Peter Day from Berwick is hard at work creating a homemade hang-glider enabling him to take part in this year’s Birdman Rally event at the Moomba Festival. Peter Day in the hang-glider he constructed for the 2007 competition. Picture: Luke Plummer
By Kelly Yates
BERWICK birdman Peter Day is gearing up to wow the crowd at this year’s Moomba Festival as he glides through the air with his homemade hang-glider.
The 63-year-old daredevil has been competing in the popular Birdman Rally event at the festival for more than seven years.
The competition involves participants launching off the Birdman platform in an effort to fly the greatest distance – or sink the quickest in the waters of the Yarra, according to Mr Day.
For this year’s event, Mr Day is working on creating a hang-glider that resembles a plane, made of aluminium, polystyrene and a thick heat-shrink plastic.
He says he enjoys the challenge of building something and trying to get it to fly.
“It’s a bit of a bug, you do it once and then you’re hooked into it,” he said.
The semi-retired birdman veteran said his craft was in the early preparation stage, and estimated it would take about a month to complete. Despite not ever taking home the winning title, Mr Day is hoping this will be year when he can beat his 12 competitors during the hour-long competition.
The Moomba Festival requires a $200 entry fee to go towards charity and Mr Day has chosen Red Cross – an organisation for which he volunteers regularly.
The Birdman Rally event will take place on Sunday 8 March at midday at Birrarung Marr on the Yarra River.
For details visit www.moombawaterfest.com.au
