The Red Bulletin_1210_ZA

James Bond / Eminem / Moneybrother / Patrick Morewood / Rafa Ortiz / Pet Shop Boys / Casey Stoner / Maria Tsiartsiani

A BEYOND THE ORDINARY MAGAZINE

INSIDE THE 20 MIGHTIEST HTIEST MINDS ON EARTH

OCTOBER 2012

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XC v i d e LU S I V os o E F R E n ou r E Tab le t A pp

GENIUS! Hunting viruses,

wearing robots, farming the sky: the ace brains powering our future

SANI PASS On the edge of danger with Southern Africa’s wildest taxi ride INTO THE JAWS Deep-sea shark photography without a safety cage

THE WORLD OF RED BULL

October 20

COVER ILLUSTRATION : ROLAND VORLAUFER. PHOTOGRAPHY: NIGEL PARRY, PHILIPP FORSTER. ILLUSTRATION: ROLAND VORLAUFER

REAL SLIM SHADY As Eminem turns 40, returns on record and prepares a new album, we ask: will the real Slim Shady please stand up?

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GREAT MINDS From Marissa Mayer to Matt Berg, inside the 20 most marvellous minds on the planet

WELCOME We’re playing mind games at the highest level this month with our list of the 20 cleverest living people.

What makes them so smart? How can we be like them? And what is Plumpy’nut? These questions, and more, are answered within. (Let us know any brainboxes you would have included by emailing us at letters@redbulletin.com.) Meanwhile, we rifle through the photo files of Michael Muller, who swims with sharks without a safety cage to take remarkable shots of nature’s greatest predators. Up on dry land, we go trackside at Laguna Seca in California, to find out why, in a country that loves the motorcycle and all things fast and furious, MotoGP has yet to break into the American mainstream.

All that, plus new music, beach volleyball and the hidden world of James Bond. Enjoy the issue.

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ME AND MY BODY NFL star Reggie Bush needs speed, solidity and someone skilled with a tattoo needle

THE WORLD OF RED BULL

October

AMANDA PALMER How the former Dresden Dolls singer connected directly with fans to fund her new album

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RIDE THE LIGHTNING At the Red Bull US Grand Prix at Laguna Seca, California, riders, fans and followers explain why MotoGP is so beguiling

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LUCKY NUMBERS It’s 50 years since Sean Connery first saved the world in Dr No. Pay attention, James Bond fans: here’s 007 in digits

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“ I want to see sharks’ faces in every detail ”

SHARK SHOOTER Michael Muller’s day job is photographing Hollywood stars, like Brad Pitt, but his hobby is much more exciting: he chases sharks with his camera – and no safety cage

08 Gallery: spectacular images and their makers 14 Bullevard: sport and culture on the quick 22 Kit Evolution: an in-depth look at diving gear through the ages 24 The science of powerboats

PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY IMAGES (2), SHERVIN LAINEZ, TYRONE BRADLEY, MICHEAL MULLER

IT IS ABOUT THE BIKES

Mountain bike builder Patrick Morewood has pressed restart on his career with a new brand of bikes lauded as his best yet

THE WORLD OF RED BULL

“ It takes

thousands of perfect repetitions to make each move automatic ”

84 A REAL WORLD RECORD

Swedish punk-turned-pop star Moneybrother began a unique world tour in May 2010: recording his fourth album in seven countries on four continents

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NET GAINS Pro beach volleyball star Maria Tsiartsiani puts her success down to dedication to the court come rain or shine

60 TAXI TO THE CLOUDS

Daily, the citizens of Lesotho – Southern Africa’s mountain kingdom – take one the most treacherous taxi journeys on the planet. Not that they seem to mind. For them, the Sani Pass is just the road home…

more PHOTOGRAPHY: SAMO VIDIC/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, BENIAMINO BARRESE/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, CHRISTOPHE LAUNAY, DAVID SOUTHWOOD

Body & Mind 82

TRAVEL IDEAS

Facing up to a thrilling and beautiful hike on a sacred five-peaked Chinese mountain

THE BLADE RUNNER

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For 20 years, Alain Thébault has been working on his dream of making the fastest sailboat ever. His current vessel, the Hydroptère DCNS, has revolutionised wind-driven seafaring and is breaking maritime records

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GET THE GEAR

Canoe dig it: Rafael Ortiz and the kit he uses for extreme kayaking

92 NIGHTLIFE

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WORLD IN ACTION

Global goings-on

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SAVE THE DATE

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KAINRATH

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MIND’S EYE

Events for the diary Our cartoonist

Kevin McCallum on some very special athletes

A glamorous club, an exotic cocktail, a midnight snack, the best in music and much, much more: everything you need to get you through ’til dawn

ninety9cents 99c_7503/E

NAICA , MEXICO

THE SHARDS

It’s the gigantic version of those crystals-in a-petri-dish school science projects, found in 2000 by drilling workers at a nearby lead and silver mine. For about 600,000 years prior to its discovery, the Cave of the Crystals was filled with water warmed by nearby magma. Conditions were perfect for gypsum crystal growth. The world’s largest is here: 12m tall, 4m wide, 55 tonnes.

The magma’s still hot: scientists need air and cold suits due to the humidity (90-99 per cent) and temperature (up to 58°C). www.naica.com.mx Photograph: Carsten Peter/National Geographic/Getty Images

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KE Y W E ST, U SA

DEPTH OF FIELD

The USNS General Hoyt S Vandenberg served the US military on and off for 40 years. Now she lies about 40m below the Straits of Florida, sunk there in 2009 to become the world’s second-largest artificial reef.

Last year, photographer and keen diver Andreas Franke exhibited photos taken underwater and in his studio on the former transport ship, using magnets to hang them. He now shows the pics on dry land, altered by algae after their time spent in the ocean. www.thesinkingworld.com Photograph: Andreas Franke

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MOAB, U SA

OOOOHM!

“Hi,” says Emily Sukiennik, welcoming you to her blog. “I’m 25 years old, love coffee, giggling and playing outside.” Indulging her latter passion, she’s a world-class slackliner, and as pleasurable as a java buzz and the giggles may be, they don’t help much when you’re balancing on nylon webbing an inch or two thick. “For me, slacklining is like a moving meditation,” says Sukiennik. Walking a highline across an arch in Canyonlands National Park, she practises her zen and her art impeccably. www.emilysukiennik.com Photograph: Krystle Wright

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Bullevard Sport and culture on the quick

Once upon a 4/4 time Swapping lyrics for MS Word: four rock ’n’ roll luminaries have autobiographies out soon

Devil’s in the details: the art of Artemio Rodriguez (right)

IT’S ALL GRAVELY

Marking Mexico’s annual brush with the afterlife, a dead good book of departed art

JOHN TAYLOR In The Pleasure Groove The Duran Duran bassist reflects on one of pop’s wildest and most hedonistic careers.

NEIL YOUNG Waging Heavy Peace In 2010, the rock icon nearly lost his life’s archive in a fire; now he’s got it all down on paper.

BETH DITTO Coal To Diamonds Punk, poetry and naked magazine covers: what it’s really like to be the lead singer of Gossip.

PETE TOWNSHEND Who I Am After 15 years in the making, and 48 years of The Who, a rock star memoir of real gravitas.

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On November 2, Mexico wildly and gaudily celebrates the Day of the Dead, with skeletons and bones everywhere, most of them made of colourful papier-mâché or chocolate. The macabre art of Día de los Muertos also crops up in pop culture, with arty skull work evident on record covers and in comics. The Mexican artist Artemio Rodriguez has a new book documenting this culture of death. His work mixes traditional

Mexican symbolism with Pop Art and American consumer culture. The standout piece, which the 40-year-old made with John Jota Leanos, is a 1968 Chevy Impala given a skeletal makeover.

The inside of the roadworthy el Muertorider is equally as Dead-ly as its bodywork, with ‘Radio Muerto’ on the stereo and a death’s head permanently in the rear-view mirror. www.bmoa.org/el-muertorider

PHOTOTICKER

EVERY SHOT ON TARGET

Have you taken a picture with a Red Bull flavour? Email it to us at: phototicker@redbulletin.com Every month we print a selection, with our favourite pic awarded a limited-edition Sigg bottle. Tough, functional and well-suited to sport, it features The Red Bulletin logo.

Austin Dubstep producer 12th Planet enjoyed the Red Bull Music Academy Session in Texas.

Carlo Cruz

Attention, puny human!

Mankind pales in the face of bug achievement

Gunning, and driving, for glory: Nasser Al-Attiyah

PHOTOGRAPHY: PRESS (5), GETTY IMAGES, SHUTTERSTOCK (3), REX FEATURES, GEPA PICTURES/MCKLEIN/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, DDPIMAGES

Double-sport whizz bang on target Last year’s Dakar Rally winner is doing alright for himself in 2012, too: a debut in the World Rally Championship and Olympic bronze medallist in skeet shooting. Nasser Al-Attiyah is a national hero in his homeland of Qatar. “In hotels I put ‘rally driver and marksman’ under profession,” says the 41-year-old. “The two sports have a few things in common: concentration, challenge and adrenalin.

When I’m up against strong competition in the shooting, my adrenalin level is even higher than it is when I’m in the rally car. Even before I had a driving licence, I had a sports shooting licence.

“Each of the two sports has a particular twist to it. Awards ceremonies represent the relevant culture as well as the sport. I couldn’t say which sport I prefer. I keep all of my trophies and medals together, whether for motorsport or shooting. In the next four years I want to win the Dakar again and turn the clay pigeon bronze to gold, inshallah.” www.dakar.com

RHINOCEROS BEETLE The strongest living creature, in proportion to its size. This bug can lift 850 times its own body weight.

TIGER BEETLE Scuttles at speeds of up to 9kph.

In human terms, think of Usain Bolt running the 100m in less than one second.

GO GO BANJO Marcus Mumford and his band make folk music for the people Four Brits with banjos, accordions and acoustic guitars: Mumford & Sons might look like a bunch of bumpkins from the ’60s, but they’re actually the most successful new group of the moment. Their folk songs are hymnal and handmade; their debut album Sigh No More has sold more than four million copies worldwide.

Band leader Marcus Mumford, 25, is hoping for a similar impact with long-player number two.

It’s been a very successful two years for the band.

What’s your highlight?

There were so many. We were on stage at the Grammys with Bob Dylan, we played huge festivals. But the best thing is that our new album sounds

exactly the way we wanted: it’s very personal to us.

Why use banjos and not electric guitars?

If you’re looking for session gigs as a guitarist, there’s not much around, because there are so many good guitarists. That’s why we went straight for the banjo: there’s less competition.

Your music sounds very traditional. Do you actually listen to modern music?

Of course. I really like [French electro duo] Justice. My absolute hero at the moment is Nathaniel Rateliff, an American singer-songwriter.

He has the most powerful stage presence I’ve ever experienced. Every folk fan should own his albums.

Babel by Mumford & Sons is out now. www.mumfordandsons.com

Marcus Mumford (centre) and his so-called sons

FLEA Can jump up to heights 200 times its body size, which is like you jumping clean over the 324m of the Eiffel Tower. Mon dieu!

WE HAVE A WINNER!

Naksan Beach John ‘Chuck’ Berry lands after a South Korean winguist flight.

SonStar

Malé All Flatland BMXer Viki Gomez needs to

trick is a bike and terra firma (that of The Maldives).

Mohamed Ahsan

St Petersburg Wakeboard champ Nikita Martyanov (right) teaches B-Boy Lil G how to do it.

Nika Kramer 15

B U L L E VA R D

Star SA surfer Jordy Smith

The light master

Hitting the big stage Last year, Red Bull Studio Cape Town invited relatively unknown local musician Jeremy Loops to record an EP. Roll the tape on 12 months and the one-man band, with his guitar, harmonica and loop pedal, played the main stage at OppiKoppi.

“It’s been quite a journey for me,” says Loops.

“I’ve never even been to anything as big as Oppi, so that alone made it completely different. And then playing the main stage, that frazzled my brain. It was insane! There were so many people.

It took my breath away walking out there. Yeah – it’s been a journey.” www.soundcloud. com/jeremyloops

Whistler Brandon Semenuk executes a backflip high in the Canadian mountains.

Scott Serfas 16

If at first you don’t succeed: Ryan Sandes on Fish River Canyon

CANYON CONQUERER

Champion ultra-runner Ryan Sandes takes another crack at the mighty Fish River Canyon At about 84km long, flanked by steep walls and baked by the sun, the Fish River Canyon (on the South Africa-Namibia border) is a true test of endurance. Even for a man who has set records in the notoriously punishing 4 Deserts Challenge.

Capetonian ultra-runner Ryan Sandes was forced to call off his 2011 Canyon run due to rain and floods, so he was even more determined when he returned this year.

“What I was really nervous about was twisting my ankle,” says the 30-year-old, who had an eye on breaking the 2003 record time of 10h 54m when he arrived at Fish River with his support team.

“I’ve been carrying an injury there for a few months, and I also had to

Kulm On Austria’s largest ski jump hill in summer, they go up instead of down.

Stefan Voitl

make sure I paced myself properly.

There are only two access points into the Canyon, so it was pretty risky. If something happened to me it would take quite a while to get help.”

Fortunately that never happened.

“The run went well,” says Sandes.

“Conditions were perfect this time and even though the temperature got to 30°C by midday, that was near the end of the run. I went through a low point around then, but that was more because I’d realised I could break seven hours and began to push too hard.”

Sandes certainly put paid to any worries about completing the course. He ended up finishing in 6h 57m, almost four hours quicker than the previous record. www.ryansandes.com

Copenhagen David Coulthard and his Formula One car stop off for a quiet coffee.

Peter Nyggard

PHOTOGRAPHY: KOLESKY/RED BULL CONTENT POOL (2), SYDELLE WILLOW SMITH

The saltwater variety aren’t the only waves on Jordy Smith’s radar – he’s taking on light waves, too. Our superstar surfer has both a new movie – out in November, Bending Colours, is a surf documentary from the studio of acclaimed filmmaker Kai Neville – and he’s launched a new signature series of Oakley shades – the Jupiter Squared Signature Series. “When you spend as much time in the sun as I do,” says Smith, “and especially when you’re near water all the time, the glare bouncing is off is hard on your eyes. I have to wear sunnies with polarised lenses. Simple as that.” www.jordysmith.com

B U L L E VA R D

MEIN KÖRPER UND ICH

MAXI LAXI

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REGGIE BUSH

VER AESE D TE DOLORE M

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VERAE SED TE DOLOR EM

1 ‘BABY MATRIX’

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WORDS: ARKADIUSZ PIATEK. PHOTOGRAPHY: PHILIPP FORSTNER

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B U L L E VA R D

Saw point: Amanda Palmer is at the cutting edge of music-making in 2012 Born April 30, 1976, New York, USA First act Palmer performed in school plays, and at university established a street theatre group.

Her college speciality?

Living statues.

With the band Formed the duo The Dresden Dolls with multi-instrumentalist Brian Viglione. Palmer describes their music as “Brechtian punk cabaret”. Their biggest hit was 2004 single Coin Operated Boy. Gut reaction After her record company said she looked too fat in one of her videos, her fans were outraged: they posted pictures of their own bellies on the label’s website.

Over 600 photos and messages were later published in The Belly Book.

REAL CROWD-PLEASER

AMANDA PALMER

Amanda Palmer: Theatre Is Evil is out now

Tour info and tunes at: www.amandapalmer.net

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Embracing the unconventional is what Amanda Palmer does.

Twelve years ago she formed The Dresden Dolls, an art-punk duo that put a contemporary spin on Weimar Berlin chic.

Now, with her third solo album, she is yet again breaking new boundaries with her music.

Three years ago, after her first solo album, Palmer left her record company because they wanted to market her as a girlie pop star. Earlier this year, she took total control. On the crowdfunding website Kickstarter, she called on fans to finance her new record: donate a dollar and download the finished product; put down 25 bucks to get the CD. For $5,000 you could even book Palmer for a private party.

After a month, Palmer had raised $1.19m, more than any musician has collected via the website.

  : Why did you decide to crowd-fund your new album?  : I’ve always had a really close, intimate connection with my fanbase.

I answer their questions and sell merchandise on my website. So when I left my label, this idea seemed perfect: instead of buying a product in a record shop, you invest in an artist’s vision.

Do you think the middlemen of the music industry are becoming superfluous?

I can use Facebook and in 15 minutes do what it used to take two months for a label to do.

But when I’m putting together a tour I need someone who sits at a desk and makes calls. That’s why the record industry won’t die – but in the future the artists will be leading the conversation instead of the corporation.

