1 00:00:09,989 --> 00:00:13,558 Okay. I'd like to present a hypothetical idea. 2 00:00:13,698 --> 00:00:16,736 A way to practice taking risks, because after all, 3 00:00:16,736 --> 00:00:19,774 practice makes perfect. Right? 4 00:00:19,774 --> 00:00:22,814 So I want you to picture a stadium. The biggest stadium you've ever seen. 5 00:00:22,857 --> 00:00:25,776 and it's got a huge arch over the top of it, 6 00:00:25,776 --> 00:00:26,595 a hundred meters high. 7 00:00:26,755 --> 00:00:31,615 Now, most people think that that arch is simply there for supporting the structure. 8 00:00:31,776 --> 00:00:36,600 But others believe that arch is also there so that we can tie a rope to the top of it, 9 00:00:36,764 --> 00:00:39,258 we can stretch that rope all the way to the rim of the stadium 10 00:00:39,328 --> 00:00:42,624 and do a huge rope swing all the way across. 11 00:00:43,296 --> 00:00:45,895 And better still, we can do that in a kayak. 12 00:00:46,823 --> 00:00:50,202 But wait! What if the rope breaks? You could die! 13 00:00:51,377 --> 00:00:55,233 Okay, maybe you didn't ask that question. But I'm pretty sure that you did ask, 14 00:00:55,258 --> 00:00:59,772 "What's a professional kayaker, and what's he doing on our stage?" 15 00:01:00,822 --> 00:01:03,777 I haven't done much to change the world, but I have made a career 16 00:01:03,777 --> 00:01:07,459 out of exploring remote rivers. And the rivers taught me 17 00:01:07,539 --> 00:01:09,772 just about everything I need to know. 18 00:01:10,458 --> 00:01:14,303 Growing up in South Africa was a good life, but a simple life. 19 00:01:14,539 --> 00:01:19,572 No TV, no video games, but I did have a kayak and a river. 20 00:01:21,458 --> 00:01:25,777 I had the disadvantage of having very few kayak mentors 21 00:01:25,777 --> 00:01:30,159 to teach me what could be done in a kayak, but I had the distinct advantage 22 00:01:30,377 --> 00:01:33,496 of having nobody to tell me what could not be done. 23 00:01:34,322 --> 00:01:38,258 I remember as a young teenager, hearing about a French rafting expedition 24 00:01:38,268 --> 00:01:42,499 that had attempted to take on and navigate the world's biggest rapids, 25 00:01:42,499 --> 00:01:45,350 on the Congo River. 26 00:01:45,380 --> 00:01:50,961 I saw this old photocopy of the Paris Match magazine, 27 00:01:51,037 --> 00:01:54,763 and this was the last photo ever taken of them. 28 00:01:54,763 --> 00:01:56,889 Right about the same time, 29 00:01:57,009 --> 00:01:59,981 I saw an old newspaper with this photo of Marco Begni 30 00:01:59,981 --> 00:02:02,743 kayaking off a waterfall near my house. 31 00:02:02,743 --> 00:02:05,925 If you look at the top left of the frame, you'll see a kayak there. 32 00:02:07,617 --> 00:02:10,618 I clearly remember walking into the kitchen and saying to my parents, 33 00:02:10,937 --> 00:02:13,154 "I'm going to kayak down that waterfall one day." 34 00:02:13,573 --> 00:02:16,817 And my dad said, "Well, son, if you work hard and practice, 35 00:02:17,099 --> 00:02:19,079 maybe one day you'll be good enough." 36 00:02:19,405 --> 00:02:23,587 About ten years later I found myself kayaking off that very waterfall. 37 00:02:23,737 --> 00:02:28,186 And about 15 years later I found myself standing next to the Congo River 38 00:02:28,538 --> 00:02:32,248 on the very same spot where that last photograph was taken. 39 00:02:33,323 --> 00:02:37,187 Now I think the best way for me to introduce you to my Congo expedition 40 00:02:37,218 --> 00:02:41,022 is to play the trailer to the film that I made about it. Have a look. 41 00:02:45,481 --> 00:02:51,072 Some call it a calling. I think of it as an obsession. 42 00:02:52,752 --> 00:02:53,823 Inga. 43 00:02:55,943 --> 00:02:58,259 World's biggest rapid. 44 00:02:59,519 --> 00:03:03,085 Almost every attempt to survive it causes death. 45 00:03:07,235 --> 00:03:12,881 I've been kayaking my whole life. But when is enough enough? 46 00:03:16,739 --> 00:03:20,756 I first heard the story, and seven people died having their attempt. 47 00:03:22,306 --> 00:03:25,070 Now I've waited half my life for my turn. 48 00:03:26,489 --> 00:03:29,080 All I have to do now is call a team of the best, 49 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:33,301 put my friends' lives on the line... 50 00:03:38,091 --> 00:03:41,884 I've definitely been struggling with it. I've woken up quite a few mornings 51 00:03:41,957 --> 00:03:44,705 and just almost felt like calling the boys and saying, 52 00:03:45,097 --> 00:03:47,671 I just don't know if I'm in for this one. 53 00:03:49,364 --> 00:03:53,301 This is the obsession: to release yourself by accomplishing the goal. 54 00:03:53,627 --> 00:03:56,593 Or by being stopped by something outside of your control. 