Extreme Kayaking
Posted on 20. Sep, 2009 by Stenberg-Tendys W.L. in sports
For Tyler Bradt, the 22 year-old American from Montana and extreme kayaker, it was too late to change his mind, as he sat on the lip of a 186 foot drop.
Less than four seconds later he was celebrating the world record for kayak free-falls.
Bradt reached speeds of 100 mph as he plummeted over Palouse Falls in eastern Washington.
He disappeared under the water at the base of the torrent, to emerge, six seconds later, still in his fibre glass kayak, with a broken paddle and a sprained wrist.
The previous record was set only weeks before, by Pedro Olivia, who plunged 127 feet over the Salto Bello falls in Brazil.
“There was a stillness, followed by an acceleration, speed and impact unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. I wasn’t sure if I was hurt or not. My body was just in shock,” said Bradt.
He had prepared for the world record by dropping over 80 foot waterfalls in Oregon. His previous best record was 107 feet down Alexandra Falls, in Canada’s Northwest Territories.
Bradt had visited Palouse Falls many times, in order to ascertain if it was humanly possible to survive the descent. “There’s a smooth green tongue of water that carries about a third of the way down the falls. That was my route.”
A resuce team waited for Bradt at the base of the falls.
Bradt said he wanted to attempt the plunge over the falls, not to set a world record, but to show what humans are capable of achieving.”I wanted to do it because I guess I can. It was a calculated risk, no doubt dangerous, but also one of the most amazing days of my life.”
As a final piece of advice Bradt said, “The only limits that exist are the ones you create, no matter what you are doing.”
A little over a decade ago, a 50 or 60 foot waterfall was thought to be the biggest drop a kayaker could survive.
Bradt is currently searching out waterfalls in Norway and Iceland. So far no one has died kayaking massive waterfalls, though deaths have and near-drownings have been recorded on smaller falls. The most common injury for extreme kayakers, is a broken nose.