$1.2m is a lot of money...

It’s all gone. People look at it and they see a giant pile of money, but we’re running a business. It doesn’t make you rich, it just means that your volume of business has increased.

Where did the money go?

You can look up all the details on my homepage. The production of the CD, vinyl and art book, including shipping costs, was $300,000 alone. In the past, I always had to argue with my record label over every page in the CD booklet. As my own boss, I’m spending all the money directly back on the product, the stage show, and the videos. I’m trying to make the whole thing as beautiful as possible. And I’d much rather live that way than make a compromised product and spend a lot of money on prostitutes and cocaine.

WORDS: FLORIAN OBKIRCHER. PHOTOGRAPHY: SHERVIN LAINEZ

The former Dresden Dolls singer chopped out the middleman when she connected directly with fans to fund her new album

B U L L E VA R D

HARD & FAST

Top performers and winning ways from around the globe

Austrian Climber Angela Eiter triumphed at the Rock Master event in Arco, Italy, becoming the first woman ever to win there six times.

PHOTOGRAPHY: RORY TAYLOR, IMAGO, ASP RED BULL/F. KLINGER, NUNO LARANJEIRA, GOLD & GOOSE/RED BULL CONTENT POOL

“I love Peru!” cried bigwave surfer Carlos Burle (BRA), after taming 30ft swells at the Billabong Pro in Pico Alto, to take the lead in the Big Wave World Tour.

SA waveski whizz Percy Louw: breaking onto the world stage

PADDLE POWER Welcome to the world of waveski: a wave-riding discipline you don’t hear too much about, which is quite an injustice if you’ve ever seen some of its top exponents in action The speed, snap and air generated by top waveskiers will change your perception of what can be done with a (modified) canoe.

At the SA Closed Waveski Championships in August, held at The Wreck off Table View in Cape Town, the country’s best wowed the crowds. After a first day of near-perfect conditions with deep drops into bowling waves, the Cape wind showed up, changing the backdrop into something more challenging. The waveskier who handled it best was SA’s very own Percy Louw, who took the elite Men’s Masters title amid fierce competition from past champions Ian Macleod, Chris Jones and Doug Copeland (in the final heat).

“The final was very close,” said Louw. “I won simply because I got the better waves. My plan was to stick to the right-hand side and wait for the big waves. Some of the guys got a little too panicky and went for smaller stuff closer to the shore, but I stuck to my guns and got two or three high-scoring waves.”

Louw, a semi-finalist at this year’s world championships in Portugal, will again be representing SA at the 2013 event, which will take place in April in Praia do Futuro, Brazil.

Starting from pole position, Dani Pedrosa (SPA) was in a class of his own at the Indianapolis MotoGP, finishing 11s clear of the pack. He won again a week later in Brno, Czech Republic.

With three wins in four races, UK moto crosser Ben Watson (centre) won the MX1 Rook ie class at the Red Bull Pro Nationals in Mill, the Netherlands.

www.worldwaveski.org

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B U L L E VA R D

WHERE’S YOUR HEAD AT?

EMINEM

As the biggest rapper of all-time turns 40, returns on record (guesting) and prepares a new album (his own), will the real Slim Shady please stand up?

Marshall Bruce Mathers III was born in Kansas City, Missouri, on October 17, 1972 – not the first time mother and son would undergo public, painful separation.

In 2000, mom Debbie sued Em for defamation, via his lyrics; in 2008, she wrote a tell-all book about her son and their difficult relationship.

PASS THE MIC

With a head full of Beastie Boys, Run DMC and LL Cool J lyrics, the teenage Eminem abandons plans to become a comic-book artist and picks up the dictionary, learning new words to make better rhymes. Now living in Detroit, he becomes a champion of live, one-on-one rap battles.

IN FIN ITE PO SS IB ILITIE S

stints In November 1996, after name in rap groups, and stage , comes inem Em to d nge cha M&M ely bar It . first album Infinite ssed sells the 1,000 copies pre on (in 2009, 50 Cent put it up lie Hai y bab h Wit ). site his web , to feed, and a career stalling to. ed turn are gs dru and drink

PICKIN G SLIM

With its musing on Spice Girl fertility and his mother’s smoking habits, the song My Name Is becomes a global smash in January 1999, showcasing the clever, catchy sampling and incredible wordplay that would be Eminem’s stock-in-trade. His name is, we learn, Slim Shady.

OUT OF OFFIC E

Five golden years: albums The Slim Shady LP (1999) , The Marshall Mathers LP (2000), The Eminem Show (2002), Enc ore (2004), and a superb star turn in almost-biog film 8 Mile (2002). Then five years of “limbo”, as he put it, bef ore albums Relapse (2009) and Rec overy (2010) return him to the fore.

PARTNERS IN RHYME

Eminem’s most notable co-worker is Dr Dre. On his Shady label, you’ll find 50 Cent, D12 and Slaughterhouse (the latter’s new album has two ‘feat.

Eminem’ tracks) His strangest team-up: at the 2009 MTV Movie Awards, Sacha Baron Cohen as Bruno descends into Em’s lap. .

Minor chaos, and a PR stunt for Relapse

BIG GER THA N THE BEATLE S

With worldwide album sales of around 90 million, Eminem is the all-time best-selling hip-hop artist. It is somewhat fitting that a controversial artist, for it is he, was the Noughties’ top-selling artist in the US. He sold 32.2 million albums that decade, compared to 30 million by The Beatles.

WH O’S THE DAD DY?

Eminem really is one of the good guys. He adopted his niece and biological daughter’s half-sister, and is the legal guardian of his half-brother. In 2010, two years sober after a methadone overdose, he said, “I love my kids so much, and they’ve helped me through so many things.” www.eminem.com

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WORDS: PAUL WILSON. ILLUSTRATION: LIE-INS AND TIGERS

MY NAM E IS…

JHB 38160

SAME GAME. NEXT LEVEL. The game has changed. Change the way you watch it with pause, rewind and fast-forward functionality - now on 4 dedicated SuperSport HD channels. www.supersport.com

B U L L E VA R D

KIT EVOLUTION

In Depth Look The view from under the sea has always been the same, but how you see down there has altered radically with the changing of the tides

VISOR

Sheet glass in a brass ring. Advantage: can be opened to communicate above water on land. Disadvantage: if the diver struggles underwater, the glass can break.

MATERIALS

Robust brass alloy.

The white interior is deliberate, as the colour was thought to reduce the diver’s claustrophobia (there is no evidence to support this).

SEAL

The collar of the suit is clamped between the head and shoulder parts and, with outside help, screwed on at three points with bolts. Crude but waterproof.

1971

THREE-BOLT HELMET, USSR

This beast, part of a full atmospheric suit, was used by the Soviet navy on below-waves operations. Air was pumped in via a hose leading back to the surface. However, the diver’s exhaled air stayed in the helmet, which made time in there very stressful. Only when the interior pressure reached a relatively high level did an air vent open to allow the breath out.

Nonetheless, these bold brass suits were very reliable, as far down as 40m. www.rusnavy.com

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The rear: double hose connection for air supply, as well as a one-way valve for pressure balance

Old vs new weight: 18kg vs 14.5kg

VISOR

The helmet’s robust polycarbonate pane is scratch-resistant, keeps heat in and, thanks to internal airflow designed to defog, is guaranteed not to mist up.

MATERIALS

Fibreglass and carbon-fibre casing.

Pressure-resistant, shock-resistant and non-conducting: the latter is of importance when working on undersea electric cables.

WORDS: ARKADIUSZ PIATEK. PHOTOGRAPHY: KURT KEINRATH

SEAL

The diver wears a neck cuff with an aluminium ring where the helmet snaps neatly into place. The interior remains dry, even on ‘head down’ dives.

2012

KIRBY MORGAN 37

The KM 37 was conceived for salvage operations in contaminated waters and is designed to make the diver’s work as comfortable as possible. Air reaches the helmet interior from (back-mounted) compressed air cylinders, the exhaled carbon dioxide flows through the regulator below the visor and an interior ventilation system further improves air quality. Also featuring: reserve respiratory gas valve and radio equipment. www.kmdsi.com

Here, the helmet is connected to the compressed air cylinders. The radio tech is housed below

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The Team Abu Dhabi powerboat during a run at the Grand Prix of Sharjah in the F1H2O World Championships

B U L L E VA R D

WINNING FORMULA

SPEED BOAT

WORDS: MARTIN APOLIN. PHOTOGRAPHY: PAUL LAKATOS. ILLUSTRATION: MANDY FISCHER

Powerboating is the Formula One of watersports, but how do those boats get it on offshore?

FULL THROTTLE IN THEORY “There are two things you notice about a powerboat at full speed,” says Dr Martin Apolin, of the physics faculty at the University of Vienna. “Its prow is raised and it barely dives into the water. Why is that so important for good performance?

When you move through water or air, two forces are always at work: lift, FL, and drag, FD, acting against the direction of movement. They can be calculated as follows: FL = 0.5 · ρ · cL · A · ν 2 and FD = 0.5 · ρ · c D · A · ν 2.

“Since both forces are produced in the water as well as in the air, there are a total of four forces at work here. ρ is the density of the medium. Water is about 800 times denser than air, therefore the forces produced by the water are far greater, given the same overall conditions. It’s safe to say that water resistance is enemy number one of powerboats.

“Furthermore, the forces are dependent on lift and drag coefficients cL and c D, which are determined by the shape of the boat, and can be optimised through knowledgeable boatbuilding. Consequently, the forces are dependent on the reference area, A, in the water and in the air. This is the key to understanding why it is so important that a powerboat only hits the water with its rearmost part: it drastically reduces the value of A in the water and thus the overall resistance.

Finally, the forces are dependent on the square of speed and are therefore susceptible to increase as the boat speeds up.

“At rest, the boat lies flat on the water, due to static buoyancy (hat tip: Archimedes). At full speed, however, this is of little significance and here we are not including it in the calculations.

Because the propeller sits deep in the water, the driving force works beneath the centre of gravity. The prow, therefore, begins to rise as the boat starts up.

“From this angle of attack, the dynamic lifting forces increase; a similar effect is produced when you stick your hand out of a moving car and hold it at an angle. As the boat increases speed, it will lift out of the water. Unfortunately, this also increases air resistance and water resistance, FD, because ν, A and c D also increase. With lift comes drag.

“The maximum speed is therefore reached when the sum of resisting forces from the water and air are as great as the driving force. Because only a small part of the stern is now in the water, there is a much higher terminal velocity than if the boat was lower in the water. That’s how the powerboat outsmarts enemy number one.”

FULL THROTTLE IN PRACTICE It takes just four seconds for Thani Al Qamzi of Team Abu Dhabi (left) to accelerate his powerboat from zero to 160kph.

His 425hp boat has no brakes, but it does have a protective ‘crash box’ that cocoons him during a serious accident.

Powerboat world championship: www.f1h2o.com

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B U L L E VA R D

LUCKY NUMBERS

JAMES BOND

It’s 50 years since Sean Connery first saved the world in Dr No, but mankind still needs cinema’s greatest secret agent – Daniel Craig is back this month in Skyfall. Pay attention, 007 fans

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Roger Moore (seven films as 007) is the debonair Bond, Pierce Brosnan (four) the savvy, Daniel Craig (three) the tough, Timothy Dalton (two) the emotional, while Sean Connery (six) is the essential Bond. And what of George Lazenby, the enigma?

The Australian is the only actor not from the UK or Ireland to play the part, and, aged 30 when On Her Majesty’s Secret Service premiered, the youngest.

He was earmarked for more than one Bond film, but making the movie was not a happy experience for him or the producers, and he quit. “I probably would have had three or four Hollywood wives and become a drug addict,” he later joked.

From Ursula Andress to Olga Kurylenko, via Halle Berry and Jane Seymour, James Bond’s thirst for the ladies has been quenched by a string of beautiful actresses.

Only two women playing Bond Girls have been older than the man playing Bond opposite them: Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore in Goldfinger and Diana Rigg as Teresa di Vincenzo in Desmond OHMSS. Women also dominate the films’ Llewelyn opening credits, with all but two so far featuring sexy silhouettes. Only Dr No and Casino Royale (2006) kick off lady-free.

Vodka martini

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George Lazenby

Bond actors perform many stunts themselves, although Roger Moore had a double for his running scenes, because he felt he looked clumsy. For part of the pre-credits sequence of Moonraker, in which a mid-air Bond wrestles a pilot for the latter’s parachute and then shakes off villain Jaws, stuntmen were filmed in 88 jumps over five weeks.

There’s a Bond high-dive you can sample for yourself: a bungee jump from the 220m-high Verzasca Dam in Switzerland, as undertaken

by Pierce Brosnan’s 007 in GoldenEye.

700

Ursula Andress

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17

Stanley Kubrick

Sir Ken Adam is the secret genius of the Bond movies. He designed many of the series’ remarkable sets, including villains’ lairs and Fort Knox in Goldfinger. A rocket launch pad inside a dormant volcano, built at Pinewood Studios for You Only Live Twice, with a working monorail and moving helipad, cost as much as the entire budget of Dr No and required 700 tonnes of steel girders. During filming for The Spy Who Loved Me, Adam needed help lighting a double submarine dock inside a supertanker, so he sneaked the director Stanley Kubrick on set for four hours one Sunday, and the two old friends figured it out.

Sean Connery preferred his vodka martinis “shaken, not stirred”. Roger Moore never ordered 007’s signature drink using these words. When asked by a barkeeper how he wanted his cocktail in Casino Royale, Daniel Craig snapped back, “Do I look like I give a damn?” In Quantum Of Solace, Craig is seen slightly the worse for wear after drinking six special martinis on a plane.

And yet: Mr Bond’s most frequent onscreen tipple is not a martini, but Champagne. In the 22 official Bond films before Skyfall, he sips champers 38 times.

Verzasca Dam

Jan Werich was cast in the role of Blofeld in You Only Live Twice, but the film’s director, Lewis Gilbert, had him replaced after five days by Donald Pleasence, because Werich looked like a “benevolent Father Christmas”. Desmond Llewellyn enjoyed the longest 007 career, playing Q, the man responsible for Bond’s gadgets: the cars, the exploding pens, the watch lasers. The Welshman appeared in 17 Bond films over 36 years – the most instances of a recurring role in film history – but he had only 30 minutes of screen time in total.

Skyfall opens in cinemas late October: www.skyfall-movie.com

WORDS: ULRICH CORAZZA. PHOTOGRAPHY: SHUTTERSTOCK, GETTY IMAGES (4), PICTUREDESK.COM

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ACTION

shark SHOOTER MICHAEL MULLER’S DAY JOB IS PHOTOGRAPHING HOLLYWOOD STARS, LIKE BRAD PITT, BUT HIS HOBBY IS MUCH MORE EXCITING: HE CHASES BIG SHARKS WITH HIS CAMERA – AND NO CAGE Words: Anne Philippi Photography: Michael Muller

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ichael Muller has just returned from surfing at Zuma Beach in Malibu, his face still glowing from the sun. “It was unbelievable, we had the waves all to ourselves! No one there!” West Coast natives like Muller get excited about waves and water. He looks the part, too: black jeans, trainers, surfer T-shirt, neon yellow chewing gum in his mouth, tattoos in all the right places.

Every couple of minutes, Muller’s iPhone beeps. As a photographer of major film, rock and sports stars, the noisy mobile marks the rhythm of his busy days. His passion, however, is sharks. Fat great whites with nasty jaws. Muller’s pupils dilate when he hears the word ‘shark’. On his left arm is a tattoo of a tooth of a bull shark. (Right next to it is a tattoo of a wasp, because, says Muller, “I’m more afraid of them than sharks.”)

When he was eight years old, Muller, using his first camera, took a picture of a picture of a shark he found in Life magazine. “My friends thought that I took it myself. The horror in their eyes when they saw the shark – I never forgot that.”

Many years of talking and thinking about sharks later, with Muller established as a successful photographer for the likes of Spin and Rolling Stone, his then-girlfriend, Kimberly, paid for a trip to Guadalupe Island, 450km off the coast of Mexico in the Pacific Ocean, where the water teems with sharks. It was here that Muller got his first close look at a live great white. “I was standing on the boat, very early in the morning.

The shark rocketed to the surface from out of the dark. He was big, like a car with teeth.” Muller was hooked. “Fear, excitement, more than one adrenalin rush,” he says, describing the kick it gave him. “Afterward, I knew I couldn’t do without it.”

