Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Sand, Skydivers and Pyrotechnics Part of Regatta

Boats racing at 120 miles-per-hour will share the Allegheny River this Fourth of July weekend with an anything that floats race and skydivers touching down in kayaks. All of the events are part of the Pittsburgh Three Rivers Regatta running July 2-4 in and around Point State Park.

“The front side of the park, the back side of the park, the Allegheny River step are now all open to us,” said regatta promoter ISM-USA Vice President Michael Dongilli, “The only thing that is cordoned off is the area around the fountain.”

Powerboat Superleague promotions director Sherron Winer says the River steps will be a great place to watch the Formula 3 and Formula 2 Boat races on the 3rd and the 4th. “F2’s [run] 110-MPH, F3 95-100 MPH. Very fast on a very small piece of water,” said Winer. The F2 boats will run Sunday and the F3s will run Monday with test a qualifying runs held in the morning and the final races running later in the day. Racers will be competing for the Powerboat Superleague North American Championship in each class.

Members of the Red Bull Air Force team will be making two jumps over the weekend. “I’m starting this new sport called skyaking,” said team Member Miles Daisher as he pointed to his small one-man kayak, “We are going to free fall this bad boy out of a helicopter and fly it down and come in landing faster than a speeding ticket.”

On Land, 150 tons of sand is being etched into a sculpture which will be on display all weekend in Point State Park and the acrobatic and pyrotechnics group “Circus Orange” will perform three shows on the main stage set up on the city side of the park.

The popular fireworks show launches at 9:25 p.m. July 4th. The 25 minute show is set to music and produced by New Castle based Pyrotecnico.

A full listing of the weekend's events can be found at the Regatta's website.

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