and cause soreness, even injury. The first collaboration of sportswear giant Nike and recovery specialist Hyperice seeks to solve this. The Nike x Hyperice high-top boot combines an air compression and heat system across its upper that drives heat deep into muscle and tissue, increasing blood flow, improving the range of motion and soothing any tightness. Plus, as it’s powered by a battery pack in each insole, this wearable is mobile and lightweight, allowing you to hit the ground running in record time. hyperice.com

Yamaha needs no introduction, but here’s one anyway. The automotive wing of the Japanese manufacturer has been at the pinnacle of motorcycle, motorboat and other motor-based mobility aid production for almost seven decades. Its name is synonymous with high-quality and reliable modes of transport, and while it’s most famous for its MotoGP-winning motorcycles, the company has also pioneered another form of two-wheel transport for more than 30 years: the eBike.

An innovator in the electric motor space, and creator of the first production eBike in 1993, Yamaha has supplied technologically advanced drive systems to eBike manufacturers of all shapes and sizes ever since – from tarmac-based commuters to off-road downhill rigs. But it has now combined its expertise in electric motors with its in-house nous for bike design to launch its own range of eBikes.

Models include the Moro 07 eMTB and Wabash RT e-gravel bike, but the BOOSTER Easy is Yamaha’s vision for the next generation of urban eBikes. Combining a stylish aluminium chassis, ultra-smooth Yamaha drive unit and comfortable, high-grip tyres, you’re left with an eBike that’s perfect for innercity commuting, and something that’s able to handle camper-van adventures, too.

The focal point of the BOOSTER Easy is its Yamaha PW-S2 drive unit. Compact and lightweight, it’s situated in the chassis’ middle to give the eBike a low centre of gravity and agile handling, while its 75Nm of torque packs an instant punch that can last up to 120km thanks to a long-range 630Wh battery.

WELCOME TO THE FUTURE

Say goodbye to public transport with the Yamaha BOOSTER Easy – a fun, direct, zero-emissions way of getting from A to B

The chassis pairs a strong, lightweight aluminium front frame with minimalist bodywork to give the BOOSTER Easy an eye-catching design. On the asphalt, its thick 4in tyres keep things smooth, but its 80mm travel front fork is on hand to take the sting out of any potholes. Control and confidence are

aided by 180mm disc brakes front and back, and the handlebarmounted LCD display shows easyto-read information on the go, such as speed, assist mode setting and remaining range.

Finished with colour-coordinated fork covers, a Roxim LED headlight and Koso LED taillight, and a rear carrier that can accommodate aftermarket baskets and inner bags, the BOOSTER Easy is the ultimate zero-emissions way to get around the city every day.

The Yamaha BOOSTER Easy is available to test ride at official Yamaha dealers. Find out more at yamaha-motor.eu/gb/en/ebike/ test-ride

LISTEN UP

Feel your music without blocking out the outside world with Shokz OpenFit Air

The call of birdsong. The rustling of wind through trailside trees. The warning sound of approaching traffic. Exercising is as much an audio experience as a physical one, and it’s important not to shut off the outside world if you want to remain fully immersed while staying as safe as possible.

Traditional headphones do just that, though, silencing background ambiance with noise-cancelling technology and speakers that blast your ear canal with overbearing sound waves.

You don’t have to choose between musical-based motivation and the sound of your settings, though, thanks to open-ear headphone pioneer Shokz. The concept is simple: rather than vying for your attention and doing their utmost to block out anything else, Shokz OpenFit Air

sacrificing your surroundings.

You don’t have to give up your handpicked playlists in favour of background noise, either, thanks to Shokz’ exclusive DirectPitch™ technology. Each earbud incorporates multiple vents that cancel out the sound and pressure in

directions angled away from the ear canal – minimising leakage and maintaining privacy – while amplifying your audio in the direction of your ear canal, leaving you with an immersive experience that doesn’t block out the sound of nature or potential danger.

Designed for all-day comfort and packing six hours of music playback with a single charge – and up to 28 hours with the supplied charging case – Shokz OpenFit Air are perfect for long-distance bike rides, while their IP54 water and sweat resistance means they can handle any highintensity session you throw at them.