(Kimberly is now permanently on Muller’s arm: as his wife and, in name, inked alongside the bull shark’s tooth and the wasp, and the names of his three daughters. “She completely understands my need for this kind of adventure,” he says.)

Muller applied his professional skills to his new-found fixation. He spent “an insane amount of money” developing a lighting system for underwater photo shoots. The Travel Channel greenlighted his pitch for a ‘shark hunt’ TV show. Now, aged 42, he’s down with the sharks as often as he can be.

“You have to look them straight in the eye and touch their nose and mouth with the camera,” he says, of his close-up technique. “That irritates them. Then you’re safe.” Safety is important to him: “My daughters should grow up with a dad.”

He admits to being scared sometimes.

On one shoot, a member of his team suddenly disappeared underwater, and Muller, visibly unsettled as he recalls the moment, “really thought he was dead”, but it was a false alarm.

His dealings with sharks have also helped Muller to put into perspective a group of predators he encounters working his day job: angry Hollywood publicists.

“I think to myself, ‘I’ve just been swimming with 40 bull sharks,’” he says, breaking into In deep: Michael Muller is passionate about sharks a laugh. “‘You can’t scare me.’”

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ACTION

“YOU HAVE TO LOOK THEM IN THE EYE, TOUCH THEM WITH THE CAMERA. IT IRRITATES THEM”

ACTION TAURUS APART

The bull shark (right and below) is thought to be responsible for most attacks on humans, because it is the shark that lives in waters closest to human populations.

NOT ON THE MENU

There were 12 fatal shark attacks on humans in 2011, out of a total of 75 reported incidents. “Sharks don’t eat humans,” says Muller, “they like other meat.” Most commonly, say biologists, a shark attacks because a diver or swimmer has disturbed it, and so it attacks to defend itself.

Another theory suggests a shark attacking through a case of mistaken identity – it thinks a splashy surfer is prey, bites once, realises its mistake and swims away.

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“I ADMIT IT: I JUST WANT TO GET CLOSE TO SHARKS. I WANT TO SEE THEIR FACES – EVERY DETAIL”

INESCAPABLE

“Once you’re locked in a great white’s jaws,” says Muller, “you’ll never get out.” Knowing that did not stop him taking this remarkable photo.

ACTION

LIGHTS , CAMERA, MEH

“The sharks don’t always notice the lights,” says Muller, “especially if they’re eating. Here they just kept eating some tuna and let us get on with the job.”

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“Actually,” says Muller, “sharks are extremely elegant creatures. I even find them graceful.”

CREDIT:

SYNC AND SWIM

ACTION BULL SHARK AT LUNCH

CREDIT:

“I wouldn’t recommend feeding bull sharks by hand,” says Muller. “They have the highest testosterone levels of all sharks. We only do it in order to get a good photo of the teeth and jaws.”

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HORROR FILM

“All kinds of people have tunnel vision when it comes to sharks,” says Muller. Much of that is to do with the movie Jaws, and its powerful effect on audiences.

Even the young Muller “wouldn’t swim in our pool anymore” after seeing a rubber version of a great white. In real life, the shark’s impact is far, far greater.

ACTION

AT SURFACE, NO TENSION

After a successful – ie safe – encounter with sharks, Michael Muller achieves a certain serenity, which helps in his day job, in the photo studio, dealing with temperamental Hollywood types. www.mullerphoto.com

“IF YOU DON’T ACKNOWLEDGE THE SHARKS’ POWER, THEY CAN KILL YOU WITHIN THREE SECONDS” 39

ACTION

RIDE

THE LIGHTNING

MotoGP is the third-largest televised sport in the world after football and Formula One. Nearly one billion people tune in to watch every race. It is the fastest sport on two wheels and the most perilous. At the Red Bull US Grand Prix at Laguna Seca, California, riders, fans and followers explain why MotoGP is so beguiling Words: Nicolas Stecher

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PHOTOGRAPHY: GIORGIO AUGUSTO NEYROZ

“I love Laguna Seca. Coming here is a bit like home,” says Australian MotoGP Champion Casey Stoner, here ahead of Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo

ACTION

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Top: The track at Laguna Seca is known for its challenging elevation changes.

Above and right: One of those features, the corkscrew, claimed fan favourite Valentino Rossi on the 29th lap of the race, sending his motorcycle flying into the barrier as he tumbled off the course

on his face. If an engineer approached to hand him boxing gloves and a gumshield it wouldn’t seem the least bit inappropriate.

Sure he’s listening, but it’s clear a single focus is congealing in his mind, making any new suggestions superfluous.

One by one, engines begin sparking to life in garages all around. The ambient volume rises from football game car park to opening-band riffage. A vacuum cleaner-like starter is rolled from the edge of the garage and placed under the rear wheel of Bradl’s bike. Airport-strength earmuffs are passed around. Bradl stands, fits the helmet over his head and throws a leg over the bike.

The starter flies into motion, turning the rear wheel as the prototype Honda roars to life. The sound in the garage explodes from opening-band riffage to 747 flyby. Even at 50 per cent speed, the wail emanating from these silencer-less, hand-built, million-dollar engines is enough to pop your eardrums. They pull the starter from under the tyre, and with a chirp Bradl zips out of the gate to join his fellow Grand Prix riders on the morning laps.

Laguna Seca has come to life for the biggest MotoGP weekend on the calendar in America.

“I love Laguna Seca,” says current MotoGP World Champion Casey Stoner in his thick Australian accent.

“I like it when we can get overseas. We have so many

PHOTOGRAPHY: GIORGIO AUGUSTO NEYROZ

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obs of MotoGP fans froth in a sea of bright shorts and ubiquitous Oakley sunglasses. The sun is beaming down on the wide open expanse of black asphalt at the heart the track, bathing everything in a hot, white light and casting sharp, dark angles everywhere.

Exposed flesh is reddened by the scorn of the California sun. Across the small foothills that surround Laguna Seca and separate it from Monterey, a thick fog blankets the city’s residents, keeping them cool.

There is no such mercy here, only the scorching breath of a hot wind to abate the heat.

Pushing through the sweaty din of the pitlane, a small army of guards lining the entrances to the private garages offers a moment’s respite. The security is tight, as if approaching the hangar to Air Force One; interlopers are not only unwelcome, but looked upon with the suspicion of corporate spies. Given the rumoured multi-million-dollar annual budgets of the factory teams, this seems appropriate.

After badges are waved and security is cleared, the dark entrance of a garage greets you with a blast of industrial-strength air conditioning. It is not just a shift in temperature, but a shift in time and space.

As loud and chaotic as it is out in the paddock, inside the garages it is starkly quiet, eerily calm. All preparation, all engineering, is complete. Now there is time for only one thing: to take these thoroughbred bikes out on the practice track and test their mettle.

In the corner of this garage for the LCR Honda team, rider Stefan Bradl sits huddled over, listening to his chief engineer repeat directions to him in a calm and measured voice. The German rider has the hyper-focused look of a prizefighter, nodding his head absentmindedly with a thousand-yard stare

IN THE PADDOCK OF THE LAGUNA SECA RACEWAY, EVERYTHING IS MADNESS

Right: Dani Pedrosa’s bike is readied for the track. Casey Stoner won the race at Laguna Seca over polesitter Jorge Lorenzo, with fellow Spaniard Pedrosa coming in third

races in Europe, in the same countries, that you don’t really get a big broad spectrum of people and different cultures, so coming to the US is a little bit more like home. The track is very technical, tricky.

I like the ups and downs to it, but it could have a longer straight, or a couple of faster corners would be good. But it’s so unique that it’s got its own personality, and I enjoy riding every lap.”

No conversation about the current state of MotoGP can begin without talk of the complex, polarising, controversial, outspoken, diminutive rider from Down Under. The elfin frame of Stoner 44

betrays a monolith of stature, and it would be very easy to imagine the reigning and two-time World Champion (2007, 2011) as the idolised face of the sport. Yet he also defines its present shortcomings.

Things are not idyllic in the Kingdom of MotoGP, as the global economic downturn has caused an across-the-board decline in sponsorship money. In apex motorsports like MotoGP and its four-wheel equivalent Formula One, which subsist on being the most technological, and highest-performing of all, the cost of racing has become so high that the sports’ respective governing bodies are struggling

PHOTOGRAPHY: TAZ DARLING

Jorge Lorenzo basks in the adulation

ACTION

THINGS ARE NOT IDYLLIC IN

THE KINGDOM OF MOTOGP

to fill their starting grids. As technical costs skyrocket and sponsorship money evaporates, teams are dropping out of MotoGP’s top class. For the first time ever, MotoGP is allowing non-prototype CRT (Claiming Rule Teams) bikes, which are not only considerably lower in cost, but also in performance.

U Dani Pedrosa focuses on the race ahead

nfortunately for Stoner, and many of the factory riders, the solutions provided have proved to be more frustrating than they’re worth. On May 17, before the French Grand Prix, the current champion shocked the racing world when he announced his retirement at the end of this season. For a 26-year-old in his prime the move was unheard of, and caused a shockwave of reaction. For while there is no question about the virtuosity of Stoner, his charisma and popular stature are not so cemented. He has been dubbed ‘the Alien’ by some, as much for his otherworldly riding talent as his chilly approachability. But after his retirement announcement, Stoner has become somewhat of a new man. He seems liberated, free, beholden to no one, and he’s letting his words fly.

“There’s going to be a few riders that I’m going to miss, but I’ll probably catch up with them away from the track anyway,” he says. “I’m sure I’ll visit 45

ACTION

a couple of the races here and there. Make sure they’re really cold, miserable races, and I’ll be sitting there with a nice hot chocolate or coffee or something, and be laughing at them freezing their butts off!

“I mean, I’m not retiring from life, I’m not 60 or 70 years old. I’ve still got a lot of challenges ahead, a lot of life. There’s a very good chance I could end up racing V8 [cars] in Australia.”

After winning the Moto2 series in 2011, rookie German rider Stefan Bradl was bumped up to MotoGP for this season. After the race, he told RedBull.com that he almost crashed at Laguna Seca because of the chatter and grip on the course. “We finished seventh... this is one of the hardest weekends in the calendar,” he said. “We did the best we could”

NOT EVEN F1 DRIVERS SEE THIS LEVEL OF DANGER 46

These racers are not some overpaid NBA prima donnas puffing their chests out under the glittering lights of Madison Square Garden, knowing full well that any threat of a brawl is an empty one.

It is not someone kicking a defenceless opponent on the ground without fear of retribution. This is cold, merciless physics, bone and muscle on steel, sinew and flesh excelling in the perils of sport.

Despite the recent domination of Rossi and Stoner, several other racers, particularly Spaniards Dani Pedrosa and 2010 World Champion Jorge Lorenzo, have eyes on the throne. And although Americans Ben Spies and 2006 World Champion Nicky Hayden compete hard as well, the 2012 season, with Stoner requiring surgery, has now boiled down to a battle between Pedrosa, and Lorenzo, with the duo podiuming regularly.

“I think the level that they’re at as riders is very similar, and it often depends what mood they’re in when they get out of bed that day – how immortal they feel, how up for it they are – that makes a huge difference,” says Neale. “But assuming they’re all in a good mood and are up for it, it does become about the bike.

“That’s something that’s actually very hard to understand: how personal the set-up is. Little things can vastly change a bike. For instance, Bridgestone made the tyres softer in response to the fact that many riders were crashing on cold tyres. This had a powerful effect throughout the various garages; Stoner and Pedrosa both say that the Honda doesn’t run as well on these new tyres, and the Ducati doesn’t seem to work at all with them. If you gave Jimi Hendrix a Les Paul

PHOTOGRAPHY: GIORGIO AUGUSTO NEYROZ (2), TAZ DARLING

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o me its baffling that a guy who’s struggled for all these years, and he’s now in the best team, and he won the Championship last year with Honda, with the best bike, that the next thing he does is quit.

It’s like, you go your whole life to get there, why not enjoy it?

Why not live it up for a couple of years? He’s 26 years old!” says filmmaker Mark Neale, director of the award-winning MotoGP documentaries Faster and Fastest. “In my experience Stoner, away from the cameras, is a happier guy, and a nice guy, and a lot of the riders say the same thing about him, but there’s something about him that does not work on camera.”

Neale has peered into this insular, nebulous universe through a unique telescope. He tells many stories about Valentino Rossi – the seven-time World Champion, current global superstar, most famous man on the circuit and the focus of his two feature films. Such as the time Rossi’s rival Max Biaggi stuck his elbow out on a corner of the Suzuka race track in 2001 and put Rossi in the dirt at 240kph, a move that could have seriously injured the rising talent. When Rossi finally overtook Biaggi in the final laps, he greeted his nemesis with an extended finger – on camera, in front of tens of millions of fans watching worldwide. Or when he rode a victory lap with an inflatable sex doll representing Claudia Schiffer – another direct jab at Biaggi who was famously dating supermodel Naomi Campbell at the time. “Rossi was very entertaining,” Neale says. “He brought the sport the kind of glamour and humour and intelligence that nobody else ever had. He’s the last guy to have that kind of rock ’n’ roll swagger.”

Even Formula One drivers don’t expose themselves to the level of danger and real-world vulnerability of MotoGP. These riders are not encased in shells made of carbon fibre with crumple zones and five-point harnesses. They are literally inches from the track blurring by at 300kph, with only leathers to protect them. Last October, beloved Italian rider Marco Simoncelli lost his life at the Malaysian Grand Prix after colliding with Rossi and American rider Colin Edwards.

ACTION

Above and left: Casey Stoner is considered by some to be the best rider to ever race in MotoGP; earlier this year, the two-time world champion announced that he was going to retire.

He’s 26 years old. It is unlikely he will hold onto his title in his final season after injuring his ankle and requiring surgery

instead of a Stratocaster to play, he would sound different. And he might say, ‘Well forget this, for me to do my thing, I need my Strat back.’ It involves a physical interaction that is very subtle and different for each rider.”

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t’s Sunday at Laguna Seca. Race day. In the previous day’s qualifying session, Lorenzo claimed pole position, followed by Stoner and Pedrosa. Everything is exactly as expected in the world of MotoGP. The race flies by in a haste 40 minutes, highlighted by a thrilling manoeuvre on the 21st lap when Stoner passes Lorenzo cleanly, securing his fourth victory of the season.

Watching from the grandstands with dark sunglasses visoring half of his face, and a long grey beard that adds a wizard-like gravitas to his demeanour, is the unofficial ‘Mayor of Laguna Seca’, OB Gold.

“It was a real treat this weekend to watch Casey Stoner race,” Gold says. “Casey’s not the most liked person in the paddock – he’s very rough on his fellow competitors, you know bumps them with his shoulder, very aggressive, not friendly necessarily to the press, definitely not friendly to the MotoGP establishment – but Casey Stoner rides a motorcycle unlike any other person on the planet.”

Gold has been coming to Laguna Seca for 42 years and has never missed a race in nearly half a century. He is the author and publisher of The Hot Pot Handbook – a guide to the healthy, safe and rational use of cannabis – and certainly looks the part. He has the sagely wisdom of Gandalf, the kind amicability of Santa Claus. He expounds upon Stoner’s indelible will – “Casey Stoner won this race in practice; this was preordained” – and the Australian’s loss of interest in the sport and disapproval of the CRT teams. He sincerely praises the cleanliness and sterility of Jorge Lorenzo’s style: “He drives utterly free of drama; it looks as if he’s driving taxi cab.”

But OB Gold’s parting shot is his most passionate. It concerns the magnetic spell this sport holds for him and millions of others, for those who cannot go a summer without watching the unfurling of its annual theatre.

“MotoGP is the pinnacle of motorsport excellence.

It requires the highest level of physicality for the riders, it has the greatest level of danger, and it’s colourful and exciting,” Gold says in an even, gravelly voice as if he were Moses delivering a Commandment. “I can’t stay away. It’s tremendous.”

Death defying: www.motogp.com

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PATRICK MOREWOOD

It is about the bike

Over the last decade, Patrick Morewood carved out an international reputation as a mountain bike-building guru. He has recently pressed restart on his career with a new brand of bikes lauded as his best yet Words: Neil Gardiner It must have been a poignant moment…

Patrick Morewood walks out the door of the Morewood Bikes HQ for the final time, wheeling out one of his worldfamous Makulu downhill bikes. He is leaving behind his business partner Richard Carter, a factory, its contents and, most notably, the Morewood name...

“With a new name – PYGA Industries – he was building bikes again” Typically, Morewood remains ever upbeat and magnanimous about what must have been a tough period in his life. “I have a short memory,” he says.

