“The rumour around town was that I was going to jump out of a helicopter. That wasn’t exactly right.” Despite using the kind of propeller that spins under water rather than spinning through the air, Maui-based kiteboarder Jesse Richman managed to soar up to almost 250m – a kiteboarding world record – above the Columbia River. How? A “tow-up” from BASE-jumper friend Jon Malmberg, using his wakeboard boat.

“We’ve wanted to do this for years,” says Richman, who won the Red Bull King of the Air in February on Maui. “I started experimenting last summer with a reinforced bar, and extra kite lines. But we never got to the point where we felt safe enough to go really high.”

“At one point, I was moving at 57mph airspeed,” said Jesse. Richman’s speed, height, acceleration and other three-dimensional data were recorded using a handy new iPhone app + device called the Xensr case, which measures movement in mere millimetres.

[RedBull / JesseTowUp]