They’re an ideal companion out of the saddle, too, and come into their own during a commute, while working, and even in the home, enabling you to enjoy music, podcasts and audiobooks while maintaining situational awareness, collaborating with colleagues, or not missing out on family time. Everyday life has never

Find out more at uk.shokz.com

Historic Gasthofs and imperial architecture line the streets of Hinterberg, which weave and wind through mosaic forests and pastoral foothills beneath the rugged peaks of the Austrian Alps. A picturesque haven beside a glacial lake, Hinterberg has long been a sleepy destination for hiking and snow sports. But more recently it has gained greater renown for another reason: it’s home to the world’s newest form of tourism – the slaycation. This virtual village is the setting for new release Dungeons of Hinterberg, a singleplayer mix of action-RPG and social sim that lets players explore 25 recently discovered magical dungeons – and slay the monsters within – in Hinterberg’s vast backcountry, combining hack ‘n’ slash adventure with lakeside strolls and breaks for strudel. Here, Philip Seifried and Regina Reisinger of the Hinterberg Tourist Board (better known as co-founders of indie game studio Microbird) reveal how to make the most of your visit...

Discover Doberkogel

Doberkogel is the local mountain, and a cable car system connects the top station to the towering sheer rock faces of the wilderness beyond. “Go to the summit with the big cross,” advises Reisinger. “It’s a long hike, but it’s worth it for the view, and there’s a mountain lake with very clear water where you can relax. It’s a must-see.” There’s a complex cave system deep into the mountains, too, but best come prepared: navigation once inside can be tricky.

Hike in Hinterwald

Hinterwald’s eternal autumn immerses you in a world of scarlet and amber. These foothills are perfect for hiking, and the bus service from Hinterberg will drop you off by an excellent route that leads to a popular slaying dungeon. “It’ll take you up a climbing path, past giant trees, boardwalks and zip lines,” says Seifried. “It’s a lovely first-time experience.”

Tranquil water pools await those who make it to the higher reaches. But the best viewpoint is from a local windmill – especially at the golden hour.

Shred in Kolmstein

Kolmstein is Hinterberg’s glacial haven, where snow-sure mountain slopes are connected by icy caverns and crevasses, narrow ridgelines and an intricate network of ski lifts. Panoramic viewpoints look out over imposing peaks and steep, shred-ready snowfields. Meditate at a quiet lookout point or, if you’re feeling

GAMING/

SUN, SNOW AND SWORDS

Want more from your next holiday? Head to the village of Hinterberg, deep in the Austrian Alps, and experience some truly magical getaway moments

adventurous, cruise around remote areas of the mountain on a hoverboard – and try out the slalom course. “The hoverboard slopes are the main attraction,” Reisinger says. “There’s also an impressive hanging bridge connecting two summits.” Grab lunch at one of the scenic mountain huts – Edelweiss Rast offers strudel with a view, and a chance to top up your potions.

Island hop in Brünnelsumpf

Brünnelsumpf’s swamps and wetland were not frequented by tourists before magic was discovered in Hinterberg, and even today they remain very much off the beaten track. “I think Brünnelsumpf is underrated from a tourist perspective,” says Seifried. “Yes, it rains a lot and it’s a little gloomier, but there’s something really nice about sitting in a small cave, sheltered from the rain and watching the afternoon go by. It’s a good place to think.” The damp greens and blues,

“Sitting in a cave is nice. It’s a good place to think”

Philipp Seifried, game developer

punctuated by endemic flora, offer another side to Hinterberg. A wooden rafting system and rustic boardwalks hark back to a simpler time, and some islands are still only reachable by kayak.

Happy slay, happy stay

Before taking a day trip to Hinterberg’s overworlds, make time to explore the village itself. “A good first impression is to head down to the main square by the lake,” says Reisinger. “There’s a great view, and Cafe Kaindl offers typical Austrian coffee and cakes.” And when you’re ready to start slaying, unpack your sword and seek out Klaus Hornbacher, a famous alpinist turned trainer. He’ll show you to the first dungeon, located on the Empress Sisi Promenade, and guide you through combat basics as you fight your first monsters (squishy kobolds – goblin-like creatures with clubs).