“Circumstances didn’t allow for it to be any other way and now I only think back to the good things we did, and the good times. I don’t mind seeing my name on the bikes still. I am proud of all the work I put in for 13 years. I really do hope that it grows and does the name justice.”

As South African cycling’s most eminent brand, Morewood Bikes had humble beginnings, with Morewood making downhill mountain bikes in his Pietermaritzburg garage at the turn of the millennium. At an event, local businessman Carter spotted an early Morewood creation zip-tied to his small utility vehicle. Impressed with the workmanship, Carter approached him and by 2002 they’d started a company.

The combination proved successful, with Carter’s marketing and business drive and Morewood’s uncanny knack for finding the sweet spot in his suspension 48

Photography: Tyrone Bradley set-ups. The bikes quickly became popular: two of them earned the highest ratings ever awarded in highly regarded mountain bike publications, and the Makulu gained serious respect and points at UCI World Cup races. Despite their achievements, the two unfortunately reached an impasse over the future direction of the company and in June 2011, Morewood walked.

Even before receiving his payout from the company, he’d already begun tooling around his garage preparing for the next phase of this lifetime affliction. With a new brand name – PYGA Industries – he was back building bikes again. Closely watching the MTB world’s move from the de facto 26in-diameter wheels towards

bigger 29in hoops, Patrick designed two 29ers, one with full suspension and 110mm of travel, the other a hardtail.

“I don’t race any more and I just wanted a bike that I could ride for hours with my mates on my favourite trails. I was pretty sure there were others out there like me. I wanted the whole brand thing to be casual, like a family.”

At this point, lacking a factory to produce his bikes in meaningful quantities, he flew to the east and spent several weeks training the factory workers how to weld his new rigs. The press received his first model well, one placing the 29er ahead of the biggest brands in the business in a 10-bike shootout. But he’s already got his eye on the horizon. “We’ve had lots of interest from Europe, even though they’re slow to adopt the bigger wheel size. We’ll be making a 27.5in-wheeled bike (or 650b) for them too, and the Asian market is also keen for it, with most riders there fitting better on the in-between size.”

Morewood’s new name, PYGA Industries, is derived from the nickname given to him by his Chinese colleagues, during that first 18-hours-a-day stint at the factory. The ‘Py’ part is their phonetic version of Pat, and ‘ga’ means friend, or mate. From when his surname was once emblazoned on the tubes of his creations, it’s now his first name.

It suits him better. It’s less formal.

More familiar. Just how he likes it. www.pygaindustries.com

Master builder: Patrick Morewood has a knack for finding the sweet spot of his bikes’ suspension set-ups

Moving forward: Morewood is looking to develop his products for Europe and Asia

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THE BLADE RUNNER

The fastest sailboat in the world is two-thirds airplane and functions like a submarine Words : Frédéric Pelatan Photography: Christophe Launay

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Top speed: 104kph.

The Hydroptère has broken one world record a er another

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For 20 years, Alain Thébault has been working on his dream of making the fastest sailboat ever, and he’s revolutionised wind-driven seafaring along the way.

His boat, the Hydroptère DCNS, spearheads these developments

Around 30 tonnes of water pressure per square metre hit the trimaran’s hydrofoil

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Submarine-tested technology prevents the sailboat from somersaulting

Command centre. At high speeds the boat could somersault and overturn.

Project partners DCNS have built in technical regulators derived from submarine construction which measure the slightest movement of the boat and send the data to the rudder, which in the Hydroptère’s case looks like a plane’s pitch elevator

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www.hydroptere.com

28 m

Front view

4,5 m

2000. The present boat, the Hydroptère DCNS, compensates for these blows with hydraulic cylinders on the hydrofoils, which are automatically controlled using data from numerous on-board sensors.

The impact of the waves on the boat at full speed equates to the pressure on a plane during an emergency water landing. Consequently, the airplane maker Airbus followed the Hydroptère crew’s developments with great interest.

The two companies even went as far as jointly registering a patent, which concerns the components of the boat being put together with rivets made from carbon rather than titanium. Airbus is looking to apply this innovation to its planes in order to reduce fuel costs.

As The Red Bulletin went to press, Thébault and his team were waiting for optimal weather conditions for a new record attempt. They hope to sail from Los Angeles to Honolulu faster than another French sailor, Olivier de Kersauson, who in 2005 crossed the same stretch of Pacific Ocean in his trimaran in four days and 19.5 hours.

It’s an adventure, but at the same time it’s much more than that: a high-seas reality check for the revolution in wind-driven seafaring.

24 m

Child of the digital drawing board In order to build the Hydroptère, the team developed simulation software called Hydrop 6, which predicts data for future sailing conditions (up to five years ahead) to optimise the boat for any situation.

America’s Cup racing teams have already expressed interest in the software.

ILLUSTRATION : ALBERT EXERGIAN

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his version of the classic flying dream plays out on the water, powered only by wind.

When the Hydroptère hits 18kph, the boat’s three hulls rise up out of the water along the hydrofoil, reaching a height of 5m as speeds increase to record-breaking levels. In 2005 came the fastest crossing of the English Channel (average speed, 61kph).

In 2007, the official world record speed over 500m (82.9kph). In 2008, that record was broken (86.8kph). That was the same year that the Hydroptère reached a top speed of 104kph, making it the fastest sailboat in the world.

Since then, the team headed by French skipper Alain Thébault has been battling to transfer this achievement from calm, shallow waters to the high seas. Once the boat reaches 93kph, it meets a force of 30 tonnes of water per square metre. In waves, these forces slam into the boat and can cause explosions, a fate that put paid to a forerunner of the Hydroptère in

The 12m arm connecting the three hulls was produced

by Airbus. For Airbus, the Hydroptère project serves as a test case for larger constructions.

In the learning phase before construction of the A380, for example, a framework was used similar to that of the boat

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TAXI

TO THE CLOUDS Daily, the citizens of Lesotho – Southern Africa’s mountain kingdom – take one the most treacherous taxi journeys on the planet. Not that they seem to mind. For them, the infamous Sani Pass is just the road home…

Words: Steve Smith Photography: David Southwood

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Rocks and ice wait for the drivers as they make their way over the Sani Pass

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hings are not going well for Mr Land Rover Defender. In fact, he’s starting to sweat a little. Not something one normally does in the chilly climes atop the Sani Pass.

Despite the mountain-spider abilities of his iconic four-wheel drive car, Mr Land Rover Defender is unable to negotiate this second-to-last hairpin. It’s a tough right-hander, whose tight radius only just matches the Defender’s turning circle.

Then there’s the elevation, the rocks, and the ice to deal with. As the road twists

back on itself, it also climbs a good 3m in the space of a few wheel rotations. Not that there’s much for those aggressively treaded off-road tyres to grip. Only jagged outcrops of hard basalt offer any purchase among the loose rock and blooms of greasy ice. Get the line wrong here, however, and those slivers of basalt will also slice open a tyre quicker than a battlefield surgeon.

Five times he tries. Five times the Defender scrabbles, whines and concedes defeat. It slowly loses ground and inches backward toward the edge of the road.

And that is his most serious problem.

This is no ordinary edge of the road.

It’s an edge 2,800m up above the valley floor. There’s no guardrail either. Slip over here and you’re going to be tumbling a long way down. Probably about as far as that rusted ball of metal just visible far below. Wisely, Mr Land Rover Defender decides to give his over-revved engine and tautly stretched nerves a break. He slowly – and very carefully – retreats back down to a little siding cut into the mountainside for just such an emergency.

Unfortunately, things are about to get worse for him. A slightly bruised ego becomes full-blown humiliation when he’s passed by an old Toyota Hi-Ace minibus filled with 16 people. Weighed down by its load, the Toyota’s already minimal ground clearance has been reduced to maybe a few

centimetres and you can hear the wheels knocking against their wheel arches as the vehicle bounces over the rocks.

Mr Land Rover Defender’s shame is complete when a few of the 16 passengers – their heads bopping up and down to the booming local Basothu pop music – wave at him as the taxi trundles past, and then quickly accelerates towards the hairpin and scrambles noisily around the turn.

This is not textbook off-road driving at all. One is supposed to tiptoe over the rocks rather than gun it. And one is supposed to lean out the driver’s window keeping a careful eye on exactly where one’s placing one’s front wheels. Not the minibus driver.

He’s driving with his elbow out the window, engaged in a loud conversation with passenger to his immediate left. It’s just another day for this taxi driver who plies

THE SLIGHTEST MISCALCULATION CAN HAVE DEADLY RESULTS

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Teetering on the edge of disaster and displaying the wrong line around one of Sani’s hairpins, is this South African four-by-four. Its driver would do well to watch the way Lesotho taxi driver Tsoanyane ‘Free State’ Letolo (above) approaches the same bend. Below: Another tyre succumbs to the razor-sharp basalt rock

REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA LESOTHO

Sani Pass

Durban

INDIAN OCEAN

his trade up and down the Sani Pass – a treacherous, snaking stretch of untarred road that winds up the Drakensburg range to the mountain kingdom of Lesotho. This has to be one of the most hardcore daily taxi commutes on the planet.

For the locals of this kingdom – the Basotho – it’s been a crucial link for the past century. The pass is the only eastern route into the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and has been a trade route ever since the English established the settlement of Durban and claimed Natal as an outpost of the glorious empire.

Even back then it was hard going. The farmers would take spare donkeys along knowing that on the trip home, some of the animals would start to struggle on the trek back up the Sani. According to legend, when this happened, they’d shift the load to the fresh animals and simply push the exhausted ones off the path and down into the bush below. Apparently one could identify the Sani Pass from miles away by the many carrion birds – the Bearded Vulture or Lammergeiers as they’re also known – circling high above.

You still see these ‘Bone Eaters Of The Berg’ taking advantage of midday thermals to slowly spiral up the imposing cliff faces of the Drakensburg escarpment – it’s just that these days the carcasses are a lot more metallic…

One of them is the remains of a taxi that got it wrong. Two years ago the pass proved that there is a downside to the cavalier attitude displayed by Mr Land Rover Defender’s nemesis. The slightest miscalculation can have deadly results and four people were killed when a minibus went over the edge.

Taxi driver Tsoanyane ‘Free State’ Letolo however, is unfazed by such disaster. He’s been travelling this route for six years and has yet to meet his maker.

“Scared? No. Sometimes in winter I try to be more careful. There’s ice and snow at the top and it can get slippery, but I have to get my passengers to their destination.

They don’t want me to stop or drive very slowly. They just say ‘Go! Go! Go!’ So I go.

I have to concentrate a bit more, but it’s not like I have a plan for the ice. I just drive.”

It’s not like Letolo has been to any special school for Sani Pass drivers either.

He has learned his trade on the road.

“There’s no point in having driving lessons for this. Experience is the only thing that will help you. I don’t mean experience in knowing the exact lines to take on these rough roads. The road changes all the time. Today the road looks like this, but tomorrow it can be different.

Tomorrow I might come around the same 63

Left: Driver Taelo Sekhopo sits in the back of his taxi as passengers begin to climb aboard, excited at the prospect of getting home for the weekend.

Some of his passengers have already started celebrating the two-day break, making the trip exuberantly noisy.

Below left: The remains of this taxi are a stark reminder of what the Sani Pass can do. And it’s men like mechanic Motsei Makhorole (far right) who keep them on the road. Right: Donkeys – once the only way to transport goods up the Sani, are still used by local farmers

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“THERE’S NO POINT IN HAVING DRIVING LESSONS FOR THIS” corner and some rocks have fallen down over the line I usually take, then I just take a different one. I don’t worry about small rocks. This car is strong, it just goes right over them. But the big rocks – those you have to avoid.”

Unfortunately, that’s not always possible. And it’s why Thato Nkune has a thriving roadside business in Makhotlong, the village now grown into little town.

It’s here that taxis limp to after some mechanical part has inevitably lost its battle with the basalt of the Sani Pass.

The first things that go are the suspension springs, the brake pads, and the steering arms,” says Nkune. “What doesn’t break though is the engine. The engines are very strong.”

The engines in question are 3.0-litre or 5.0-litre diesel units that have been the workhorse of the Toyota range over the years. Here they power the Toyota Hi-Ace, the ubiquitous minibus taxi that ferries millions of South Africans to and from work every day. Except this isn’t your normal Hi-Ace. These are special imports from Japan that come with a full low- and high-range four-wheel drive system and a beefed up suspension.

“The first ones arrived here in 2000,” says Nkune, “but by 2004 there were many. I think there must be about 15 taxis operating up and down the Sani Pass now.”

This regular traffic is a far cry from 1948 when the first motorised ascent of the Sani Pass was made. The man to accomplish it was Godfrey Edmonds.

Commanding the bravery that had made him a Royal Air Force Spitfire pilot, Edmonds climbed aboard his World War II army-surplus Jeep and seven-and-a-half hours later he arrived at the top. To say he drove it would be a something of a stretch, though. Using an assortment of ropes and pulleys – and assisted by a squad of labourers – Edmonds half drove, half hauled the car up the pass.

The fact that deaths seldom occur on Sani is something of a surprise. There should be more of those metallic carcasses.

A combination of skill and luck seems to keep them on the road – and it’s a recipe ably demonstrated by one particular taxi.

Approaching the steepest hairpin on its downward journey, it comes up behind a queue of cars. Thanks to fresh ice and 65

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“SOMETIMES THE BRAKES DON’T WORK. THEN I USE THE GEARS”

Top: Basothu goatherds with one of their charges. This poor animal was so exhausted from walking in the thin air of these bitterly cold mountains, it could no longer even stand. Thick, mohair blankets and beanies, and rubber wellington boots are traditional garb for these youngsters. Above: Thato Nkune, owner of the roadside taxi-servicing business in the town of Makhotlong

snow, no one has the bottle to attempt this treacherous off-camber turn. Except said taxi. The driver deliberates for a few minutes… then pulls out and goes for it.

Everyone is wide-eyed. Especially the passengers. It appears to be a very bad idea… one that’s quickly confirmed.

The driver soon realises he isn’t going to make it and despite standing on the brakes, the taxi slowly slides towards the precipice. Suddenly there are passengers exiting the doors and windows like exploding popcorn. Disaster looms… until, miraculously, the Hi-Ace unexpectedly finds some purchase and grinds to a halt, its blunt nose peering over the edge. It really is that close. And quickly forgotten.

Everyone climbs back in and the journey continues – the passengers jamming their legs and elbows against the seats to brace against the continuous bounce as the taxi winds around corners called ‘Suicide Bend’ and ‘Haemorrhoid Corner’. A few have already started the weekend’s festivities with one or three celebratory drinks and the rest are chatting away, their bodies jiggling in unison to the minibus’ exaggerated movements.

Also looking forward to the break is Taelo Sekhopo, the driver responsible Mr Land Rover Defender’s complete and utter humiliation. As the stricken English four-by-four slowly recedes in the rear-view mirror, the many stickers that proudly illustrate the various offroad journeys the Defender has been on now just look like bullet holes. Not that Sekhopo appears to take any pleasure in this. It’s just another car he has to pass if he’s to get his passengers and himself home for the weekend. He even has the time to chat as he drives past another stranded four-wheel drive car whose owner is wondering why his very expensive and shiny Toyota Land Cruiser Prado will go no further.

“I use the brakes a lot when I go down,” says Nkune explaining his driving technique. “But sometimes they don’t work and then I use the low-range gears.”

Sometimes the brakes don’t work?

“Yes because it is so steep and you use the brakes so much, they overheat and then stop working. But hey… it’s not so much of a problem.”

He takes another bite of his peach…

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INSIDE THE

MOST MARVELLOUS MINDS ON THE PLANET PLUS: HOW YOU CAN TURN YOUR BRAIN UP TO 11 AND START THINKING BIG TODAY. GENIUS! Words: David Morton Illustration: Roland Vorlaufer

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JAMES LOVELOCK

Environmental Maverick How Clever?

A British independent scientist and futurologist, whose advances in the detection of CFCs led to the first identification of global warming.

Now, the unorthodox 93-year-old environmentalist has worked out that the best way to stop the big melt is the only viable alternative to fossil fuels – nuclear power.

It Is Said...

“Lovelock is a small man, unfailingly polite, with white hair and round, owlish glasses. His step is jaunty, his mind lively, his manner anything but gloomy. In fact, the coming of the Four Horsemen – war, famine, pestilence and death – seems to perk him up.” Jeff Goodell, Rolling Stone

Personally Speaking

“I find it sad, but all too human, that there are vast bureaucracies concerned about nuclear waste, huge organisations devoted to decommissioning power stations, but nothing comparable to deal with that truly malign waste, carbon dioxide.”

