Remember that dude that I posted on awhile back who dropped nearly 100 feet over Upper Johnson Falls in Canada? Well, don’t look now, but we’ve found someone even crazier.
According to the article, that appears in The Denver Post, Kayaker Tyler Bradt dropped 107 feet over Alexandra Falls, located along the Hay River in Canada’s Northwest Territories, and in the process setting a new World’s record. His paddling partner, Rush Sturges, followed soon after, and actually added more drama to the whole affair when the water imploded his spray skirt, and pushed him out of his boat, and into a cave behind the waterfall. It took for attempts for him to actually swim out from under it.
In case you’re wondering, that 107 foot drop is the equivalent of 10 1/2 stories. The office I work in is on the 9th floor of my building, and looking out of the window tells me that I don’t want anything to do with a drop of that size. I think Runout, over at The GoBlog said it best when he labeled this a “Big balls and shit for brains” story. 😉
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Hey Kraig,
I have a question about this story, and I am not sure if you can help me out or not..
107 Feet over Alexandra Falls in Canada actually beats the old record of 105.6 Feet over the same falls, set in 2003 by Ed Lucero–
How is the distance over the falls measured and why would both of these be different? I am guessing that both Kayakers went over in the center of the falls..could a higher water level be to blame for the discrepency?
Definitely a case of someone having bigger balls than brains!
Jason,
Yep! It’s the difference in the water level. More rain, higher water level, same falls, bigger drop. But just barely bigger.
I guess if you wanted to rebreak the record, waiting for a nice big flood would be the key..lol
Crazy bastards.
Yeah, but you know someone will just try a bigger falls. Crazy bastards indeed!
Just a couple things about the fall.
-The fall is not a straight vertical drop.
-The kayaker falls with a lot of the water, which slows the speed of the fall compared to a free fall vertical drop.
-The non-vertical angle of the fall, along with falling with the water, along with the stabilization the water provides during the fall, along with the non-vertical entry into the water, make this kind of fall substantially different if, say, the person with a kayack was pushed off a cliff 100 feet to land in water.
-I forgot to mention the entry into the fall … the water provides the slower entry and gradual arching curve into the start of the fall.
So you fall Kraig from your 9th floor would be like kayacking off 27 floors. Na just kidding, I don’t think a conversion could be made.