I enjoy paddling with Tim Gross. He's a great guy and a great boater with
good judgement. That said, it came as no surprise to me when Tim broke
the World Freefall Waterfall Record in 2002. He had talked about running
the falls but I don't think any of us thought he would actually DO
it..
The Priestly brothers were there to film Tim's descent of the falls, and
they later said that it measured
in at 101 feet, seven inches. They said later that about halfway down the
updraft from the falls below flipped Tim in midair, and for the last fifty
feet he was upside down, his boat "fluttering like a leaf" as it fell.
When he hit, he was blown out of his boat but was ok.. He thought about
giving it another go, but in the end decided to save it for another day.
Here's the pics Isaac sent me recently, extracted from the new kayaking
video Breathe which will
be premiering
in Portland on June 21, 2002
(see below for details).
The falls, as viewed from the front. Yes, that's a person standing at the top..
Tim, dropping the falls..
Halfway down..
In the end, I'm just glad Tim was ok. Geeeez that's a huge waterfall; I
get nervous just looking at the pics! (and
to think I broke my back running a 33 footer; I can't imagine what the
impact must have been like!)