When you’re done adventuring, Seifried recommends some après-slay at the Krampus Bar, where you can “hang out with the locals, have a couple of drinks and reflect on a great day”. Dungeons of Hinterberg is available now on Xbox and Steam; dungeonsofhinterberg.com

13 CALENDAR/ THINGS TO DO AND SEE

August onwards Born Racers

The Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup is the Top Gun academy of motorcycle grand prix, an incubator series for young riders to graduate into the big league. Since launching in 2007, it’s produced more than 200 race winners in Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP, and there are now 29 former rookies across those world championships, including nine in the top-flight MotoGP. This six-part documentary series follows 26 hopefuls – some as young as 15 – from 18 countries, all competing against each other in pursuit of the same dream. Available to watch on Discovery+ and TNT Sports. redbull.com

13

August to 22 September

Crazy Boules

Technically, there‘s already a crazy version of this sport that requires rolling your heavy ball closest to a smaller one called a ‘jack’ – it‘s curling (boules on ice!). But this pop-up draws its insanity from miniature golf, with obstacle courses named Roll Boule Cop and Petanque-y Kong. For these crimes against comedy, the pun police can arrest Jack Gutteridge – the mind behind Brixton Beach (south London‘s rooftop take on Havana) – who‘d plotted this for years before opening it as part of this summer‘s Between The Bridges entertainment schedule on London‘s Southbank. Fun fact: crazy golf was originally called ‘gofstacle’, but ‘ballstacle‘ was clearly a line Gutteridge wasn‘t willing to cross. Southbank, London; betweenthebridges.co.uk

19 to 29 September Sonica

In Alan Moore‘s seminal comic book Watchmen, a gigantic psychic alien squid is transported into a packed metropolis, frying everyone‘s minds. Why are we telling you this? It‘s the closest analogy to what you‘ll experience at this audiovisual arts festival, which takes over Glasgow for 11 days. For example, artists France Jobin and Markus Heckmann (pictured) will be playing a slowly intensifying droning sound that simulates quantum theory‘s doubleslit experiment, and Floris Vanhoof‘s Antenna uses a hexagon of fine wires to collect electromagnetic waves from cell towers, weather shifts and traffic to pluck the strings of a grand piano. Do you get it yet? Wrap your head in tin foil and enjoy. Across Glasgow; sonic-a.co.uk

24

to 26 August

Notting Hill Carnival

What began as a local celebration of Caribbean culture in the 1960s has become a beacon of diversity and unity. Alongside the colourful Mas bands and floats, this year’s event welcomes Terminal 1, the stage celebrating migration that debuted at Glastonbury (you must answer a UK citizenship test question to enter), and Red Bull Selector, a live show where the crowd can vote to shape the DJ setlist. West London; nhcarnival.org

29 August onwards

Rhythm&Ruse

In a maze of disused railway tunnels, through unmarked doors opened by whispered passwords, is a jazz cabaret where magicians perform close-up magic for patrons. That‘s just the start of this immersive secret evening concocted by alumni of Punchdrunk‘s The Burnt City. The Vaults, London; rhythmandruse.com

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SEMI-RAD

Adventure philosophy from Brendan Leonard

“A friend of mine, Ivan, trekked across Siberia’s frozen Lake Baikal over 23 days in late winter 2017. As you might imagine, it was quite cold. The mantra he had during his trek was, ‘You sweat, you die.’ Now, I’m not walking across a frozen lake in Siberia in winter, but in the Northern Hemisphere where I live, exercising through the winter means figuring out how to stay warm but not too warm. My version of Ivan’s mantra might be something like, ‘You sweat, you get even colder, and you’re going to have way less fun out there.’

Anyone who knows anything about hypothermia can tell you that humans can develop it at relatively ‘warm’ temperatures if they’re wet. So staying dry is really the focus, and a mantra like ‘Be bold, start cold’ can do wonders. Of course, it always takes me a few outings every winter in each sport to figure out my layering but, generally, being on the verge of miserably cold for the first 10 minutes means I’ve done it correctly, and after that I’m fine.”

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