Smartest Thing Ever

Seeing the bigger picture. The Gaia hypothesis, which states that the biosphere is self-regulating, suggests that by tinkering with the chemical and physical conditions of our planet we have perhaps our best chance of keeping it nice and healthy.

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STEPHEN HAWKING

Space Man

How Clever?

The theoretical physicist and cosmologist has done as much for the advanced academic exploration of black holes and quantum gravity (like gravity, but harder to comprehend) as he has to ignite popular interest in science. He is, quite literally, the don.

It Is Said...

“From his wheelchair, he has led us on a journey to the farthest and strangest reaches of the cosmos.

In so doing, he has stirred our imagination and showed us the power of the human spirit.”

US President Barack Obama, making Hawking’s Medal of Freedom award ceremony speech

Personally Speaking

SIR TIM BERNERS-LEE

Web Guru

How Clever?

‘TimBL’, or Sir Tim, as he’s more formally known, invented the World Wide Web in 1989. Which, in terms of everything that takes place in the modern world, from finance to education and YouTube videos of laughing babies, is a Very Big Deal.

Smartest Thing Ever Making it free. Berners-Lee made his idea unreservedly available with no royalties for its use. Instead of charging for it, he founded the World Wide Web Consortium in 1994, a group of companies volunteering to create standards and maintain the quality of the web, handing the keys of content over to anyone with a computer.

Which includes you.

“I believe that life on Earth is at an ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster such as sudden nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus, or other dangers. I think the human race has no future if it doesn’t go into space.”

Smartest Thing Ever

Gambling on the universe. Not satisfied with merely exploring the most distant corners of our existence with the power of his mind, Hawking also likes a flutter on what he finds. A public bet on the outcome of the ‘black hole information paradox’ with American contemporary John Preskill actually saw Hawking concede defeat. He presented Preskill with a baseball encyclopaedia as prize.

It Is Said...

“If computer networking were a traditional science, BernersLee would win a Nobel Prize.”

Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, speaking to Time magazine

Personally Speaking

“I just had to take the hypertext idea and connect it to the Transmission Control Protocol and domain name system ideas and – ta-da! – the World Wide Web.”

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“I THINK THE HUMAN RACE HAS NO FUTURE IF IT DOESN’T GO INTO SPACE”

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KIM UNG-YONG

World’s Highest IQ How Clever?

The bona-fide cleverest man on the planet, according to his intelligence quotient – given by the Guinness Book of World Records as around the 210 mark. Able to speak four languages by the time he was two, the Korean had a Phd in physics and a NASA research post aged 12. The 50-year-old has rivals for the high IQ spot, notably Terrence Tao, former child prodigy and current UCLA maths professor, whose points score is unofficially estimated to be between 220 and 230.

It Is Said...

“Kim Ung-Yong started university courses at age three, around the time you were playing with a magnetic alphabet on your parents’ refrigerator.”

Science Channel

Personally Speaking

DINA KATABI

Data Accelerator How Clever?

As leader of the Network group at the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab at brain hive MIT, Prof Katabi spearheads the search for ways to improve data streaming, which one day very soon will be the world’s most important form of information exchange.

In January, she and three colleagues unveiled a new algorithm that will make it faster and cheaper.

It Is Said...

“With the new algorithm, streams of data can be processed 10 to 100 times faster than was possible [before]… less computer power is required to process a given amount of information – a boon to energy-conscious mobile multimedia devices such as smartphones.”

Technology Review

“WE ALL KNOW MOBILE VIDEO IS THE NEXT ‘KILLER APP’”

“Society should not judge anyone with unilateral standards. Everyone has different learning levels, hopes, talents and dreams, and we should respect that.”

Smartest Thing Ever

Being normal. In 1978, after 10 years in the US under NASA’s wing, the 16-year-old Kim returned home, switched to civil engineering, and took a position in the business-planning department of a South Korean development corporation. As of 2007 he has held a part-time post at the local university.

Personally Speaking “We all know mobile video is the next ‘killer app’. We also know that mobile video suffers from glitches and stalls… Ideally you want a video that always achieves the best possible performance…

Our system is as efficient as digital video, but with no [loss of signal].”

Smartest Thing Ever Saving future lives. Yes, faster video means no more glitches in all the movie trailers and clips of kittens watched on smartphones. But more vitally, Katabi’s work will lead to greater strides in medical technology, such as when video streams are used in conjunction with robotics to perform remote surgeries.

“EVERYONE HAS DIFFERENT LEARNING LEVELS, HOPES, TALENTS AND DREAMS” 71

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DR MARTIN COOPER

Mobile Intelligence How Clever?

From the brick-sized mobiles paraded by 1980s businessmen all the way to iPhoneBerrys, every piece of cell-phone tech arose from his vision. His idea of a portable handset distinct from car phones is the most vital step in the giant leap from wired to wireless. Working at Motorola, his prototype mobi, weighing 1kg, took less than three months to produce.

It Is Said...

MICHAEL McALPINE

“Marty said, ‘We’ll get this thing down to the size of the palm of your hand.’”

Travis Marshall, former Motorola executive, speaking to The Economist

How Clever?

Personally Speaking

Battery Recharger As an assistant professor at Princeton University, McAlpine realised that PZT, a piezoelectric material that converts mechanical energy into electricity, can provide humankind with a new, natural and neverending power source – the movement of the body.

As you walk, jog or run, power is generated. One day, you will never have to plug in your iPod again; thanks to McAlpine, you are plug enough.

It Is Said...

“McAlpine and his colleagues have suggested applications such as shoes that help power MP3 players or smartphones. There’s even the thought of placing silicone sheets against the lungs to harness natural breathing motions to power pacemakers, as opposed to using batteries that require surgical replacement when they run down.” Jeremy Hsu, Popular Science

Personally Speaking

“PZT is 100 times more efficient than quartz, another piezoelectric material. You don’t generate that much power from walking or breathing, so you want to harness it as efficiently as possible.”

Smartest Thing Ever

Finding a new use for implants. McAlpine’s team are working on scaling up the silicone-based technology, meaning silicone implants could produce a significant amount of renewable, personal power.

Also, the researchers note, by feeding external power back into the device you can make the implants oscillate, flex or, indeed, jiggle...

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“Our culture was based upon a conviction, almost a religion, that people were naturally and inherently mobile and that any communications

device that inhibited this was wrong... It was [AT&T], the largest company in the world, against us, a little company in Chicago. We demonstrated our dream – and won. Today, the exciting industries are wirelessly enhanced medicine and social networking in the enterprise, both of which are revolutionary to the same extent that cellular technology was.”

Smartest Thing Ever

Making the first call. In 1973, Cooper, stood on Sixth Avenue in New York and placed the first mobile call to an industry competitor. It marked the moment we began calling people, not places. The man on the other end of the line?

Joel S Engels, research director at Bell Laboratories.

As in, ‘Alexander Graham’ Bell Laboratories.

“WE DEMONSTRATED OUR DREAM – AND WON”

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DICKSON D DESPOMMIER

Blue-Sky Farmer How Clever?

According to current estimates, by the year 2050 around 80 per cent of the world’s inhabitants (there will be about 8bn of us then) will live in urban centres.

In order to produce enough food, we will need to expand into new agricultural space equivalent to the size of Brazil. Eco-microbiologist Despommier has another way. That way is Up.

It Is Said...

“The goal is to provide safe, fresh food around the globe in a way Despommier says is impossible with modern farming. He acknowledges that getting to that future might be expensive, but he considers it a challenge akin to the space race...” David Runk, Associated Press

Personally Speaking “Creation of prototypes so all of the integration issues can be worked out is the most vital step to vertical farming becoming a reality. Getting funding for prototypes, so all of the integration issues can be worked out, is difficult.

It will require partnerships between private and public funding, but I am confident that this will happen over the next six months to a year from now.”

Smartest Thing Ever

Thinking of everything.

Despommier’s is a 360-degree premise. It uses far less water than traditional methods; it can be implemented anywhere as no soil is needed; it brings fresh produce to the city all year round; and it will create many new job opportunities.

Dwellers of all cities will have accessible, healthy food for the first time in human history.

NATHAN WOLFE

Virus Hunter How Clever?

Ebola, avian flu, swine flu – these new viruses in the modern world have jumped from animals to humans. As the founder and director of the Global Viral Forecasting Initiative, virologist Wolfe is the man trying to ensure the next such disease does not make that leap.

It Is Said...

“Most virologists spend their working lives in laboratories, looking at slides, focusing on specific proteins and, often, on a single disease. Nathan Wolfe’s life conforms more to the pattern of a 19th-century explorer than to that of a 21st-century biologist.”

Michael Specter, The New Yorker

Personally Speaking

“THE GOAL IS TO PROVIDE SAFE, FRESH FOOD AROUND THE GLOBE”

“What is more likely to kill millions of people?

Nuclear war, or a virus that makes the leap from animal to man? If, tomorrow, I had to go to Las Vegas and place a bet on the next great killer, I would put all my money on a virus.”

Smartest Thing Ever

Going mobile. By calling in a mobile technology expert from Stanford, Wolfe intends to create a database that will allow him to observe viral trends in the same way Twitter and Google can recognise and categorise popular topics or searches.

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MARISSA MAYER

Online Gatekeeper

How Clever?

Anyone who uses Gmail, Google Earth, Google Maps or even just good old Google, has used Mayer’s simple user interfaces that have become the online giant’s trademark. One of Google’s first 20 employees, and its first female engineer, she became the company’s vice-president of consumer products. In 2010, aged 35, she became the youngest ever lady on Fortune magazine’s list of 50 Most Powerful Women. Yahoo just poached her to be its new CEO.

It Is Said...

“Marissa Mayer is both the innovator and gatekeeper for Google’s core product – its search engine. She scrutinises every slight tweak or change to the experience that has become an essential part of most people’s lives.”

Emma Barnett, Digital Media Editor, The Telegraph

“IMAGINE A TOOL THAT TRANSLATED A SEARCH QUERY INTO EVERY LANGUAGE THEN SEARCHED THE ENTIRE WORLD’S WEBSITES” 74

Personally Speaking

“Imagine what it would be like if there was a tool built into the search engine which translated my search query into every language and then searched the entire world’s websites. And then invoked the translation software a second and third time – to not only then present the results in your native language, but then translated those sites in full when you clicked through.”

Smartest Thing Ever

Reading the world’s minds.

Before leaving Google, Mayer began work on ‘contextual discovery’ or, if you like, search without search. Your browser or smartphone will look at where you’ve been and where you are in the world, then show you where to go for dinner before you even realise that you’re hungry.

BE SMARTER NOW: RELEASE YOUR INNER GENIUS James Bannerman, author of Genius!

Deceptively Simple Ways to Become Instantly Smarter (Pearson), gives his tips for cleverer thinking Swirl It Around

None of us likes making mistakes, but ‘swirling’ around something that’s gone pear-shaped can turn an error into an advantage.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa, an architectural disaster, was reborn as a major tourist attraction.

Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, when devising the Hulk, wanted their incredible creation to be grey, but problems at the printers were later ‘swirled’ to maximum effect.

Challenge The Obvious

Genius minds have long challenged the obvious. At one time, children’s dolls mainly looked like babies; in 1959, US businesswoman Ruth Handler introduced one that didn’t. Her Barbie was a billion-dollar idea. In 1972, Lonely Planet rewrote the rulebook for travel guides. In 1986, Pret A Manger sandwiched Paris and New York food principles together to eventually recalibrate what the UK eats for lunch.

Go For Simple

Solving obvious problems in the most basic way is a hallmark of genius. In 1930, Canadian engineer JD Millar suggested painting a broken white line down the middle of roads to stop cars crashing so much. Last year, 13-year-old UK schoolboy Laurence Rook revealed his Smart Bell, a doorbell that rings a person’s phone if they’re out of the house, after his mother missed parcel deliveries.

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BEN RATTRAY

Cyber Organiser How Clever?

The founder and CEO of website change.org, the world’s fastest growing website for social activism.

With over 14 million users, the platform for online petitions changes the balance of power between the little people and the biggest corporations in the world. More than 1,500 new campaigns are launched around the world every month.

It Is Said...

“[change.org] reflects a zeitgeist in which desire for change, disenchantment with traditional power structures and new technology is connecting people online like never before.”

Alexandra Topping, The Guardian

Personally Speaking

“This is not direct democracy; it doesn’t mean that the people making the decisions have to agree or comply. But it does mean that instead of ignoring the people their decisions affect, those in power have to respond, and that is very healthy for democracy.”

Smartest Thing Ever

MATT BERG

Disease Texter How Clever?

Berg has developed a mobile phone platform called ChildCount+, which uses SMS to monitor illness and improve healthcare for children and pregnant mothers in Africa. So far, over 100,000 women and babies have benefited from the system, which helps to make quicker interventions and drives more effective health campaigns.

It Is Said...

“Using basic mobile phones and text messages, ‘invisible’ poor or homeless people in India and Africa can be counted as individuals with needs and rights – and receive their share of social resources.” Daniel Braun, National Geographic

Personally Speaking “From the abacus to early computers, technology has long provided mechanisms that help to better account for things – finances, transactions, diseases, people.

Today, the mobile phone promises to fundamentally increase accountability by connecting people, even the world’s poor, to modern communication networks that facilitate the collection and sharing of information.”

Going local. Recent upgrades to change.org now give people around the world the tools they need to tell their stories and launch campaigns that target the issues they really care about, from the reinstatement of a teacher to rubbish disposal, and connect with other local citizens to instigate that change, no matter how small.

Smartest Thing Ever Nurturing homegrown talent.

Berg has also established the Rural Technology Lab in Western Africa to train local students to manage the health of their own communities.

“USING BASIC MOBILE PHONES, ‘INVISIBLE’ POOR OR HOMELESS PEOPLE CAN BE COUNTED AS INDIVIDUALS” 75

ACTION

SEBASTIAN SEUNG

Mind Mapper How Clever?

Seung has developed computer-vision algorithms to explore the field of connectomics, the mapping and study of the neural networks in your brain.

Unravelling the ‘connectome’ is the Human Genome Project of the mind, but while DNA explains what it is to be human, Seung believes that cracking the code of the 100 billion neurons in the brain will unlock the basis of what it is to be You. It is the Mount Everest of human science.

It Is Said...

“His work could someday lead to a better understanding of memory, personality, and pathologies. For now, Seung is just following his curiosity – and one nagging question: are we all simply the sum of our connectome?” Matthew Hutson, Wired

Personally Speaking

“Ask not what the brain can do for the computer – ask what the computer can do for the brain.”

Smartest Thing Ever

Getting everyone to help. By inviting the public to visit eyewire.org and ‘colour in’ neurons themselves, Seung is making shorter work of mapping the neural tissue at the back of the eye. No specialist training is required to trace the ‘wiring’ and users tend to display better decisions over time. In other words, you actually become smarter.

DONALD SADOWAY

Renewable Energy Lynchpin How Clever?

MIT engineering professor whose class is one of the most highly attended in the school’s history. His work with liquid metal and molten salt batteries could be the solution to the intermittent nature of renewable energy sources. Put simply, when the sun goes down and the wind dies out you need huge, cheap batteries like Sadoway’s that can step in and pick up the slack.

It Is Said...

“His online TED talk has logged more than 380,000 views. The talk is on the unsexy topic of liquid-metal batteries, but you’ll enjoy it so much you’ll feel guilty. That’s because Sadoway does more than entertain; he gives you a glimpse into the future of energy.” Jeffrey Kluger, Time

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Personally Speaking “Imagine batteries about the size of a small refrigerator in the basement of every home, where people can take energy off the grid in the wee hours of the morning, then draw upon that stored energy throughout the day. Maybe even sell it back to the grid during peak demand times.”

Smartest Thing Ever Being the only expert on his team: the rest of his group are his students. Sadoway sees this as maximising the human potential of his juniors in the same way they strive to optimise the electrical potential of the batteries they are close to perfecting.

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EYTHOR BENDER

Man-Machine Man How Clever?

As CEO of Ekso Bionics, the Icelander is expanding the physical limitations of the human body one exoskeleton at a time. The latest ‘wearable robots’ off the line include the Human Universal Load Carrier, which allows a human to carry up to 90kg for hours on end, and the Ekso suit, a powered exoskeleton that is already allowing paraplegics to stand up out of their wheelchairs and walk.

It Is Said...

“For paraplegic patients, being able to stand – not to mention take a few steps – under their own power is a cruelly unattainable goal.

