Scariest Kayak Swim Ever (Aleix Salvat goes into undercut in Ecuador)

Taken from Facebook, kayaker Aleix Salvat has his spray skirt pop off which leads to him going straight into an undercut. He survives by pulling himself out with his bare hands

[@saint5203]

I've seen a lot of kayaking videos. That has to be one of the scariest ones

[@middlechildrenofhistory6134]

This gives my ptsd a jolt. I almost bit the big one down in the narrows on the chatooga river. I was underwater like this for a min. It sucked so bad. I didnt go back in for a year.

[@liamdougherty9878]

Eye of god get you?

[@michaelhill56]

@Justin Lee That's the only rapids named Narrows on the river...

[@davehumpleby3440]

I stopped breathing without taking a lung full of air first as soon as you went over that drop. Then I took a breath when you surfaced. That was some loooong downtime! Glad you made it out OK.

[@reed3330]

Lol a lot different when your in cold water and exerting energy trying to survive

[@CapeFearRiverLife]

This is one of the scariest kayaking videos I've ever watched.

[@parr40]

Similar incident happened to me, few years ago me & a few friends traveled up to OhioPyle Pa, Ohiopyle is a borough in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. Man everyone was fired up for a late day run on Yough River, the key features of the Yough River is Ohiopyle Falls, a 19-foot waterfall, as i went over the falls I got pulled under, I was Unable to roll, i exited my boat but couldn’t swim out at first, was under for approximately 30-35 seconds but it seemed like an fucking eternity lol Great upload mate!

[@tankmaster1018]

Geeze Small world! I live about 2 hours from the Yough, and paddled Ohiopyle Falls 3 days ago! Going back for an Upper Yough run Friday if you wanna join if you're still in the area. I get up to Ohiopyle a few times a month, and am going there this Friday, then continuing on to the New River Gorge Saturday and Sunday. Would love to paddle with you if you can make it! Oh and glad you're okay man, Ohiopyle Falls gets extraordinarily dangerous over the 2 foot mark because of the massive boil and area of recirculation under the main drop. That's why they will only legally let you run it if the river level is higher than 2 feet, too much risk in the event of a botched line for the park to consider loosening regulations. Don't really blame them either, counting your experience, I know at least 4 people now who have had super close calls/nearly drowned after failing to clear the boil at the bottom and being pulled back in. The fact that a raft went over it by mistake 2 years ago at 6+ feet without anyone drowning is a literal miracle...

[@christopherleachman5903]

Man that brings back memories. Took a swim once, opened my eyes and it's all black. thought, this can't be good! good you also popped back up!

[@huntergipson3447]

Man that’s a whole lotta NOPE !! Glad you’re good !

[@williamogilvie6909]

Incredible skill! In 1978 I was in the White Mountains in New Hampshire, and stopped by the Pemigiwassit river. An empty kayak came floating by.

[@tommyb261]

Got so deep that the only light was from the gopro.. damn thats scary

[@feelegoode2067]

More like stuffed so far under that the world went dark. . . . ( that's some big fear )

[@k9er233]

@@feelegoode2067 No doubt.

[@wanderer2766]

I agree...i experienced similar situations in my kayak lots of years ago. You feel so small and powerless... After all its a fantastic sport.

[@bushwalkerboy]

This is sick, man!

[@paxtonsnjones27]

Gnarly swim!!! Blackout deep...as dark as the shart stain down your leg. I passed out once in a hole when a rookie. I blew air into my suit thinking it was good to be more boint. Beach ball spin affect while getting the shit kicked out of me by my boat spinning with me. At least the world didn't go dark...I'll give you that world class swim award!

[@tankmaster1018]

You actually were calm and composed enough during a beatdown to hypothesize that blowing air into your drysuit would give you the buoyancy you needed to get out of the hole, and then actually put the plan into effect and attempt it? Dude... I'll paddle with you anyday.

[@ZachMacKayak]

Glad you’re ok 🙏

[@michaelpryor78]

Way too dark down there for my liking

[@adrianrafaelmagana804]

Glad your alright man, did you ball up and flush out or pick a direction and pulled/swam out of the undercut?

[@AndrewLykins44]

I like kayaking but I’m never ever gonna do anything remotely close to that 😂

[@lucashall1761]

Crazy dude.

[@kayakkootenaybc]

Hollin put in falls are scary. Looked a bit low to get purchase at the lip. Glad the paddler was still ok.