55 00:03:57,422 --> 00:04:00,328 But once you start this journey, even if you don't want to go, 56 00:04:01,348 --> 00:04:03,234 you have to. 57 00:04:03,234 --> 00:04:16,762 (Energetic music) 58 00:04:16,878 --> 00:04:20,238 You can run all the big water you want, but how do you prepare for something 59 00:04:20,248 --> 00:04:22,368 that's never been done before? 60 00:04:22,388 --> 00:04:25,909 In a place where help is not on its way. 61 00:04:28,869 --> 00:04:29,590 Congo. 62 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:35,291 A place where experience is just a word. 63 00:04:54,060 --> 00:04:57,558 The lesson that we learned today is not to fuck with these rapids. 64 00:04:57,900 --> 00:05:01,758 FIsher messed up because he got off to the side where whirlpools form, 65 00:05:01,777 --> 00:05:04,198 where all of this stuff goes down out here. 66 00:05:05,258 --> 00:05:08,454 I may have had the closest call of my life, but I didn't come here to die. 67 00:05:08,996 --> 00:05:11,231 I came here to win. 68 00:05:17,287 --> 00:05:20,894 (Helicopter noise) 69 00:05:22,018 --> 00:05:24,934 (Music slowly builds) 70 00:05:56,873 --> 00:05:59,965 -Steady bro! - Fuck, they're not gonna make it dude! 71 00:06:02,618 --> 00:06:05,627 (CONGO: The Grand Inga Project) 72 00:06:05,906 --> 00:06:08,766 All right, so. Spoiler alert: we survived. 73 00:06:09,074 --> 00:06:10,830 (Laughter) 74 00:06:11,258 --> 00:06:17,028 (Applause) 75 00:06:17,406 --> 00:06:20,087 So what you just saw in the introduction there, is 76 00:06:20,217 --> 00:06:25,340 even us extreme sports guys feel trepidation as we approach a new challenge. 77 00:06:25,656 --> 00:06:29,618 And in this case, it was fearing that if we took the next step, 78 00:06:29,779 --> 00:06:34,085 the voyage itself would take on a life of its own, and drag us along with it. 79 00:06:34,823 --> 00:06:40,048 It would be like faring out into a huge river with a strong current, and you can't stop. 80 00:06:40,378 --> 00:06:41,878 It's a commitment. 81 00:06:42,656 --> 00:06:46,910 So how, then, do we prepare for something that's never been done before? 82 00:06:47,738 --> 00:06:53,450 In my profession I have a small box that I start with that has five tools in it. 83 00:06:53,699 --> 00:06:56,419 My equipment: I make sure I have the right gear. 84 00:06:57,017 --> 00:07:01,057 My physical well-being: I make sure that I've prepared physically for the task. 85 00:07:02,538 --> 00:07:07,249 The location: I make sure that I'm in the perfect place to do what I do. 86 00:07:07,299 --> 00:07:10,947 And once I've checked those three off, I use those to develop the other two, 87 00:07:11,137 --> 00:07:13,950 which are the skills and the experience. 88 00:07:14,619 --> 00:07:18,842 But you can't use any of these tools until you demistify risk. 89 00:07:19,573 --> 00:07:24,618 We can mitigate risks purely by understanding them, and the way that we understand them 90 00:07:24,638 --> 00:07:28,226 is that we take a seemingly impossible idea and we break it down 91 00:07:28,256 --> 00:07:33,800 into little digestible parts, and we look at each step individually and see if that is attainable. 92 00:07:34,676 --> 00:07:40,475 What happens then is what we're doing, is that we find that many of our fears are unjustified, 93 00:07:40,778 --> 00:07:45,529 and very often we find that what's before us is far less risky than we thought. 94 00:07:47,958 --> 00:07:54,929 So... (coughs, lowers tone) give me a second. Might need some applause here. 95 00:07:55,446 --> 00:08:00,598 (Applause) 96 00:08:02,323 --> 00:08:06,847 So you know, as humans, we are not inherently risk averse. 97 00:08:07,537 --> 00:08:12,846 We evolved by taking risks, so it's okay if there are risks in what we do. 98 00:08:12,906 --> 00:08:16,068 We simply need to understand those risk, and once we understand them, 99 00:08:16,406 --> 00:08:20,161 we're ready to take the first step. So let me show you what I mean. 100 00:08:20,177 --> 00:08:24,861 Let me show you how I put that to use every time I look at a rapid or a waterfall. 