{"id":36375,"date":"2021-03-04T12:01:37","date_gmt":"2021-03-04T08:01:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/?p=36375"},"modified":"2021-03-04T12:01:37","modified_gmt":"2021-03-04T08:01:37","slug":"watch-as-horacio-llorens-and-rafael-goberna-defy-gravity-and-aim-for-the-sky-over-the-worlds-largest-fountain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/watch-as-horacio-llorens-and-rafael-goberna-defy-gravity-and-aim-for-the-sky-over-the-worlds-largest-fountain\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch As Horacio Llorens And Rafael Goberna Defy Gravity, And Aim For The Sky Over The World’s Largest Fountain"},"content":{"rendered":"

What happens when two of the world\u2019s top pro paragliding pilots are introduced to the world\u2019s largest fountain?<\/p>\n

A whole lot of fun (not to mention some spectacular content).<\/p>\n

In the spirit of demonstrating that anything is possible \u2013 by even pushing their own adventurous boundaries \u2013 Red Bull athletes Horacio Llorens and Rafael Goberna teamed up to take part in an exclusive one-off stunt to showcase the beautiful Palm Fountain at the Pointe, Palm Jumeirah in Dubai.<\/a><\/p>\n

And this performance \u2013 now showing in a new Red Bull TV short film, \u201cThe Breaking Pointe\u201d \u2013 didn\u2019t just involve your typical paraglide\u2026 With the world-renowned Atlantis, The Palm Jumeirah resort as a backdrop, Llorens and Goberna donned special paramotors to take to the sky; gliding between the Palm Fountain\u2019s jets of water that were so close they could feel them.<\/p>\n

In the film, the athletes \u2013 along with a large team of specialists \u2013 demonstrate just what it takes to plan a stunt of this kind. It\u2019s definitely not just a case of turning up and flying \u2013 there\u2019s pre-event training, there\u2019s engineering, there are multiple safety precautions, as well as intensive training sessions and practicing choreography.<\/p>\n

WATCH THE FULL VIDEO HERE<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAs soon as we got the opportunity, we wanted to fly there!\u201d explains pro paragliding pilot, Llorens. \u201cThe ultimate challenge is that we were flying in the night, which means low visibility. Therefore, we needed to know the area really well beforehand.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlso \u2013 we needed to know how to \u2018play\u2019 with The Palm Fountain\u2026 this was new for us. And with such strong streams of water shooting up, 100 metres, is a lot so we had to be really prepared!\u201d<\/p>\n

Llorens, along with fellow athlete and friend Goberna had been discussing and practicing tricks and choreography for some time prior to arriving in Dubai. Once in the emirate, the duo \u2013 along with the entire project team \u2013 conducted trial runs in the Margham Desert in daylight for two days.<\/p>\n

ADJUSTING TO THE CLIMATE<\/strong><\/p>\n

Paragliding with a paramotor is a complicated process and requires skill, patience and very, very precise planning.<\/p>\n

What many extreme adventure and sporting fans might not know is that paramotors require to be adjusted according to the location they\u2019re in.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring training that\u2019s when we were testing the paramotors, adjusting the gliders and the brakes,\u201d continues Llorens. \u201cRafael [Goberna] did have a little problem with his motor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goberna elaborates: \u201cThe motor wasn\u2019t flying so good, because prior to arriving in Dubai, it was last used in Europe at high altitude. Therefore, I needed to adjust the carburettor in the air inside the motor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the first practice flight over the water, I broke one propeller. I really couldn\u2019t understand what was happening. And then another one broke. Eventually, a back-up motor was required.\u201d<\/p>\n

Refusing to give up, the entire team worked tirelessly to be \u201cfountain-ready\u201d and show day \u2013 and the results, as showcased in the video, are spectacular.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was super nice for us to have finished for us this way \u2013 the process was definitely challenging from the very beginning,\u201d concludes Goberna. \u201cAfter a long journey, the result was beautiful! The team worked incredibly hard to make it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe highlight for me was playing between the super shooters with Rafael, because it\u2019s something we\u2019ve never done before; it felt really new and really powerful \u2013 with the water coming to our sides extremely high.\u201d<\/p>\n

Goberna adds: \u201cYou feel the air coming up with the water \u2013 and the water splashes against your face because it\u2019s so strong. It was such a nice experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

SAFETY & PRECISION<\/strong><\/p>\n

As \u201cThe Breaking Pointe\u201d demonstrates, a lot of work went into the showcase \u2013 one of the most important aspects being learning how to navigate The PalmFountain. With both sides having different choreography, Llorens and Goberna had to study the movement of the water with great precision in order not to get caught up in the jets of water.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, safety is paramount, and there are a multitude of safety devices we use on paramotors,\u201d explains Director of Safety, Alan Gates. \u201cEach athlete used two parachute systems \u2013 the main which they fly normally. In the case of an emergency or when they have a technical issue, they would use a reserve parachute.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we\u2019re flying over water, it\u2019s also mandatory to wear a life jacket with automatic and manual inflation. We always have rescue boats, jet skis and divers\u2026 it\u2019s important we have multiple teams for rescue and safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What happens when two of the world\u2019s top pro paragliding pilots are introduced to the world\u2019s largest fountain? A whole lot of fun (not to mention some spectacular content). In the spirit of demonstrating that anything is possible \u2013 by even pushing their own adventurous boundaries \u2013 Red Bull athletes Horacio Llorens and Rafael Goberna […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36376,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36375"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36378,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36375\/revisions\/36378"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.dubaicityguide.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}