Or at least it has been…”

Alice Park, Time

Personally Speaking “Our company is at a crossroads in the history of mobility. Up until now, bionic exoskeletons were contraptions portrayed in the form of sci-fi avatars or robots. We are at the tipping point of scientific advancement where we have the ability to turn dreams and hope into reality.”

Smartest Thing Ever Making man and machine understand each other. The robotic prosthetic legs use artificial intelligence to ‘read’ the wearers’ movements, learning gestures to simulate a natural human gait. Ekso Bionics is looking to release the Ekso suit to the home market as soon as 2013, spelling a new era of mobility and independence for those who think of nothing else.

ELAINE MARDIS

Cancer Cracker How Clever?

Co-director of The Genome Institute at Washington University, Mardis led the team that published the first full sequence of a cancer genome in 2008 – a huge step towards understanding the mutations that cause the disease and the most effective methods of treatment. Mardis is now developing a genetic profile of the cancers most likely to respond to available drugs.

It Is Said...

“By sequencing the genomes of [patients] with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), Mardis and her colleagues hope they can help doctors choose the best possible avenues of treatment… sequencing could save patients from unnecessary treatments and direct them toward more effective, targeted therapies.” Karen Hopkin, The Scientist

Personally Speaking

“Right now, if you look at the major genomics companies – the number of people they employ and the instruments and reagents they produce – we’re probably one of the few US enterprises that’s still making something of value. And doing new science.”

Smartest Thing Ever

Knowing her limits. Mardis leaves the second part of the cancer puzzle – determining how the mutations trigger the disease – to doctors, scientists and specialists, so that she and her team can concentrate on providing the pieces that will build the next generation of treatments.

“WE HAVE REACHED THE POINT WITH OUR ROBOTS WHERE WE HAVE THE ABILITY TO TURN DREAMS AND HOPE INTO REALITY” 77

ACTION

It Is Said...

“In 2004, Carlsen played a brilliant game in Holland. His victory made a great impression and I called him the Mozart of chess. He was 13 at that time...” Lubimir Kavalek, grandmaster, Washington Post columnist

Personally Speaking

MAGNUS CARLSEN

Chess Prodigy How Clever?

A 21-year-old Norwegian chess grandmaster; in 2010 he became the youngest person ever to be ranked number one chess player in the world (the place he occupies in the rankings at time of writing). His peak rating of 2010 is the second-best of all time, behind the legendary Gary Kasparov, who Carlsen employed as his personal coach for a while.

“I got enthusiastic about the game when I was eight, and became a grandmaster at 13. The rapid improvement inspired me to think I could be really good. I think I’m able to keep my concentration for long periods because I enjoy the game of chess a lot.

However, to be able to focus during a long game or a long tournament, I have to be physically fit and very aware of what I eat.”

Smartest Thing Ever

Beating the world. On September 10, 2010, Carlsen took the G-Star RAW World Chess Challenge (Carlsen has modelled the brand’s clothing). Any online player was able to vote on their preferred move of those suggested by three grandmaster advisers. Forty-four moves and 2.5 hours later, the world resigned.

Altruistic Innovator

Play Video Games

Coffee And Donuts

It Is Said...

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Japanese neuroscientists found that regular motorcyclists showed improved cognitive function and made fewer mistakes at work. Which, if you’re Travis Pastrana, is a happy coincidence.

According to the journal Neurology, a ‘moderate amount’ of alcohol – one glass of wine – a day boosts blood flow to the brain, actually enhancing daily performance.

The engineer and lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) develops low-tech devices for use in developing countries. Her hammer-mill design sifts grain to flour using aerodynamics, and is so simple that village blacksmiths can manufacture it from indigenous materials. She has also patented an incubator that does not require electricity.

“I believe very strongly that solutions to problems in the developing world are best created in collaboration with the people who will be using them.”

Ride A Motorbike

Have A Drink

How Clever?

Personally Speaking

Changing what you do can alter how you think – and it doesn’t have to be hard work. Here are four actions that increase brain activity

A study of keyhole surgeons by Iowa State University showed that game-players were 27 per cent faster at surgery and made 37 per cent fewer errors. Not bad for a bit of Black Ops.

AMY B SMITH

“Her design philosophy is elegant: create simple machines that meet particular needs and then build them locally.”

Computer scientist Professor Sandy Pentland, speaking to Time magazine

BE SMARTER NOW: LIVE A CLEVERER LIFE

Smartest Thing Ever

Organising the International Developments Design Summit. The results of this meeting of minds have included an off-grid refrigerator for rural use, a recycledmaterial greenhouse and an advanced evaporative-cooling method to prolong the life of perishable food. All of which you would want if the main focus of your day is where the next safe meal is coming from.

University of Barcelona scientists discovered that the combination of caffeine and glucose in this technically unhealthy breakfast boosted attention and memory.

ACTION

ANDRÉ BRIEND

Hunger Buster How Clever?

The French paediatric nutritionist developed Plumpy’nut, a high-protein, energy-dense food paste that is used by UNICEF and the World Health Organisation for the treatment of severe acute malnourishment in third world areas. With a shelf life of two years, Briend’s durable food will continue to feed the most in need for quite some time.

It Is Said...

“Plumpy’nut... is a beige paste about as thick as mashed potatoes and stuffed with milk, vitamins and minerals. But that is akin to calling a 1945 Mouton Rothschild fortified grape juice.”

Michael Wines, New York Times

Personally Speaking

JOSEPH STIGLITZ

Economic Controversialist How Clever?

The Nobel Prize-winning economist was an adviser to Bill Clinton, and was the Senior Vice-President of the World Bank. In the past, his controversial theories have pointed the finger at globalisation, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank themselves. Now he is a lone voice against the use of austerity measures as a system for financial recovery.

It Is Said...

“He got the Asian crisis right, foresaw the bubble that caused such havoc in 2008 and is advocating global answers to a host of problems that can no longer be solved at the local or national level.

This worldview is the essential dimension missing in economic-policy making, but which has to be at the core of the next ways forward.” Former UK PM Gordon Brown, Time

Personally Speaking “It [austerity] reminds me of medieval medicine. It is like blood-letting, where you took blood out of a patient because the theory was that there were bad humours. And very often, when you took the blood out, the patient got sicker. The response then was more blood-letting until the patient very nearly died.

What is happening in Europe is a mutual suicide pact.”

“I had the idea by looking at a jar of chocolate spread when I noticed that the balance between proteins, energy and lipids were more or less the same in this chocolate spread as in the diet recommended by WHO. So, then it came to change a little bit the recipe by replacing part of the dry skim milk with peanut butter and getting something that the child could eat directly without the addition of water.”

Smartest Thing Ever

Using the lowly peanut. Very high in calories, thus providing energy from relatively small amounts of product; rich in zinc to boost immunity and strengthen bones; protein to build muscle lost due to serious malnutrition.

Smartest Thing Ever Pointing the finger at himself, and his peers. Stiglitz is vocal about the role of the economists who “gave comfort to regulators that markets could be regulated” in bringing about the current economic situation we find ourselves in.

“AUSTERITY REMINDS ME OF MEDIEVAL MEDICINE”

Think you’re pretty smart?

Test your IQ at www.lumosity.com

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YOU CAN‘T JOIN EVERY RED BULL EVENT. BUT SOON YOU CAN. WITH THE WORLD OF RED BULL APP.

COMING SOON www.redbullmobile.com/worldofredbull

Contents 82 TRAVEL Mountain-climbing thrills in China 84 MUSIC SPECIAL Moneybrother on his worldly new LP 86 GET THE GEAR Canoe dig it: some extreme kayaking kit 88 TRAINING Get fit like a beach volleyball pro 90 NIGHTLIFE Everything you need to get you through ’til dawn 94 WORLD IN ACTION 96 SAVE THE DATE 97 KAINRATH

photography: Graeme Murray/Red Bull Content Pool

98 MIND’S EYE

Mexican kayaker Rafa Ortiz about to free fall from a waterfall. Read about the kit he needs to do this on page 86

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AWAY DAYS SPECTACULAR TRAVEL ADVENTURES

Once upon a line in China

High on a sacred five-peaked mountain, Robin Esrock faces up to a truly thrilling and beautiful hike MOUNT HUA, SHAANXI

1 The Place Mount Hua, ‘The Number

One Precipitous Mountain under Heaven’, is one of five sacred Taoist mountains in China. For 2,000 years, pilgrims, tourists and emperors have hiked along its narrow paths and steep, jagged cliffs to enjoy its ancient temples and spectacular views.

2 The Location Hua Shan (as it is

pronounced in Chinese) is 120km east of Xi’an in China’s Shaanxi province. Xi’an, one of China’s four ancient capitals, sees heavy tourist traffic from those wishing to visit the Terracotta Warriors, or explore the eastern Silk Road. Most foreigners visit via a one- or two-day trip from Xi’an.

Beijing

Xian

Mount Hua Shanghai

CHINA

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Climbers inch along the Cliffside Plank Path on Mount Hua

3 The Season Best time to go is spring

(March to May) or autumn (September to October). It’s always busy, but you’ll want to avoid intense crowds on Chinese national holidays (May 1-3, October 1-7).

4 The Journey Take the Xi’anZhengzhou bullet train from Xi’an’s North Railway Station to Huashan Bei (30 mins), where green minibuses will take you directly to the mountain’s car park.

Alternatively, take Tourism Bus Line 1 at Xi’an Railway Station, which leaves each day at 8am, and takes about three hours.

5 The Gear Although temperatures

may be pleasant at the mountain’s base, you’ll likely find snow, ice and high winds atop its 2,000m-plus cliffs. The average temperature on the trails is about 7°C, so bring layers. Gloves are essential for dealing with the iron pathway chains, and a raincoat and torch are useful. You can check baggage at the mountain’s base and just carry a light overnight bag if you plan to spend the night.

Comfortable walking shoes will suffice.

Bring plenty of snacks and water, as there’s never a teahouse around when you need one.

6 The Start Buy a two-day entrance pass

and cable car return ticket – it takes about eight minutes to reach the top – unless you’d rather hike 6-8 hours to the starting point at the North Peak. Insurance is also for sale, a sign of what you can expect ahead.

7 The View An inspiration for the spectacular worlds in the film Avatar, Mount Hua is peppered with green pine forest. Its striking beauty, and view over the Qin Mountains, attracted Taoists as early as 200BC. Stone-cut and cement paths take you to scenic temples, ponds, viewpoints and teahouses. English signs and maps help with navigation, but beware, some sections are perilous: steep, slippery, and cut along narrow cliff edges.

Don’t look down: drops of 1,000m are commonplace

East Peak is best climbed before dawn, to see the magical, egg-yolk sunrise 8 The Five Peaks Most visitors will

want to hike to several, if not all, of the five peaks. This can be done in a loop, completed in about eight hours. North Peak is known as Cloud Terrace Peak (most sites here have more than one name), and can only be reached via the Ear Rubbing Cliff, where you’ll literally be hugging rock on your ascent. Middle Peak, as its name suggests, found in the

On bamboo poles, mountain porters carry supplies for the temples’ teahouses

10 The Cliffside Plank Path

Changkong zhandao, the ‘vast sky plankwalk’, is only for bona-fide thrillseekers. Here you’ll find two thin wooden planks, nailed into solid vertical rock with a 1,000m drop below.

On a mountain full of risky trails, this is easily the most dangerous. Accessed via the South Peak, you’ll pay a small fee to receive a safety harness. Clipped in, you descend down a chasm in the rock, holding onto cold, iron rods, before arriving on the foot-wide planks.

Hugging the cliff, and exposed to the elements, expect some knee-shaking as you make your way to the end, where you can pray for a safe return at a simple Taoist temple. Although you’re wearing a harness here, the biggest danger is overcrowding, as everyone must walk and climb the same way, sometimes unclipping from the safety line in order to pass each other.

Take your time, enjoy the staggering view and communicate with Chinese hikers in the universal language of fear.

The only way to the Cliffside Plank Path is down an iron ladder

WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHY: ROBIN ESROCK

mountain’s centre, houses the stunning Jade Maiden temple. West Peak has a temple alongside huge, engraved rocks shaped like lotus flowers. At 2,160m, South Peak is known as the ‘monarch’, the highest peak of all China’s sacred mountains. East Peak is best climbed shortly before dawn, in order to experience a magical, egg-yolk sunrise.

9 The Gold Lock Pass To reach

the other peaks from the cable car exit at North Peak, walk 15 minutes and then cross the harrowing spine of Black Dragon Ridge. If you think negotiating the carved stairs here is tough, watch how workers navigate this terrain carrying heavy hotel supplies balanced on bamboo. From here, you’ll

11 The Fuel Small shops and teahouses located along the paths sell snacks, cakes, noodles, water and soft drinks.

Hotels are attached to basic restaurants serving simple Chinese fare.

From top: the locks that give the Gold Lock Pass its name; the North Peak; the Snow Temple

enter Gold Lock Pass, finding tens of thousands of locks engraved with the names and wishes of those who have passed before you. The locks are bolted to the iron link-chains that line the pass, and therefore sealed to the fate of the mountain. You can buy a cheap lock, and have it engraved with your own wishes, at vendors along the way.

12 And Relax... There are six small, rustic hotels, and several hostels, located at various points on the mountain, especially close to the peaks. Expect shared toilets, limited or no hot water, no heating, no showers, but suspiciously clean sheets. If you don’t feel like making the return trip from Xi’an in one day, the Lotus Flower Hotel is a large, modern, resort-style hotel 1km from Mount Hua’s car park, with deluxe suites and villas.

Watch our man’s experience of Mount Hua: bit.ly/mount-hua

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MEXICAN ROCKABILLY AND CHANNELLING GRAM PARSONS

LAYING FOUNDATIONS IN THE MIDWEST

LOS ANGELES, USA

“We recorded the basic tracks for the album in the studio of Nirvana producer Steve Albini. The guy is a genius and it was an honour to work with him.”

CHICAGO, USA

“For a Swede, driving a car in California is a spiritual experience. The houses are low and so the sky is always wide.

After recording we drove out to the desert, to Joshua Tree. The silence out there is incredible. We stayed in the hotel where Gram Parsons died.

He’s a musical hero of mine, so I rented the actual room where he died. In the studio I recorded a song with the rockabilly band The Rhythm Shakers. Their singer, Marlene, is a hot-blooded Mexican – and the coolest chick under the sun.”

Recorded in Los Angeles: Unbelievably Good

IN BOB MARLEY’S FOOTSTEPS: “DAMN, IT’S GOOD!” KINGSTON, JAMAICA

ALBUM OF THE MONTH THE WORD ON THE BEATS

A real world record Musical numbers: one man, fourth album, seven countries, four continents, two months MONEYBROTHER

Swedish punk-turned-pop star Moneybrother began a unique world tour in May 2010. Instead of hopping off planes and playing gigs, he put together his fourth album, This Is Where Life Is. Red Bull put its recording studios at his disposal. “My This Is Where Life Is hope was that when the album came out, people would listen to it and feel like they were travelling too,” says the 37-year-old, real name Anders Wendin. He has made a dazzling patchwork album that incorporates mangy rock ’n’ roll, soul and music indigenous to some of the countries he visited.

This Is Where Life Is is out now: www.moneybrother.net

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“Normally you can’t record in Tuff Gong because it’s family only, but through a contact we managed to get a few hours there in the middle of the night. It was still really hot in there because the air conditioning was off. By this point, we’d gathered a bit of a following wherever we went in Jamaica and the studio was full of people smoking and singing! I had to tell them to be quiet when I was doing the vocals, but no chance.

The atmosphere was great, though.

On the album you can hear people singing in the background, and one of them says, ‘Damn, it’s good!’”

Jamaica jam: Start A Fire

“DON’T TAKE NO PICTURES!” RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL “The Red Bull studio is in the middle of a favela, part of a cultural centre called Afro Reggae. A rough area: I wanted to take a photo, but when I went to take my camera out, three guys ran up and said, ‘Don’t take no fucking pictures!’

The thing that fascinated me about the favelas is that the people have no self-pity. Not a trace. These guys are so proud! In the Afro Reggae centre there are former gang members organising bossa nova classes for kids. One of the people I worked with was Marcos Suzano, one of the best percussionists in the world. He played on almost all the tracks on the album.”

Album track from Rio: In The Nighttime

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CHICAGO

2

LOS ANGELES 4

KINGSTON

RIO DE JANEIRO

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LONDON: THIRDLARGEST SWEDISH CITY

FINISHING TOUCHES ON HOME SOIL

LONDON, ENGLAND

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN

“After Stockholm and Gothenburg there are more Swedes in the English capital than anywhere else – including a lot of my friends. I went drinking in Soho with some of them; with others I went shopping in Rough Trade, one of the best record shops in the world.