[@tankmaster1018]

You sound like you actually know the area. Can you explain what went specifically went wrong? It's a bit hard to tell, but it looks to me like he went deep on the landing, successfully rolled, and then everything went to hell. Skirt implosion, or lost paddle or something? Then I'm guessing the current pushed him deep, and he ended up under the undercut river banks. That was my personal theory since there wasn't really much information on the original upload, but I would be really interested to hear some more about the specific waterfall, and what happened if you're familiar with it!

[@freddie675]

Youre pretty much right. He went deep under and his skirt imploded and he got sucked deep into it. He managed to get out fine thought congrats to him

[@thepolishreefer4135]

Whoa!!! Dude Damn…have goose bumps! I’m a yaker but not like that. Glad you came out ok. Damn!!!

[@weemissile]

Thought you were surely gonna drown there. Fortunately the cameraman always comes out okay.

[@laotzu3415]

Holy Shit, Holy Shit 😂

[@MacPNW]

I did not enjoy this. Glad this one ended up turning out ok.

[@MichaelChanslor]

Snap!

[@KurtMCox]

Water is dangerous folks

[@benjamindbailey]

I was in Ecuador for close to 6 months. Which river is this?

[@tankmaster1018]

I believe its called the "Rio Hollin"

[@willieillingworth6248]

What run?

[@tankmaster1018]

Its the "Rio Hollin" according to his Facebook profile

[@timmckennie4276]

Damn....the big dark

[@k9er233]

Almost forever dark.

[@fuckfaceunstoppable4052]

When the world goes black on a swim,, you know its gonna be bad

[@glitchhunter8977]

This almost happened to Shannon Christy who was drowning by this part 0:53

[@tankmaster1018]

Yup... Straight into the Subway chute of The Fingers from a botched Grace Under Pressure drop right? Absolutely brutal man... Shannon's accident was the definition of a tragedy.

[@DrJoonPark]

@Dan Trebune No, she unfortunately died on Potamac. It was just a similar situation.

[@ImFlacko]

@@tankmaster1018 when I was doing a kayak like that and fall off I couldn't touch the ground I'll keep going lucky I had help

[@CallMeMrX]

Seen s lot of these videos, none of them get as dark as this one, horrible.

[@edsonjavier5243]

I can’t see anything

[@RabiesTheBeagle]

At first I was like clickbait. Then I realize you couldn't get out of your boat. The loop on spray skirt always can be pulled.

[@michaelhill56]

I think he knows that...

[@GetOffYourAss]

Why do you repost other peoples content? Should at least provide a link to the original...

[@tankmaster1018]

I included his name in the title of the video and said it was from his Facebook page in the description. I'll find it again and add the link to the video description. I'm sorry man, I just reposted it because it wasn't on KZbin and only on Facebook. I always ask permission before I post someones Facebook video on KZbin, and my channel isn't monetized so I don't profit off it. I just post stuff that I think was cool and I want other people to be able to see. All the other videos besides this and the 2 Ben Marr videos are original content. I'm sorry for the misunderstanding dude Edit: Just checked out your channel too dude and you have some really cool stuff. I subscribed! Have a good night man, hope to see more from ya!

[@frank6842]

@@tankmaster1018 damn you are nice

[@wayde947]

Go pro cameras really don't show kayaking very well. Suck actually

[@tankmaster1018]

You can say that again... Same thing with skiing or snowboarding. Anytime you want a video that shows perspective and size the way that the human eye would process it, you can't have it filmed on anything even resembling a fisheye lens. The fisheye is great for giving a GoPro a massive field of view, but the fact that the lens is a globe shape means that everything is distorted and compressed to make up for the massive FOV. So basically any ski slope or hill will look almost flat, even expert runs. With kayaking, I've actually had a couple different friends get into serious trouble because they thought they could easily paddle the rapids I showed them video from, and were completely shocked and horrified when they saw the same rapid in real life. GoPros are great, but they will get you into big trouble if you don't understand how it distorts images and video.

[@ActionAdventureTwins]

@@tankmaster1018 your like completely spot on man. Sucks you gotta do something over the top for it to look good.

[@komunikasitv4988]

Water and engine is good. Water and power human not good

[@Moresco24]

Just so everyone knows, anything bad that happens out there is your fault. Got no business doing that lol

[@michaelhill56]

I can assure you that we know the risks. Our sport is safer than driving a car, that's the most dangerous thing that most people do and don't even know it...

[@k9er233]

@@michaelhill56 Calculated risk, but kinda scary math.

[@tankmaster1018]

@@k9er233 If I ever start a band, thats gonna be our name! "Scary Math" Lmfao

[@k9er233]

@@tankmaster1018 Perfect!

[@Doggie_Style_Sex]

Did he learnded his lesson or did he eventually die after this video was made.