The Austrian energy drink Red Bull features a cool new video experience that lets you get an idea of what it is like to surf through a big wave barrel in Tahiti.

You can control angle and zoom during the video as it follows professional big wave surfers riding the dramatic waves of Tahiti's notorious Teahupoo surf break.

You have seen the 360 video technology used on real estate sites to show houses, but using it on an extreme sport experience like big wave surfing is new.
The videos are very cool to watch. It would be nice to expand the flash video players to full screen, that would make it even more immersive. I guess the web is just not ready for 360 degree HD video yet. The video technology is provided by Immersive Media.

See one of the videos below showing a ride through a barrel. Move the mouse to change the view angle.



More videos and background information on how the Red Bull sponsored teams shot the 360 degrees videos are available on the Red Bull surfing site.