Worthing Birdman

For those who have not come across the Birdman festival, it is one of those stupid things that just kept on going because it was a laugh… Basically what happens is that people jump of the end of a pier with the assurance of being rescued by a boat! The aim of the contest is to “fly” as far as one can using only human power. Some people take this venture to be more serious than others…

Up until last year the event was hosted at Bognor pier, which is just a little way down the road, however due to safety reasons their pier was shortened and it was no longer safe to jump into the water. As such the event moved to the next pier along, and that happened to be Worthing’s.

Worthing pier was kited out with an extension made out of scaffolding and then over a weekend various people, in various outfits jumped from into the sea! Some of those who enter do it for the laugh, so do it to raise money for charity and some do it as a serious attempt to beat the previous record length (currently set at 85.9m by Ron Freeman).

If you fancy watching this ridiculous event it will be taking place on the 22nd and 23rd August, 13:00 on Worthing Beach. The more serious “flyers” will be launching on the Saturday, while the people who are slightly less serious and fancy just going for a swim are going to be sinking on the Sunday.

If you can’t quite wait until then, have a video of last years event. (The jump on the Sunday had to be cancelled because of poor weather).