Kayaking Champion Dane Jackson, Who Is 70 Percent Deaf, Survives 134-Foot Waterfall
National Kayaking Champion Dane Jackson is defying the odds.
Earlier this month, Jackson — who was born deaf — accomplished a longtime dream of his when he became the first person to kayak and survive a 134-foot waterfall in the mountains of Chile.
“It’s pretty wild,” Jackson told CNN of the task he completed on Feb. 5. “That was a waterfall I actually wanted to do for a couple years now. I would come across photos and I was like, ‘Man, I gotta go see this in person.'”
Salto del Maule, located in Valle de Los Condores, is a rocky stream and a volcanic area of central Chile.
Still, Jackson was never afraid, telling CNN that he had no doubts in his mind that’d he’d survive.
When asked to describe the moment he knew he’d make it out alive, Jackson simply told CNN, “Before.”
“I felt really confident with the drop. Luckily, over the years I’ve run enough waterfalls — I have enough trust and faith in my skills,” Jackson said.
He went on to explain that for his safety, however, he “had about 4 or 5 people down there with their gear for the ultimate worst case — if I got knocked out — they’d be able to help me.”
“As soon as I hit the skirt, that came off and my boat filled up with water and I had to come out of my kayak, but as soon as I hit, I was like, ‘Well this went awesome,'” Jackson explained to CNN.
Describing what the drop felt like, Jackson revealed, “It’s really only a few seconds.”
“It’s usually just coming over that lift is the best moment. It’s like you’re falling off the face of the earth. It’s pretty wild. Just looking down, there’s chaos everywhere and normally the pools are big, but that one was this tight little cove, so it was super weird. It was a pretty wild feeling,” Jackson told CNN.
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Jackson also opened up about how he’s grown so good at the sport despite being deaf — something he considers to be one of his biggest strengths.
“I’m about 70 percent deaf, and I’ve been deaf my whole life and I was born premature,” Jackson shared with CNN.
“Because I’m able to read lips, a lot of times what happens is there’s one person above a rapid that’s looking down at the rapid trying to tell us what’s coming up and the people with me can’t hear them … but I’ll read their lips and convey the information to the group.”
“Being able to read lips has allowed me to not miss information that a lot of people wouldn’t be able to hear,” Jackson told CNN.
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Jackson won the Whitewater Grand Prix in 2011, 2012 and again in 2014. He’s also an IFC Freestyle World Championship winner.
In addition to white water kayaking, Jackson is also known as a kayak freestyler.
Born in Washington, D.C., Jackson is the son of Olympic paddler Eric Jackson.
