There’s kayaking, and then there’s what happens when Dane Jackson goes kayaking.

The 26-year-old has turned an often chilled activity into an extreme sport by testing the limits of what’s possible in a small boat.

His method? Flinging himself off waterfalls.

Earlier this month, Jackson made the second tallest waterfall descent in known history, reports CNN.

The descent, on the Salte Maule river waterfall in Chile, saw him drop 134 feet (more than 40 metres) before emerging, unscathed, from the nose-dive.

To achieve the task, extensive preparation was required — even with a safety team standing nearby, throwing yourself off the lip of a volcanic waterfall comes with a number of variables that are difficult to control.

Try not to look away when he reaches the cusp:

I reckon he would get on well with Evan Moore.

Jackson spoke to Don Riddell about how it felt to take the plunge.

“It looks like you’re falling off the face of the earth. Coming over that lip it was pretty wild. You’re just looking down and chaos everywhere.”

…”If I’m not scared about something that’s that big, that means that I accepted the risks. I’ve looked at the dangers, I’ve addressed them,” he said.

“Okay, you’re scared of this, but do you want to do it? And then when the answer is yes, it makes sure that, for better or worse, if the line goes great, if it goes bad, I’ve accepted what could go wrong, but I know that I want to experience something like that drop.”

Jackson said that he was confident that the drop would be successful because he had seen the waterfall without water just a few days before, allowing him to map his descent. He’s also a committed environmentalist.

From disruptive dams to extensive littering, Jackson has seen some of his favorite places ruined by mankind.

“I don’t think people realize how important the river is, in terms of the planet and us just surviving,” he said.

“The more awareness we bring to the rivers, the less people will mess with them.”

When it comes to drawing attention to a good cause, attempting death-defying plummets off waterfalls is a good way to get people to sit up and take notice.

We applaud this kayaking madman’s methods.

[source:cnn]