Photos by Daniel DeBoom

11:00am | Through his goggles and snorkeling headgear, the bear stared back at me as he skimmed across the surface of the water with wings strapped to his back – like some reef-diving Grizzly 747.

I should have expected no less from Red Bull.

The energy drink giant and its plastic bear invited local journalists to a poolside party atop the AVIA hotel to help select from a pool of wacky, hopeful design submissions for their 2010 Flugtag competition to take place in downtown Long Beach this August. And here I’ve been throwing parties without snorkeling bears for years, like an idiot.

The party was loud. Colorful. Eccentric. It was very Red Bull. The company has made a fortune by creating the perception of an everlasting party. Their involvement in Formula One, motocross and the Red Bull Air Races have universally endeared them to the extreme sports community. And for the second time this year, they’ll bring that rabid following to Long Beach.

While enjoying a panoramic view of downtown Long Beach as hosts offered chicken skewers and mouth-watering crab something or other as the DJ kept the speakers booming, one could be forgiven for forgetting that Red Bull primarily makes energy drinks. Or does anything except party.

“I know that’s the perception,” says Scott Houston, communications manager for Red Bull. “But we’ve really put in a lot of work to make these events happen and I think it shows.”

Houston even says that on New Year’s Eve – his birthday, mind you – he worked so late that there was only time for one drink with co-workers before heading to bed to do it all over again in the morning.

If you believe that – which I most certainly do not – then it’s easy to see why Red Bull events have gained a cult following.

Tens of thousands agreed with Houston on New Year’s Eve, when Red Bull hosted a record-breaking rally car jump by extreme sports legend Travis Pastrana right here in Long Beach. That event was scored as a rousing success by both parties, and led to Red Bull’s decision to notch up the water-based wackiness and host Flugtag in the same location this summer.

And trust, Flugtag will be wacky.

Several dozen teams will construct human-powered flying machines, and then promptly launch them from a 30-foot platform into the Rainbow Harbor below; hopefully splashing down in a soaring moment of glory. But likely not.

Nearly all of the entries will teeter off the edge and plunge headfirst into the drink. Flugtag events around the world occasionally see the engineering marvel that glides for 200 feet or more. But the real fun is in the eccentricity. Among the entries we reviewed on Thursday night were a giant sombrero and a paper-mâché Barack Obama “powered” by giant flapping ears. Thousands will show up just to see what ridiculous contraptions have been built. And subsequently destroyed.

It’s pure genius on Red Bull’s part – using the creativity and imagination of others for free marketing. Red Bull does the legwork and lends their name to the event, but the stars of the show are the competitors.

A few of the hopeful teams were even on hand during the party, campaigning for voters to consider their designs. Over 80 submissions were on display, and we were allowed to cast our ballots for ten of those (about 35 will be selected). You don’t have to be an engineer to design and build a Flugtag competitor, but it does help. Team Float Like A Butterfly, Sting Like A Ray was in attendance to lobby for their giant stingray design, as was Team Stealth Ginger – whose five members are all engineers – to drum up support for their faux-Stealth Bomber design. There was also Team Roundhouse, a rambunctious team of five men dressed in camos and fake full-length beards who submitted a design of a giant Chuck Norris head.

Guess which team ended up jumping into the pool that night?

They all received votes from me, mostly for their spunk. (I also leaned heavily toward designs from Long Beach. I’m a homer. Sue me.) Another of my favorites was a rolling Spruce Goose Dome that would speed toward the edge of the platform only to have a giant goose burst from within and soar to victory. I loved the local flavor and frankly, just wanted to see how in the heck they plan to pull that off.

The team is actually comprised of employees at the Long Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau, the organization that attracts events like the TED Conference, Eukanuba Dog Show and Flugtag to the city. President and CEO Steve Goodling was in attendance on Thursday night, so I inquired about the lofty Spruce Goose design.

“We actually don’t know how it’s going to work,” he admitted with a laugh. Goodling says the team just wanted to do something unique with a local flavor and thought that an actual goose bursting from the dome – that once housed Howard Hughes’ famed aircraft – would simply be funny.

But more than anything else, Goodling said he was very excited about the developing relationship with Red Bull and their ideas to bring events to Long Beach. Houston said that the likelihood is very high that Red Bull will do more events in Long Beach in the future.

That would be a very good thing for both the company and the city, both of which are enthusiastic about the partnership.

And the parties. Don’t forget the parties.