Seeking Silverdale and Central Kitsap

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Have no idea what Flugtag means? That’s OK, neither did I. But it sounded somewhat familiar, so what did I do? The same thing anyone my age would do: I Googled it.

Just as I thought, Flugtag is the event sponsored by Red Bull, where people throw themselves off a 30-foot tall deck into the water. Oh yeah, while strapped into a homemade, self propelled flying contraption.

Sound like fun? Sound like something you’d only do after you’ve put back a few? (bottles that is) Yeah, me too.

But, two Silverdale residents are doing just that this weekend — and they’ll be sober. Chris Arend and David Shamrell have spent the last month building a replica P-51 Mustang airplane in Chris’ garage at his apartment complex off Ridgetop Boulevard. The single-seater airplane is most commonly known for its speed and its ability to fend off Hitler’s troops during World War II.

The pair, both mechanical engineering majors from Gonzaga, have never done anything like this. They say they saw the ad on TV (you know the one where the guy wearing a cape rides a bike off the pier into the water and you say, why would someone do that?), and then they looked up the event online and decided to enroll.

They had to submit their plans ahead of time, to be approved to enter, and used a computer simulation model. They also created blue prints, pasted them to Chris’ garage wall and started building.

Chris’ wife Emily has been involved, as has David’s fiance — although the pair are set to marry at the end of August, so she’s been busy finishing their wedding planning. The four, plus their friend Baraka Poulin (another mechanical engineering student) are the team that will compete Saturday. Their name is B.A.M.F (I’ll let you figure that one out on your own).

They’re pretty excited, and I can’t wait to hear from them to see how they do. Because they’ve created a real airplane, their chances of going the farthest distance are pretty high. And according to Chris, after looking at other sketches on the Red Bull web site of their fellow competitors, they think they have a good chance at winning.

If they do place in the top three here’s what they could win: 1) A trip to Austria; 2) A trip to California to see the Red Bull air show; 3) A sky-diving trip/experience.

Also, there’s the chance for the people’s choice award, which is determined by people voting. The winners of that will receive a prize, although it isn’t revealed until the winner is announced. Supposedly it’s a pretty cool award. So, even though most people in our area won’t be able to watch the local kids compete, you can vote via text message to help them win the People’s Choice Award. The polls open at 11 a.m. Saturday and there is no limit on the number of text messages that could be sent.

Text “Team 12″ to 72855, to help them win.

Ps, just so you realize how dedicated these guys have been to their project, the graduated from Gonzaga in May and were hired as nuclear engineers at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard about a month ago. Since then they’ve balanced their new jobs — and professional life — with their newfound airplane building hobby. They’re already talking about next year — where they think they might build a submarine instead, having more fun with the project.

Good luck team BAMF! (I never thought I’d say those words).

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 31st, 2008 at 8:00 am by brynn grimley and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.