101 00:08:25,737 --> 00:08:30,429 As I paddle up to the top of a waterfall, the first thing I do is climb out of my kayak 102 00:08:30,473 --> 00:08:34,052 and I walk down the side of the river and I look at the pool below. 103 00:08:34,324 --> 00:08:36,190 That's my goal, that's where I want to be. 104 00:08:36,323 --> 00:08:40,096 And it's only then that I turn back at the rapid, and Oh my gosh! 105 00:08:40,406 --> 00:08:43,095 If I look at the whole rapid it's far too daunting. 106 00:08:43,323 --> 00:08:47,258 So what I need to do is break it down into smaller chunks, into individual moves 107 00:08:47,298 --> 00:08:53,738 and see that I can do each move individually, and only then do I figure out how to link those moves together. 108 00:08:54,137 --> 00:08:58,211 So let's zoom in on this photograph. If I would have shown this top part of the rapids 109 00:08:58,217 --> 00:09:03,768 to even an intermediate kayaker, they would say, "Okay. Well that looks fairly chunky, but it's good to go." 110 00:09:04,143 --> 00:09:10,236 And if I showed them the next part, they would say, "Oh, that's a pretty straightforward job. Yeah, let's go do it." 111 00:09:10,568 --> 00:09:14,713 And if I show them the last part, they would say, "Okay, it's pretty spectacular but it's a straight shot. 112 00:09:14,748 --> 00:09:17,465 You don't really need to do anything. It's good to go." 113 00:09:17,796 --> 00:09:19,913 You'll have to take my word for that. 114 00:09:20,882 --> 00:09:24,652 But the job is not done there. Once we cut a problem horizontally, 115 00:09:24,822 --> 00:09:27,514 the next thing we need to do is cut it vertically. 116 00:09:27,573 --> 00:09:32,655 What we're trying to do is establish the path or line that we're likely to be on. 117 00:09:32,778 --> 00:09:37,698 And the reason that we're doing that is to eliminate the parts of the rapid that don't affect us. 118 00:09:37,738 --> 00:09:40,623 The parts of the rapid where we will not be. 119 00:09:40,987 --> 00:09:45,120 Because if we do that, then we can look and see if there are any deadly features. 120 00:09:45,216 --> 00:09:50,053 If those deadly features are in the eliminated part we never have to think about them again. 121 00:09:50,738 --> 00:09:54,411 And if those deadly features are in our path, and they're unavoidable, 122 00:09:54,922 --> 00:09:57,551 well then we don't go. It's far too risky. 123 00:09:57,905 --> 00:10:01,426 That's how extreme sport works. Sorry to disappoint you guys. 124 00:10:02,364 --> 00:10:07,057 So imagine you're walking along a trail like this. You're walking along and you've got a cliff on your left side. 125 00:10:07,216 --> 00:10:12,118 You're thinking about what you're doing while you walk. You're not thinking about the cliff the entire time. 126 00:10:12,513 --> 00:10:17,072 It's only if you turn towards the cliff and start approaching it that it becomes a real danger. 127 00:10:17,323 --> 00:10:18,600 And then you stop. 128 00:10:19,940 --> 00:10:25,709 Okay, so how do you know if you're on the right path, and what happens if you're on the wrong path? 129 00:10:26,270 --> 00:10:33,208 Well, in kayaking there's no turning back. So what that teaches us is not to panic when things go wrong. 130 00:10:33,489 --> 00:10:38,848 When the unexpected occurs we have no choice but to solve the problem and keep on moving. 131 00:10:39,438 --> 00:10:45,286 But fortunately, as in life, if we zoom back just a little bit, perhaps to where we haven't yet 132 00:10:45,296 --> 00:10:48,746 climbed in the kayak and made the commitment, we get to see that very often 133 00:10:48,856 --> 00:10:53,187 we can start down a path, realize we're on the wrong path, turn back and reset the plan. 134 00:10:53,659 --> 00:10:58,506 Let me show you what I mean. (Laughter) 135 00:10:59,357 --> 00:11:02,559 Have you ever heard the cliche, "never give up"? 136 00:11:02,939 --> 00:11:07,621 Well tonight we're canceling it. We don't say that anymore. 137 00:11:08,017 --> 00:11:11,358 From now on we say, "Don't give up too easily." 138 00:11:12,084 --> 00:11:17,900 On this particular trip, our plan was to use a rope to rappel down into the base of Victoria Falls 139 00:11:17,938 --> 00:11:21,173 and kayak through the rapids at the very base of the falls. 140 00:11:21,857 --> 00:11:25,067 Once we got down there, we found the unexpected. 