Wanted: Ocean view, swimming location, no beach required

For splashing around, the average tourist usually prefers the most barrier-free access to the sea. On his trip to Albania, however, Orlando Duque was on a different mission: For Red Bull Cliff Search, he undertook a search for places from which nobody has ever jumped into the Adriatic Sea.

Here a 25-metre rock rising out of the water. There a cliff at a windy height of 17 metres. And there, a few crags on which even seagulls might feel a bit dizzy: Up to now, the goals that cliff divers Orlando Duque, Hassan Mouti and Zvezdan Grozdic set themselves from August 5 to 10 in Albania have been avoided by locals and tourists alike for good reason.

To jump where no-one has jumped before

But cliff divers wouldn’t be cliff divers if they weren’t magically drawn to spots exactly like these. "I travel the whole year around to discover exciting new spots for jumping," explains Orlando Duque. Together with both his mates he found a whole lot of ideal places – and totally untouched – on the Albanian coastline of the Adriatic Sea. "Some were so remote that we only got to them with difficulty," he said.

Secure landing with perfect style

At the closing event at the tourist heartland Vlora, Duque also explained the fundamental terms of the sport thus unknown in Albania to the interested crowd. "Jumping from cliffs, I push of with a particular amount of energy," the nine-time World Champion said, "in order to get a safe distance and to build up the necessary body tension. After the acrobatics I fix a point that I’m going to dive to. It’s important to predict exactly the right moment, because if you don’t hit the water exactly perpendicularly, it can have serious consequences." The kids in the crowd immediately attempted to implement his tips. After the event they acted as up-and-coming Duques – even if from a somewhat lower jumping height.