For those attending the event this weekend -I just received this:
(see you all Friday evening)
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Ahoy!

So after two months, the day I've been tirelessly preparing for has come...

Tomorrow (Thursday) morning, I leave for Austin to put the final touches on The Chupacabra Iditarod Sled and ready it for Saturday's Red Bull Flugtag, an event that will undoubtedly catapult both myself, and my loyal team of goats, into the annals of flight history.

For those who are interested in witnessing the event/carnage first-hand, doors open at Auditorium Shores in downtown Austin at 5pm.
The first is jump slated for 6:30pm. (We're jumping 4th.)

And for those of you who cannot make it, WE STILL NEED YOUR HELP!

By texting the number "4" to "72855 [or "RBULL"] between the hours of 7 - 9pm on Saturday, you can cast your vote for The Chupacabra Iditarod Sled as your choice for "Crowd Favorite." And since our craft is about as aerodynamic as your garden variety bulldozer, this is the part of the contest we have our sights on.
So tell a friend, and help us out!

Thank you all for your support and, pending I survive the fall, I'll see you upon my return.

Jeremiah Shaw
-Chupacabra-
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and this was written in today's Houston Chronicle:


Aug. 22, 2007, 10:04AM
Look! It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a ... roach?

By LANA BERKOWITZ
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

Chupacabra Iditarod Sled Team promises blood before it makes its plunge into Austin's Town Lake on Saturday. Texas Roach Wranglers plan to make a splash with a giant roach.

Chupacabra and Roach will be representing Houston in the U.S. Red Bull Flugtag. The competition features human-powered flying craft that are launched off an elevated ramp. Teams of up to five people perform a 30-second skit before the pilot is sent into the air and eventually into the water.

Flugtag — or "flying day" — originated in 1991 in Vienna, Austria, and marketers for Red Bull energy drink brought it to the U.S. in 2002 with a competition in San Francisco. The U.S. flight record of 155 feet was set in Nashville, Tenn., in June. The only other U.S. stop for 2007 is Friday's Austin extravaganza.

David Sutherland, mastermind of the Texas Roach Wranglers, wanted a Texas theme but thought a bucking bronco would be too tame. He will be riding a wild, Texas-size roach.

Sutherland, an Art Car Parade veteran, has spent two months working on the project. On Saturday Sutherland and his assistant, Roddie Shuster, were bugging out — stapling fabric on the body of the 12-foot bug and painting the legs roach-brown.

Jeremiah Shaw, who petitioned for the Dynamo soccer team to be named Houston Chupacabras, will be his team's chupacabra (a mythical devil creature). Dressed in black Lycra, Shaw will ride a sled pulled by teammates dressed as goats.

Team Chupacabra has constructed a sled from a gutted hang glider. The contraption is about 15 feet long with a wingspan of 25 feet. Construction is taking place at the home of the lone Austinite on the team, Bryan Osborne.

Last weekend they were working out how to use the fake blood, but Shaw is most concerned about his outfit.

"I'm trying to figure out how to keep that G-rated because Lycra gets clingy when it gets wet."

lana.berkowitz@chron.com