Shaun Baker
I first came across Shaun Baker on an extreme sports programme on the BBC - "Radical Highs". He was taking his kayak down some waterfalls in Iceland. Sounds simple enough, but these were massive waterfalls, totally vertical! It looked awesome!! Since then, when you talk about "extreme kayaking" it is almost impossible to go for 2 minutes without hearing the name "Shaun Baker"!
Shaun Baker is the world?s foremost extreme kayaker. He holds 4 world records:
- "World Freefall Waterfall Kayak" Record - 19.7m pure vertical drop
- "World Speed Altitude Descent" Record - 75 ft in 19.9 sec
- "World Speed Altitude Descent" Record - 50 m in 4 min 54 sec
And check this next one out!
- "World Kayak Land Speed - Snow" Record - 62.94 km/h
|  |  | | | Shaun started kayaking in the mid-1970s, at the age of 10. Since then he has kayaked some of the most dangerous waters around the world. However he is probably best known for his waterfall desents. I could go on and on about Shaun, but I won't. He has a fantastic website, which is where I have got alot of this information for this page. You can go straight to his site by either clicking on the picture above or by clicking on the link below. | | | | Shaun Baker's website | | Many thanks to Shaun and Marivi for their kind permission to use text and images on the above article. AND THERE'S MORE!! THE JET KAYAK | |  | Photo of Sahun Baker, in his jet kayak, courtesy of darrenbakerphoto
"Pictures that graphy.comtake you closer" | | Just when you think things can't get much crazier, along comes Shaun Baker.
A lot of you will already know about Shaun and his adventures in kayaks. Whether it is setting world records in white water, setting world records by kayaking over giant waterfalls, or just kayaking down a snow covered hillside, you will know that Shaun and his kayaks cannot be parted.
Well, Shaun's latest adventures include a kayak with a jet engine on the back!!
In March 2006, Shaun sent me an email with the picture below attached to it. As we were in Australia at the time, I didn't have my "Blind Man" software, so could make neither head nor tail of it. When I asked him what it was, his answer was "a jet kayak"! Of course it was!! How silly of me! | |  | Photo of Shaun Baker, in his jet kayak, courtesy of darrenbakerphotography.com
"Pictures that take you closer" | | Those of you who saw the BBC's Top Gear, with Shaun in his jet kayak, will know exactly what we are talking about.
For those of you who missed it, Shaun took on Richard Hammond, (one of the Top Gear presenters), in a race. But of course, it wouldn't be straight forward. Shaun was to use his jet kayak and Richard was to use a Land Rover Tomcat!! Not only was it a case of boat, (on water), versus car, (on land), but it was pointed out that if the jet kayak's engine stalled, it would sink, almost immediately, and the only thing that would stall the engine, was if some ice was to get trapped in the engine. So, where did the race happen... in an ice filled lake in Iceland. Need I say more!! | |  | Photo of Shaun Baker, in his jet kayak, courtesy of darrenbakerphotography.com
"Pictures that take you closer" | | Well, what can I say. Why don't you go to the jet kayak website and see more. | | | | Many thanks to Shaun and Darren for their kind permission to use text and images featured on this jetkayak article. | | | For more related sites check out the Extreme Dreams Links Page | |
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