For obvious reasons, we're reluctant to condone world record waterfall attempts. As exciting as the acts may be to view or perform, hurling oneself off 100-foot drops in a kayak remains a suspect pastime at best. But as the saying goes, we don't make the news, we just tell it. And young Tao Berman has a way of making the news.
In August, Berman dropped 30 meters
(98 feet) off a waterfall on Johnson Creek, in Canada’s Banff National Park, shattering Shannon Carrol's highly publicized 78 footer off Oregon's Sahalie Falls. A large group of tourists witnessed the feat.
"I don't think anybody there really thought it was a good idea," Tao says. "We weren't sure what kind of a hit I'd be taking at 100 feet." Before the drop, Berman filled two one-gallon milk jugs with water and stuffed them in his bow "to ensure that I'd be dead vertical when I hit." The run took him through a four-foot-wide slot and his paddle broke when it hit the wall, forcing him to roll up with one blade. The drop was caught on film for next year's release, Twitch 2000.
At 20 years old, Tao may just be scratching the surface of his kayaking career. "I think I've got a few more years in me," he says. We hope it's more than a few.
–Tom Bie
