Extreme Kayaker Rafael Orti: Conquering the World’s Tallest Waterfalls

Summary

In this article, we explore the world of extreme kayaking through the eyes of Rafael Orti, a seasoned kayaker who has spent the last two decades pushing the limits of the sport. Orti seeks out the tallest and steepest waterfalls to paddle off, seeing them as a new challenge. Surviving these drops requires experience, intuition, and a locked-in technique. Orti shares his approach to running waterfalls of different sizes and offers insights into the world of extreme kayaking.

Rafael Orti: The Extreme Kayaker
Learning to Kayak in Eastern Mexico
The Thrill of Waterfall Descending
Surviving the Drops: Technique Matters
Conclusion

Rafael Orti: The Extreme Kayaker

Rafael Orti is an extreme kayaker who seeks out the tallest and steepest waterfalls to paddle off. He has run a 189-foot waterfall, which is like jumping off the 20th floor of a building. Orti sees waterfalls as a new challenge and is always looking for crazy things to try. He even once traded his kayak for an inflatable lobster toy just for fun.

Learning to Kayak in Eastern Mexico

Orti’s love for kayaking started when he was young and he learned how to kayak in eastern Mexico, which happens to be one of the best places for waterfall descending. He started running waterfalls without any instruction and learned by watching videos and ordering VHS tapes.

The Thrill of Waterfall Descending

Orti’s addiction to this new sport started when he ran his first tall waterfall, which was a 40-foot drop on the Jico River in Veracruz. Ortiz is an experienced kayaker who has spent the last two decades pushing the limits of the sport, which offers very little room for error. He has seen his fair share of injuries and watched his friends come close to death. In 2011, he kayaked with his friend Jared Serrasoliz in Mexico, where Serrasoliz went over the waterfall before Ortiz and got swept under the fall. Ortiz went over the waterfall and found Serrasoliz’s lifeless body downstream. They worked on him for three minutes with exhausting compressions, mouth-to-mouth, and shouting until he finally took a breath.

Surviving the Drops: Technique Matters

Surviving these drops requires experience, intuition, and a locked-in technique. The two things that matter most are speed and the stroke taken at the lip. For larger waterfalls above 40 feet, Ortiz aims to be as vertical as possible, using the speed of the water and paddle strokes to position himself to land safely. For smaller waterfalls under 40 feet, he aims to land on top of the water at a 45-degree angle, taking a long, steady stroke to lift the bow of his kayak to lock in the angle. For waterfalls taller than 45 feet, he wants to go over vertically, diving into the water with as little impact as possible. The key is to be as aerodynamic or aqua dynamic as possible and become as slim as you can.

Conclusion

Rafael Orti’s passion for extreme kayaking has taken him to some of the world’s tallest waterfalls. His approach to running waterfalls of different sizes offers insights into the world of extreme kayaking. Surviving these drops requires experience, intuition, and a locked-in technique. Orti’s story is a testament to the human spirit of adventure and the pursuit of new challenges.