A NINE-TIME diving world champion surprised fly fishers on Lough Corrib yesterday when he jumped from a helicopter 23 metres above the lake.
Colombian Orlando Duque jumped into the water at Ashford Castle in Cong, Co Mayo as part of his preparations for the upcoming Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series.
The series includes a cliff dive at the Aran Island of Inis Mór halfway through the tournament.
Dive
Dive
Dive
(All images via Red Bull)
The diving series kicks off this month. Eleven qualifying entrants will compete at seven dives in Europe and North America before the series ends with a final dive in Oman in September. The Inis Mór dive is being held on the August bank holiday weekend (Friday 3 and Saturday 4 August).
The breaktaking dives involve daring spins and somersaults from a height of 27 metres. The divers hit the water after just three seconds at a speed of 85kph.
Here, Duque describes just how slowly those three seconds pass for a cliff diver:
(Video uploaded by redbull)
