Kayaking Down a Waterfall
source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7961545.stm
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- always_there
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Watch this insanity
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- groups:
- Community, Entertainment, WTF
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- tags:
- News, Entertainment, WTF, Water, 9 more
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Mr_Costello
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That must have been one fine adrenaline buzz. Me next.
- 3 years ago
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Mr_Costello
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richjm
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That video's amazing!
Other than sheer guts though, where's the skill there? He basically just closed his eyes, squeezed his buttocks together and let the waterfall do the rest.
- 3 years ago
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richjm
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edbr
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richjm:
there's a lot of skill involved. if you just pluck yourself over the falls, you're just about sure to die.
there's a lot of preparation that goes into planning such a run, such as spotting a good landing zone, obstructions, entry rapid / line, safety, measuring the exact height, etc. plus, once the kayaker commits, he or she must stick the line perfectly (or risk landing outside the landing zone, on rocks, in the hydraulic, etc). there are very specific techniques to running huge waterfalls, too. a 4 second freefall makes even a water landing literally feel like landing on concrete. an object reaches 90 miles per hour in 4 seconds of freefall. many less experienced kayakers have suffered permanent spinal damage and/or death from even mediocre drops. the kayaker must lean slightly forward, tuck for the descent, and during the freefall, must position the boat to land as close to 45 degrees as possible so the impact on the paddler is minimized. in the kayaking community, it is not considered a successful run if the kayaker is separated from the boat, so if he lands upside down, he's definitely coming out of the boat.
certainly, all these aspects aren't made clear by just watching pedro olivia's descent, but look into jacksonkayak.com, playak.com, and watch some extreme kayaking videos, and you'll notice just how much effort, training, and skill is involved in running these things. i'm a fairly young, somewhat experienced whitewater paddler myself (not extreme), and my drop limit is roughly 20 feet, for my body's sake.
- 3 years ago
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edbr