I still had Jamaica fever, so I stocked up on old reggae records. Later in the studio I met up with the Swedish singer Cornelia. Her voice is unusual, almost babyish, like Lykke Li. I love her style.”

“After eight weeks we finally got home.

With a lot of memories and even more recordings, my producer and I worked hard to shape them into an album.”

Laid down in London: I Can Shake It 8

STOCKHOLM

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LONDON

AUCKLAND 6

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INTERVIEW: FLORIAN OBKIRCHER. PHOTOGRAPHY: BENIAMINO BARRESE/RED BULL CONTENT POOL

CAPE TOWN

“HARMONIES I’D NEVER HEARD BEFORE” CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA “On the first day I jammed with a young guitarist. When you tell a guitarist in Sweden that you want a solo, it usually sounds like Keith Richards, but this guy pulled harmonies out of his instrument that I’d never heard before. It was the same with three gospel singers we had: they recorded their first-ever rock song with me! At the end of the session I asked about their families.

‘As singers we can’t afford to have children, so we chose music,’ they said.

Some people complain about having to give too many interviews. It’s a joke compared with that kind of sacrifice.”

From the Cape: Bombarded In Rio

“AN ORGY? MAYBE LATER” AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND “We recorded all the brass for the album here with a talented sax player.

One night my car was stuck in a ditch.

Luckily it wasn’t far to the nearest house. The old couple there invited me to stay for a night. We were there drinking and singing, it was great until they asked me if I felt like having an orgy. I was perplexed, and I hummed and hawed: ‘Maybe later.’ Luckily the wife fell asleep after the next drink.

At breakfast everything was normal again, not a word about their indecent proposal. What a great last night!”

Ode to the orgy: Jealousy

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Falls guy: Rafa Ortiz and the kit he needs to find and paddle over waterfalls up to 57m high

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Up creek, with paddle

GET THE GEAR A PRO’S ESSENTIALS

From India to Peru, 25-year-old Mexican kayaker Rafa Ortiz takes to remote rivers to access the huge waterfalls he’s famous for nose-diving off, boat and all. With only his boat as his suitcase, he’s a master of efficient packing 21 1. Straight-shaft Werner Paddle The one I use for the big waterfalls – the only one that won’t break.

2. NRS Dry Suit Its latex gaskets keep all water out. You could wear a suit and tie underneath and come out ready to go to the office.

3. Astral Life Vest You can’t paddle in a huge life vest, so here the flotation is down as low as possible, leaving your shoulders free.

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4. Immersion Research ‘Lucky Charm’ Skirt It goes around the mouth of the kayak to keep water out. When you run a big waterfall there’s a lot of pressure, so it tends to come off, but this one never has. It’s such a little piece of gear, but probably the most important one.

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5. Red Bull Helmet and Go Pro HD Hero2 camera I always have my helmet with me, and these days my Go Pro, too. It’s half the size of your fist but takes magazinequality pictures. This one has an orange flotation device on the back.

WORDS: RUTH MORGAN. PHOTOGRAPHY: GREGORY ALLEN

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6. Astral Brewer trainers These are a new prototype, designed to be used on the river. They have hundreds of holes to let water out.

7. NRS Elbow pads They give awesome protection from bashing your arms on the rocks.

8. NRS Throw Bag It’s a very strong 23m rope, which floats on the water’s surface. If you can’t get to

someone, you throw the bag and tow them in. It’s a safety essential and an amazing clothes line.

9. NRS Pin Kit Fast-moving currents can jam your boat against a tree or rock in the river so hard that you can’t free it with your hands. With the blue webbing anchored to something, you throw a line to the kayak and create a pulley system to get it out.

10. Tarp I bought this in India. You can get some hi-tech tarp, but

“This kayak isn’t for playing – it means business” I like this because it cost a dollar and has protected me through many a rainy night.

It’s pretty much my tent.

11. Mountain Hardwear Down sleeping bag This bag is for colder weather and thanks to its duck-down lining it packs down to almost nothing.

12. Cooking pots I bought these in India for a few dollars, and they all pack into each other. They’re a good shape for the fire, which is always our first choice when we’re camping as it keeps you warm at night.

13. Stove I love this thing. It’s a little

piece that just fits on top of a gas canister.

14. Inflatable sleeping pad It’s a tiny air mattress. I also carry a bivvy sack, which is a rainproof sleeping-bag liner.

15. Water filter Often river water isn’t clean enough to drink.

16. Dry bags These two hold all the gear.

The tube is there to blow air in to make it more buoyant, in case your skirt implodes.

17. First aid kit All the essentials kept in a watertight bottle.

18. Food Before expeditions we’ll go to local markets and stock up. Pasta is great as it’s dry, compact, light and easy to cook. And cans of tuna are a good source of protein.

19. Nike T-shirt and fleece trousers These are my sleeping clothes. That’s all I take: no underwear, no toiletries.

20. Volkswagen Eurovan 2006 I use the van for trips in the Americas, from Patagonia and all the way up to Canada.

It has a massive stereo so you can blow you ears off when you’re done paddling.

21. Jackson Villain S kayak This boat is fast and keeps you high above the surface of the water, which helps to clear any obstacles that might be around. I’ve been using this for two years now.

This kayak isn’t for playing around – it means business. www.rafaortiz.com

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Repeat after me: Tsiartsiani spends hours practising the same moves until they’re second nature

On the ball

Net gains

TRAINING WITH THE PROS

MARIA TSIARTSIANI The Greek professional beach volleyball player is a double Olympian and European silver medallist, thanks to her dedication to the court come rain or shine

A mention of beach volleyball conjures mental images of bikinis and sun-drenched scenes, but the reality isn’t all tans and sand.

“People don’t really realise that we play in very difficult conditions,” says Maria Tsiartsiani.

“Many of our tournaments are in northern European countries, so even in the summer it can be cold and rainy. If it’s under 15°C, we’re Maria Tsiartsiani allowed to play in tights and long-sleeved tops, but a game will only be stopped if it’s dangerous – torrential rain with lightning – otherwise we play on. During training my teammate, Vicky Arvaniti, and I still practise in pretty extreme windy and wet conditions, so we’re ready for whatever the heavens throw at us in competition.”

With weather not an issue, there are few days during the pre-season training period, which runs from December to March, that the 31-year-old isn’t putting in the hours of practice needed to make perfect. “You need a lot of patience and concentration | to improve each one of your moves,” she says. “My method is to watch some footage of the players with my body type who I think have a close-to-perfect technique, then practise it again and again with feedback from my coach on every repetition. Then when we feel it’s good, I repeat it so often that it becomes my own. It takes thousands of perfect repetitions to make each move automatic.”

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Four months of perfecting tactics and techniques, and building physical strength are required to get Tsiartsiani through the eight-month long competition season MONDAY 11am-1pm Individual video session with coach, analysing footage of other players’ techniques and reviewing footage from last practice session, followed by a court session working on technique.

1.30-2.30pm Lunch: “We always eat as soon as possible after a long session, quality food like pure protein and good carbohydrates to feed our muscles.”

4-6pm Gym session: upper body. Working shoulders with light weights to build strength but maintain flexibility and speed.

Work with Swiss ball, Bosu ball (equivalent to half a Swiss ball) and TRX suspension system to improve balance and co-ordination.

TUESDAY 10am-12pm Team session on court. Working on

problems, tactics and trying new plays.

1-2pm Physiotherapist, for general wellbeing or any specific physical issues.

5-6.30pm Gym session: lower body. Working all leg muscles with weights for strength and stability. Work with Swiss ball, Bosu ball and TRX system to improve balance and co-ordination.

WEDNESDAY 11am-1pm Individual session on court, working on specific problems or new techniques.

5-7pm Team session on court with coach.

THURSDAY 10am-12pm Team video session: reviewing footage of last practice, discussing any problem areas.

2-4pm Gym session: focus on upper body.

FRIDAY 11am-1pm Individual session on court.

2-3pm Physiotherapist.

5-7pm Gym session: lower body plus cardio work – running or biking.

SATURDAY 10am-12pm Team practice session on court. “We play against a team of men roughly our size because there isn’t a second women’s team in Greece.”

SUNDAY “We take some time to relax before the week begins again.”

Tactics are vital

www.fivb.org

WORDS: RUTH MORGAN. PHOTOGRAPHY: SAMO VIDIC/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, FLO HAGENA/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, DPPI

WORK OUT

FATE DOESN’T ASK. IT COULD ALSO BE ME. OR YOU. David Coulthard.

13-time Formula 1 Grand Prix Winner and Wings For Life Ambassador.

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Nightlife Whatever gets you through the night

ACTION Skateboarding at night HOT SPOTS Anywhere where it’s too hot by

day. Skaters from Barcelona to Los Angeles hide from the heat and head out in the milder night.

DARK ARTS Floodlights are no substitute for

sunlight, so you generally take it a bit easier with the obstacles and elaborate tricks.

DON’T GET CAUGHT When you’re ‘generator skating’ up on the roofs of US high schools, or ‘skitching’ – hanging off the back of cars, like Marty McFly – in New York City.

Jiaolong

by Daphni is out on October 16

OUT NOW

“Dance music surprises me” Dan Snaith The missing link between shapeshifting Chinese water dragons and the future of hook grooves Dan Snaith can’t come to the phone right now. Since last summer he’s been busy touring the world with his psychedelic pop band Caribou, as support to Radiohead. (Caribou’s Swim still sounds as fresh as it did when it made many album-of-theyear lists in 2010.)The 34-year-old Canadian also DJs with his friend Four Tet and now has a brand new album ready to go. Recently, Snaith has been producing playful house tracks with Afro percussion and curious synth sounds under the name Daphni: electronic dance music for people who find EDM too lacklustre.

What really marks Snaith out as a musician is that he experiments, hoping to surprise his audiences at concerts and in clubs.

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OUT NOW A green phosphorescent glow-

in-the-dark skate park, designed by Korean artist Koo Jeong-A opens in Brussels this month.

How did you become Daphni?

For years I’ve been making bits and pieces to play in my DJ sets. At some point, I ended up with a whole lot of them, and because they sounded different than the songs I write as Caribou, I took on another moniker.

What draws you to pure dance music?

It surprises me, as a producer and as a clubgoer. In a few minutes I can come up with a groove that hooks me. It’s the same when I’m in a club: suddenly the DJ puts a track on and it goes right through me and the people around me.

What’s the difference between playing with your band or performing as a DJ? The exciting thing about playing live is that there’s four of us and we’re all equally involved in creating what’s going on on stage – but we’re always playing Caribou songs. Whereas the DJ thing is more about being in everybody’s head. In the case of a DJ set, it’s primarily about the audience.

What does the album title mean?

It’s the name of a Chinese submarine, but a jiaolong is also a creature from Chinese mythology that can change its shape.

I found that fitting for my side project.

“Who said nights were for sleep?”

www.caribou.fm

Marilyn Monroe

WISE WORDS

COCKTAIL

Touch Down An exotic vodka-based cocktail, not just delicious but eye-catching as well. The addition of grenadine at the end makes for a captivating colour gradient. Flavour-wise, the Touch Down tends towards sweet and fruity, but the dash of lemon juice is a pleasantly crisp touch. Too good to save for summer (especially in countries that don't have one...) this easy-to-make drink can, and should, be enjoyed all year round.

CLUB

WORDS: FLORIAN OBKIRCHER. PHOTOGRAPHY: NITASHA KAPOOR, PHILIPP SCHUSTER, EVA NAPP (4), FOTOSTUDIO EISENHUT & MAYER

OF THE MONTH

MOONDOO Reeperbahn 136, 20359 Hamburg, Germany

CLUB

“Where all tribes party together” Moondoo, Hamburg What do naked girls on horseback, The Beatles and hip-hop legend Afrika Bambaataa have in common?

They’ve all been on the bill at this Hamburger hot spot The aim of the club is…

To unite people. Our founding father witnessed the New York nightlife era in the late ’70s when punks, hip-hoppers and other tribes forgot about their differences and partied together.

INGREDIENTS 40ml Zubrówka (or equivalent herbflavoured grass vodka) 20ml apricot brandy 80ml passion fruit juice 30ml fresh orange juice 10ml fresh lemon juice 10ml grenadine To garnish: cherries, pineapple

METHOD Put the vodka, brandy and three fruit juices into a cocktail shaker and give it a good shake. Strain the liquid into a cocktail glass over ice cubes.

Carefully pour the grenadine into the drink, then garnish.

This is the ideal location…

Because the Reeperbahn is a melting pot of cultures. It’s a very honest and lively street with a unique flair, equal parts dirt and glamour.

From outside the club looks like…

The set of a Harry Potter film. It’s actually one of the very few houses that survived World War II. This was home of the Hippodrome, where you could see naked girls riding on horses. After that it was called The Top 10 Club. The Beatles played one of their first concerts here, and for a while they even lived in the building’s attic. After that, several promoters opened clubs here, but nothing worked. We converted the whole place to create something new.

DJs are chosen…

Based on quality, not on genre. You’ll experience turntable legends such as Afrika Bambaataa, you’ll see great bands like Parov Stelar, vocalists such as Alice Russell. As long as the music has that groove, which bridges genres and decades, it gets played.

Interview: Alex Kulick, booker and PR www.moondoo.de

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NIGHT SNACK

CENTRE POMPIDOU (PARIS) Neil Tennant: In 1977 I travelled to Paris shortly after the Centre Pompidou opened.

It was the first building that had a massive impact on me.

At first, people complained about the modernist building in a square with the cobbled streets around it, but as soon it was finished, everyone loved it. Ironically the building was designed by Renzo Piano, who I regard as an architectural criminal since he built The Shard in London.

Neon and on: Chris Lowe (left) and Neil Tennant

TAKE 3

“Nearly built one myself” Pet Shop Boys You can hear the influence of the British pop titans in the current wave of electronica bands. As they release their 11th studio album, they reveal one of their great inspirations: architecture They’ve been in the business for almost 30 years, yet still the Pet Shop Boys sound fresh. Ever since hits like West End Girls and It’s A Sin, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe have tapped into the zeitgeist, with immaculate sound design and big melodies, a striking image and subtle humour.

These attributes come to the fore once again in their new album. Elysium is a synth-heavy masterwork with touches of soul and fat bass. It’s a sly, cynical record about ageing pop stars, about the end of the party, about moving to the country. So is the end of their career nigh? “I wouldn’t worry,” says Tennant, “but honestly, even without pop music we’d never get bored.” Fair point. They’ve written musicals and ballets, dabbled in fashion. Architecture is a great passion: Lowe studied the subject before plumping for a career in pop; the architect Zaha Hadid designed a set for the band's 1999-2000 world tour. Here, the two men talk constructively about Japanese minimalism and Frank Gehry’s titanium dreams. www.petshopboys.co.uk

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FERRO CONCRETE HOUSES (TOKYO) Chris Lowe: Some people might see them as concrete bunkers, but to me Tadao Ando’s buildings are amazingly beautiful objects. His style is minimal, but beautifully detailed. Just like a good Pet Shop Boys song, actually. He is a genius, all I've ever wanted is to live in one of these houses.

Once I nearly built one, I even bought a plot of land, but then I didn’t get round to building it, I’ve been too tied up in music.

WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL (LOS ANGELES) NT: The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, the Walt Disney Concert Hall: Gehry's buildings remind me of Russian Orthodox cathedrals. It's because they glitter against the blue sky, just like the domes of the Kremlin in Moscow. That’s down to the material: titanium.

It gives his buildings their lavishness and magic. I've seen millions of photos of his Concert Hall, but when you see it, it takes you by surprise.

Mumbai: Pav Bhaji From slum to top dog: the veg curry and bread combo that India adores

ALL IN A NAME Bhaji is a vegetable dish: the word pav for bread came to India from Europe in the era of Vasco da Gama. It derives from the Portuguese word for bread: pão.

NEEDS MUSH Like many staple dishes, pav bhaji emerged from dire need. In the mid-19th century, textile workers in the slums of Bombay collected rotting vegetables, cooked them thoroughly and generously spiced the resulting mush to make it halfway palatable. At least the bread served with it was fine, and, only just more expensive than the rank veg, affordable to all.