141 00:11:25,296 --> 00:11:30,300 The wind and the spray from the falls themselves were so strong that it was impossible to kayak, 142 00:11:30,377 --> 00:11:35,298 so we had to fall back on to our contingency plan and climb a hundred meters back up the rope 143 00:11:35,459 --> 00:11:37,179 and cancel the whole idea. 144 00:11:37,568 --> 00:11:41,701 But guess what? The TV show we were making about it turned out great, 145 00:11:42,177 --> 00:11:47,300 and we got this photograph. We gave up but we didn't have to feel ashamed of it. 146 00:11:47,900 --> 00:11:54,070 if you refuse to give up on an idea, then you inhibit your ability to experiment. 147 00:11:54,537 --> 00:11:58,942 But if you're willing to give up after a good effort, then when you do give up 148 00:11:58,972 --> 00:12:00,924 there's no reason to feel guilty. 149 00:12:02,030 --> 00:12:06,078 Okay, so I think that now you're starting to get to know me a little bit, so I think that we're ready 150 00:12:06,078 --> 00:12:10,088 to talk about the stadium idea again. How do you guys feel now? 151 00:12:10,744 --> 00:12:14,856 But wait! What if the rope breaks? You could die! 152 00:12:15,947 --> 00:12:18,824 The rope is not going to break, and here's why. 153 00:12:19,296 --> 00:12:25,686 Right from the start, we're going to use a rope that is thousands of pounds stronger than it needs to be. 154 00:12:26,718 --> 00:12:31,603 So we've used the right equipment to eliminate the problem and we never have to think about it again. 155 00:12:32,489 --> 00:12:37,434 We've eliminated the "what if" factor. It's called "pointing positive". 156 00:12:37,854 --> 00:12:43,291 We can now focus on the how, and in this particular case, the more important question is, 157 00:12:43,866 --> 00:12:48,501 "How long does that rope need to be to make sure that we don't hit the ground on the way down?" 158 00:12:49,378 --> 00:12:55,305 And once we're finished, how are we gonna get from the end of the rope back to the ground? 159 00:12:56,038 --> 00:13:01,575 Now, with a few simple mathematical calculations, these are pretty easy problems to solve. 160 00:13:01,937 --> 00:13:06,312 So we're ready to go. Are you guys ready? All right, let's do it. 161 00:13:07,669 --> 00:13:10,461 (electronic music) 162 00:13:35,075 --> 00:13:38,011 (Wind noise) 163 00:13:53,549 --> 00:13:59,183 All right. (Applause) 164 00:14:00,905 --> 00:14:03,212 I can see you want to do that, don't you? 165 00:14:05,149 --> 00:14:08,474 All right. So when we imagined this idea, first of all, 166 00:14:08,539 --> 00:14:14,719 the idea sounds crazy. But once we break it down and demystify the risk, 167 00:14:14,923 --> 00:14:22,543 then we suddenly find that it's so safe that this very swing has now become a fully fledged commercial operation. 168 00:14:22,656 --> 00:14:27,680 Yes. You too can go to Durban, South Africa. You can pay your money, 169 00:14:27,823 --> 00:14:31,479 and you can go and do a giant rope swing across a stadium. 170 00:14:31,687 --> 00:14:35,207 You can take a leap of faith. And hundreds of people do. 171 00:14:35,377 --> 00:14:38,993 And guess what the most common thing that they say is afterwards? 172 00:14:39,668 --> 00:14:46,367 "Man! It just really wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, and I feel as if "If I can do that, 173 00:14:46,689 --> 00:14:51,763 I can do anything!" And guess what? They're absolutely right. 174 00:14:53,073 --> 00:14:58,640 So right now, we all live always at the edge of uncharted waters. 175 00:14:59,167 --> 00:15:03,246 And no matter that they're something meaningless like kayaking down a rapid, 176 00:15:03,456 --> 00:15:08,295 or meaningful like changing the world, the principle is always the same: 177 00:15:09,396 --> 00:15:12,730 We need to buck up and add our piece to the puzzle. 178 00:15:13,592 --> 00:15:15,730 It reminds me of a quote that I heard once. 179 00:15:15,989 --> 00:15:18,854 I was in the deepest gorge in the world, in Tibet. 180 00:15:19,485 --> 00:15:24,767 One of the boys ad-libbed a quote out of a book called "Wanderer" by Sterling Hayden. 181 00:15:24,937 --> 00:15:26,462 And I'll give you just one line. 182 00:15:27,924 --> 00:15:36,429 "Ive always wanted to sail the seven seas, but I can't afford it. What these people can't afford is not to go." 183 00:15:36,961 --> 00:15:38,437 End quote. 184 00:15:38,875 --> 00:15:40,331 Thank you very much, Athens! 185 00:15:40,360 --> 00:15:43,702 It's been a pleasure and a privilege. Good night! 186 00:15:44,028 --> 00:15:48,151 (Applause)