Kewl - Mud wants to get into kayaking! I like to kayak in the surf, it's a blast, and no rocks to bounce yer head off of.
Surfers don't like kayakers, because we lack "ettiquette". (Yes, folks, Mud will tell you, surfers do have etiquette.) Kayakers are to surfers as snowboarders are to skiers! Heh, heh...
Mud, I know yer thread and F.R. is for political discussion mainly, but I'm trying to purge my mind of the "justFred" nutjob. So I hope you and all your Black Thread FRiends and contributors will not mind me posting the following pictures of a kid that lives in Asland, Oregon, by the name of Tao Berman. At age 24, he holds the world record for the highest waterfall ever run - 98.4 ft.
I once saw Tao compete at a kayak freestyle competition, here in Clackamas, OR.
Now I'm just a spectator, and a very novice kayaker, but I wanted to meet him, and say hello. A Portland TV station had just finished interviewing him, for a 60 sec. spot on the nightly news, and he's busy. I was impressed, as he didn't brush me off.
Tao was very polite and friendly, and you couldn't find a nicer, more clean cut kid. The extreme stuff this kid does is nuts, but I think he's very conservative. Seriously. Read the below quote to see why he does what he does:
FK: Why did you get into kayaking?
Tao Berman: "I chose kayaking because I knew that the only limit in kayaking would be one that I would set for myself. I wanted a sport with a high level of risk. Something where there is no middle ground. Either you succeed or fail. I knew that kayaking would make me the best that I could be. Kayaking is also something that I can do for myself without relying on others. My successes and failures are my own.
Upper Johnston Falls in Canada.98.4 ft.
Tao: I scouted this waterfall just like all the rest. After throwing logs and a boat over the waterfall I decided that it could be done. I put 2 milk jugs full of water in the front of my boat to keep a vertical boat angle and to make sure that I didn't resurface to quickly. I was also wearing protective gear like sunglasses, elbow pads, ear protection, and of course the normal stuff like a lifevest.
FK: I would guess that you've had some pretty close calls while kayaking. Any particularly bad experience?
Tao: If I am going to run something in my kayak I am very confident in my ability to be successful. I don't believe that running drops is about surviving. It's about running a drop and looking good doing it. For that reason I have had very few close calls. The one that stands out as the worst is in Twitch 2000(kayak video). It was a second descent of mine down a 10meter waterfall that had a few logs in it. The move was to boof onto the log and rail slide down it. On the second descent I wasn't able to balance on the log and I fell off the side of it onto a shelf. I knew before running the drop that that was a possibility so I checked out the consequences before running the drop and decided that it was still worth doing.
I hope you have a long and healthy life, Tao. But yer' still nuts!