Words: Florian Obkircher, klaus kamolz Photography: Perou, Hiromitsu Morimoto, Picturedesk.com (2), fotostudio Eisenhut & Mayer

the basics The base for pav bhaji is mashed potato, which is mixed with chopped tomatoes. Then come onions, carrots, peas, green chillies, cauliflower and a masala spice mix. On street stalls, the vegetables are cooked in huge flat pans, then served, topped with chopped fresh coriander, diced onions and a knob of butter, alongside a piece of the simple bread, which is often buttered on both sides.

Rich and Poor It wasn’t just the proletariat who took to pav bhaji, as it soon found favour beyond the slums, and reached across all of India. A vast range of different pav bhaji masala spice mixes was established, while some dishes include banana, dried fruit, mushroom and cheese.

Many regional variations are served topped with nuts.

Gourmet varieties are served on planes and in restaurants.

ON TRACK FOR TASTE You can find pav bhaji in Mumbai 24 hours a day. The largest pans of steaming veg – and they can be enormous – are found near railway stations.

The roll-like portions of bread are baked in large pitted trays, and torn off individually before serving. A portion of curry is served with a piece of bread on a paper plate; otherwise the bread is the utensil.

PAV & BOLLYWOOD As a staple dish of India, the snack features in many Bollywood films, with characters often running a pav stand or restaurant. Sanjay Dutt played a stall owner in the cult crime film Vaastav. Revered Bollywood stars appear on cookery shows with their own recipes, and The Times of India hands out an annual citation for the most successful recipe. The jury: Bollywood favourites, who else?

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World in action

10 5

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Oct & Nov 2012

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Levi Sherwood: hanging on for a world title victory

06.10.2012, COCKATOO ISLAND, SYDNEY HARBOUR, AUSTRALIA

Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour The sixth and final stop of the spectacular freestyle motocross series will be a showdown for the title between two young stars of the sport.

Levi Sherwood, 20, from New Zealand, and 24-year-old Frenchman Thomas Pagès are tied at the top of the overall standings with 235 points apiece. With each competitor adopting different tactics to secure victory, it’s difficult to predict who is going to come out on top. Sherwood, who won the Madrid leg of the Red Bull X-Fighters World Tour, goes for backflips, while Munich champion Pagès prefers to wow the judges with tricks like ‘the Flair’ or ‘the Volt’. A tense evening awaits in Australia.

1

01-04.11.2012, MISSION HILLS GOLF CLUB, CHINA

WGC-HSBC Champions With 12 18-hole courses, this golf resort north of Hong Kong is the largest in the world. And it is set to host the last tournament of the four-part World Golf Championships. (A fifth, the Tournament of Hope, in South Africa, will be added in 2013.)

A maximum of 78 players, including the winners of the Majors and the Players championship, as well as the victors of the 23 most important tournaments on the PGA and European Tours, will take to the Olazabal course (7,320 yards long; 151 bunkers) to fight it out for the US$7m grand prize.

3

4 Roger Federer hopes to add to his ATP win tally 04.11.2012, NEW YORK, USA

28.10.2012, BUDDH INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT, INDIA

The New York City Marathon

Four million cubic metres of soil were shifted to build the Buddh International Circuit. Stretches with 8 per cent drops and 10 per cent climbs make the hilly, 5.125km-long course a real “rollercoaster”, as Sebastian Vettel describes it. Last year the reigning world champion mastered the inaugural race on the Indian circuit, leading from start to finish to win by 8.4 seconds.

Spanning the five boroughs of New York City, and one of the World Marathon Majors (along with Chicago, Boston, London and Berlin), the New York City Marathon starts in Staten Island before heading through Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan, with energy-sapping hills and bridges throughout. The fastest man to make his way round 26.2 miles of the Big Apple is Kenya’s Geoffrey Kiprono Mutai, who last year set a race record with a time of 2:05:05.

Indian Grand Prix

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2

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The busy pace of life in New York

PHOTOGRAPHY: GARTH MILAN/RED BULL CONTENT POOL, GETTY IMAGES (3), PAUL DE BERJEOIS, PICTUREDESK.COM

Sport

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Daredevils at the Phuket Vegetarian Festival 15-23.10.2012, PHUKET, THAILAND

11-14.10.2012, LONDON, UK

Frieze Art Fair Every October the publishers of prestigious art magazine Frieze invite the world’s most exciting galleries and exhibitors to London.

For four days, Regent’s Park becomes a mecca for contemporary art connoisseurs. The opening night is always an A-list affair, and in the ensuing days some 70,000 visitors will stream through the exhibition halls and sculpture garden.

7

5-12.11.2012, THE O2, LONDON

ATP World Tour Finals The ATP Tour Finals are, along with Grand Slam tournaments, the most prestigious events of the men’s pro tennis circuit. Only the eight best players of the year can compete at this unofficial world championship. Favourites include 2008 winner Novak Djokovic, Olympic champion Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal, who is yet to win this title. The man to beat here is Roger Federer.

In last year’s final – the 100th of the Swiss player’s remarkable career – he beat Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6:3, 6:7, 6:3. That record sixth victory took him ahead of five-time winners Pete Sampras and Ivan Lendl.

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Phuket Vegetarian Festival In 1825 a Chinese theatre troupe travelled to Phuket, where its players fell ill with malaria.

To appease the gods they adopted a purely vegetarian diet and soon recovered, and thus the foundations of the Phuket Vegetarian Festival were laid. Alcohol and nicotine aren’t on the menu here, but there are parades and rituals which see festivalgoers pierce their cheeks with huge metal objects. Not for the faint of heart.

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31.10-04.11.2012, REYKJAVIK, ICELAND

Iceland Airwaves

A few names you should take note of: Kindness, I Break Horses and Sin Fang.

Those three bands will be playing at October’s Iceland Airwaves festival, which has a knack for predicting the next big thing. The likes of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Bravery and The Rapture have appeared here prior to making it big worldwide.

This year marks the 14th edition of the festival, with more than 150 promising young bands taking over the bars and clubs of Reykjavik.

Local heroes Sigur Rós headline.

10

Culture

10

06-14.10.2012, ALBUQUERQUE, USA

The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta Neck stiffness is guaranteed at the world’s largest hot-air balloon festival: 750 gas-filled flying objects turn the desert sky over New Mexico into a sea of colour. In front of 100,000 spectators, the world’s best hobby pilots fly grinning animals, giant footballs, fairy-tale castles and much more. A series of short and long races are held before the grand finale at dusk: ‘Glowdeo’ sees the balloons illuminated with propane burners, bringing the festival to a colourful close.

6

Full of hot air: balloons take over Albuquerque 13-14.10.2012, SAN FRANCISCO, USA

Treasure Island Music Festival Zero-emissions shuttle buses, bike lanes with valet parking and three-quarters of all waste recycled – this festival is as sustainable as it is musical. On an idyllic island just over the Bay Bridge near San Francisco, a top-quality line-up promises indie rock (The xx, Best Coast) hip-hop (Public Enemy, AraabMuzik), psych (Ty Seagall), folk (Joanna Newsom), and dance (Girl Talk).

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Known around town: Sigur Rós play Reykjavik

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Save the Date

October & November 2012 OCTOBER 14

The big hitters return

The Mumbai Indians: defending their title OCTOBER 26

Here be leopards…

The 170km Moon To Noon endurance race is a mountain bike race with a difference. Starting in the Garden Route town of Knysna, instead of beginning in the morning and ending at night, this one starts at midnight and finishes next day. Naturally, riding for that long in the dark has some special challenges, not least the nocturnal wildlife – we’re talking leopard and bush pigs here – which is why only teams of two or three may enter. Solo riders could make a tempting meal... www.fullstop.com NOVEMBER 3

Judgement night Living in Joburg? Well get ready to choose sides as four of SA’s top DJs/producers square off against each other in the first-ever Red Bull Culture Clash.

Each will spin tunes from their specific genre, which for this clash will be kwaito vs hip-hop vs house vs reggae & dub. The guys playing the biggest, baddest tunes will be declared the winners by the best judges around… you, the audience. We can’t tell you who the acts will be yet, but trust us, it will be the big guns. Details at www.redbullstudio.co.za

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It’s tough at the top: The Roof of Africa challenges even the best riders NOVEMBER 14-17

Lesotho calling The Roof of Africa is acknowledged as one of the most hardcore enduro events on the world calendar. This extreme off-road motorcycle challenge is held in the mountain kingdom of Lesotho. Naturally, it attracts the world’s best riders, but with the course set up around the capital of Maseru, it also offers spectacular viewing for spectators. The Round The Houses stage, in Maseru itself, kicks off the weekend and is entertaining viewing… but it’s nothing like the two racing sections that follow. The best place to catch the action is at the legendary Free Fall mountain section. Named because it’s so steep you need a parachute to get down, it’s watching riders try to come up this piece of mountainous hell that reveals the real guts and glory of The Roof. www.roofofafrica.org.ls

NOVEMBER 3-4

High fliers Once again kite-makers and kitefliers from around the world will be at Muizenberg for the 18th Cape Town International Kite Festival, held over the first weekend in November. Each year the event – the biggest of its kind in Africa – has a theme, and in 2012 it’s ‘All About Ability’. The event is a real family day out and you’ll not only see some spectacular kite creations and exciting Rokakkau kite battles, but there are also kite-making workshops, nonstop kite-flying, craft and food stalls as

Flights of fancy: the Cape Town Kite Festival

well as kiddies’ rides and a full programme of entertainment.

You can buy tickets online at www.capementalhealth.co.za

(R20 adults/R10 children). www.facebook.com/CTKiteFest

WORDS: STEVE SMITH. PHOTOGRAPHY: NICK MUZIK, ERIC MILLER, GETTY IMAGES/AFP

Cricket’s most spectacular incarnation – the 20-over variety – is what SA cricket fans will be focused on in October… mostly because we’ll be hosting the 2012 Champions League T20. Ten franchise teams from SA, India, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan and England will be vying to upset defending champs the Mumbai Indians. Boasting superstars like Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh and Kieron Pollard, Mumbai have a tricky first encounter against SA’s Highveld Lions – always tough to beat at the Bullring, their Wanderers homeground. www.cricket.co.za

ILLUSTRATION: DIETMAR KAINRATH

K A I N R AT H

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I

magine that you’re running in a race at the Olympic stadium.

It’s the 200m sprint. You can see where you are going. You can see the clearly marked lines you have to run in between. You know where you have to go. You can feel your legs working well. Your upper body is in sync with your legs. It’s perfect, a wonderfully running stride, the combination of your training and your talent working together in perfect harmony. It’s a thing of beauty. The gold medal that you have been favourite to win is within your grasp.

And then something that you’re not expecting happens. You begin to tire.

Your body demands more concentration and focus. Lactic acid floods your body and you begin to lose your stride, your legs fall out of sync with your upper body. You can’t control your right leg and your right arm. They slip away from you. They feel like they belong to someone else. You feel like as if you are being controlled like a puppet. You lose control. You lose the race. Welcome to the world of Paralympic sport.

Fanie van der Merwe, the cerebral palsied sprinter, was five to six lengths clear in his 200m final at the Olympic Stadium in London during the 200m final in the 14th Paralympic Games. He looked to be a shoo-in for the win, but then it all started going wrong with 40m left to race. He faded badly and was passed, finishing sixth.

At the end he was fighting with his body, trying to keep it on track, trying to keep it working optimally, but his cerebral palsy did not allow that. It began to short circuit, taking his muscles on a different path.

“One side of my body is affected by my disability,” says Van der Merwe. “I have to work on concentrating on staying calm, which sounds strange. If you tense up a lot, you get a lot more spastic. My aim is to stay as relaxed as I can and then focus on posture and keep myself

Mind’s Eye

Hard Runnings Columnist Kevin McCallum doffs his cap to some extra-ordinary athletes still. If I begin to lose that calmness, and that usually happens when I get tired, then I lose my rhythm and you can’t control your body properly.”

To put it in able-bodied terms, to use that iffy and somewhat condescending sounding description, it’s like training your body to exhaustion at the gym, except that one part of your body does not have the same connection between muscle and brain as the rest of you. It is as strong as the rest, but when it is tired you cannot control it. Spasms rack that part of your body. It hiccups, in a sense.

Dyan Buis, from Riverdale, won silver in the 100m for athletes with mild cerebral palsy. “The disability affects my running style,” says Buis.

“It affects my balance as well. My left side is weaker than my right, and it is

so much more difficult to control than my right-hand side, so I have to do certain exercises to be able get that balance in my body. It’s hard, and when you can sense that dark, tired feeling coming through your body you know that you are going to begin to lose your balance. The trick is to trust your training and hope that you can compensate for it in another way.”

Jaco Nel is a big boy. He’s a track sprinter who admits that his skin-tight cycling outfit shows off the little love handles on his sides. He was beaten up by five guys and left to die. He does not like to talk about his ‘accident’, for it does not sound like an accident, but he still refers to it thus.

There are few details about it save that a baseball bat was involved. He suffered a brain stem injury, and when you speak to him his eyes are lidded and his voice seems a little slow, and yet he has a smile that lit up the velodrome at the Paralympics.

For a spell he was in third place in the 1km time trial. For the first two laps of that race he was in first place, but then his body began to weave and twitch as he roared along the bottom of the track.

“The last 500m is the most difficult bit and the most difficult part for me is to stay on the bike. It’s hard to keep my balance and to keep the bike on the track. It’s the most difficult thing in the world because of my disability. I can’t control my upper body after 500m. It just goes all over the place,” says Nel. Cerebral palsied Paralympians fight it all. They fight the clock, their competitors, the rules and their bodies.

They fight against the darkness of pain and tiredness, and then a body that sometimes has a mind of its own.

It is a double triumph.

Kevin McCallum is an award-winning sports journalist and acclaimed columnist for the Independent Newspapers group

THE RED BULLETIN South Africa, ISSN 2079-4282: The Red Bulletin is published by Red Bull Media House GmbH Editor-in-Chief Robert Sperl Deputy Editor-in-Chief Alexander Macheck General Manager Alexander Koppel Publisher Franz Renkin UK & Ireland Editor Paul Wilson Contributing Editor Stefan Wagner Chief Sub-editor Nancy James Deputy Chief Sub-editor Joe Curran Production Editor Marion Wildmann Chief Photo Editor Fritz Schuster Creative Photo Director Susie Forman Deputy Photo Editors Ellen Haas, Catherine Shaw, Rudolf Übelhör Creative Director Erik Turek Art Director Kasimir Reimann Design Martina de Carvalho-Hutter, Silvia Druml, Miles English, Kevin Goll, Peter Jaunig, Carita Najewitz Staff Writers Ulrich Corazza, Werner Jessner, Ruth Morgan, Florian Obkircher, Arkadiusz Piatek, Andreas Rottenschlager Corporate Publishing Boro Petric (head), Nadja James, Christoph Rietner (chief-editors); Dominik Uhl (art director); Markus Kucera (photo director); Lisa Blazek (editor); Christian Graf-Simpson, Daniel Kudernatsch (iPad) Head of Production Michael Bergmeister Production Wolfgang Stecher (mgr), Walter Sádaba Repro Managers Clemens Ragotzky (head), Karsten Lehmann, Josef Mühlbacher Editor, South Africa Steve Smith Finance Siegmar Hofstetter, Simone Mihalits Marketing & Country Management Barbara Kaiser (head), Stefan Ebner, Elisabeth Salcher, Lukas Scharmbacher, Peter Schiffer, Julia Schweikhardt, Sara Varming. The Red Bulletin is published in Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, Kuwait, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa, Switzerland, the UK A product of the and the USA. Website www.redbulletin.com. Head office: Red Bull Media House GmbH, Oberst-Lepperdinger-Strasse 11-15, A-5071 Wals bei Salzburg, FN 297115i, Landesgericht Salzburg, ATU63611700. Austrian office: Heinrich-Collin-Strasse 1, A-1140 Vienna, +43 (1) 90221 28800. Printed by CTP Printers, Duminy Street, Parow-East, Cape Town 8000.

Advertising enquiries Anthony Fenton-Wells, +27 (0)82 464 6376, or email anthony@tfwcc.net Write to us: email letters@redbulletin.com

THE NEXT ISSUE OF THE RED BULLETIN IS OUT ON NOVEMBER 10

ILLUSTRATION: ALBERT EXERGIAN

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NISSAN JUKE. BUILT TO THRILL. What’s the point of building a car if it is not going to make you feel something? Our designers and engineers took inspiration from extreme sports to build their first small crossover. And the energy they put into it, is what you’ll take out. Juke is the most thrilling car you’ll ever own.

Nissan. Innovation that excites.

To view the rest of the exhilarating Nissan Crossover range visit www.nissan.co.za