An Oral History of Extreme Sports
"Gravity has always been a major part of my life." In the waning decades of the 20th century, men from New Zealand began inventing new ways to injure themselves. They jumped from bridges with elastic bands attached to their ankles, ran class-five rapids without boats, and fixed themselves to large kites to achieve great speed. Soon enough, a culture had emerged-one that paired backyard engineering with the pursuit of adrenaline. Today, thanks to these pioneers, brave souls the world over may hurtle through the air, down mountains and up rivers and live to brag about it. In their own words, the inventors explain how extreme sport on this island nation came to be, and where it might go next. PART I: ORIGINS (1954-1980) A sheep farmer builds an engine to travel upriver-and starts a high-speed revolution. We're way at the end of the bloody world. Back then, if you wanted to do something, you...