{"id":1466,"date":"2010-08-29T18:50:50","date_gmt":"2010-08-29T22:50:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/?p=1466"},"modified":"2010-08-29T18:50:50","modified_gmt":"2010-08-29T22:50:50","slug":"high-wire-daredevil-amazes-crowds-at-atlantis-paradise-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/2010\/08\/high-wire-daredevil-amazes-crowds-at-atlantis-paradise-island","title":{"rendered":"High-Wire Daredevil Amazes Crowds at Atlantis, Paradise Island"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1467\" style=\"margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px;\" title=\"Nik Wallenda\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/wallenda-e1283121675385-300x146.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"146\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/wallenda-e1283121675385-300x146.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/wallenda-e1283121675385-150x73.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/wallenda-e1283121675385.jpg 510w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Nik Wallenda, of the famous Flying Wallendas circus family, looks sure to break his own Guinness World Record after safely cycling along a wire strung between the Royal Towers at Atlantis, Paradise Island, Bahamas.<\/p>\n<p>Wallenda pedaled more than 31 metres across a precarious wire, at a height some 79 metres above the resort &#8211; without a safety net.<\/p>\n<p>Wallenda currently holds the Guinness World Records for longest distance and greatest height traveled by bicycle on a high wire, set in 2008 in Newark, New Jersey, when he travelled 72 metres at a height of 41 metres.<\/p>\n<p>Once this new stunt is verified by Guiness, Wallenda will have broken his own world record for the highest bicycle ride without a safety net.<\/p>\n<p>Hundreds of tourists and resort workers gawked from pools and footpaths, snapping pictures and shooting video.<\/p>\n<p><object classid=\"clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\" codebase=\"http:\/\/download.macromedia.com\/pub\/shockwave\/cabs\/flash\/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0\"><param name=\"src\" value=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/BCci-EsqW_w\" \/><embed type=\"application\/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"425\" height=\"350\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/v\/BCci-EsqW_w\"><\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It shows you the agility, balance and intestinal fortitude that these people have.\u00a0 It&#8217;s phenomenal, incredible, a gift of balance,&#8221; an amazed observer said.<\/p>\n<p>If that wasn&#8217;t enough, Wallenda later performed a second high-wire stunt on foot, walking about 610 metres at a height of 76 metres over the resort&#8217;s open-air marine habitat, teeming with sharks, barracudas and piranhas.<\/p>\n<p>Spokesman Winston Simone said it was the longest distance Nik has ever travelled by foot on a wire.<\/p>\n<p>Before the second stunt, Wallenda&#8217;s father, who usually rigs the wire and walks along with him on the ground, passed out with heat stroke and was carried off in an ambulance.<\/p>\n<p>The father is said to be in good condition, and Wallenda&#8217;s mother and wife strung the line instead.<\/p>\n<p>Wallenda, known as the &#8220;King of the High Wire&#8221;, didn&#8217;t stumble a bit during either performance, despite winds measured at 51km\/h and scattered thunderstorms looming overhead.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Against all odds I walked on that wire today,&#8221; Wallenda said. &#8220;There was lightning in the area, high winds, and it was the first walk without my father. It was one of the hardest decisions I ever made in my life, and the hardest walk I have ever done.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But my family history and my family tradition is that the show must go on,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Wallenda, a high-wire daredevil, belongs to the seventh generation of The Great Wallendas &#8211; a family of acrobats, jugglers, clowns, aerialists and animal trainers who began working as a circus troupe in the 18th century.<\/p>\n<p>A native and resident of Sarasota, Florida, Wallenda is the great-grandson of circus legend Karl Wallenda, who fell to his death during a wire walk in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1978.<\/p>\n<p>Wallenda, 31, said he hopes to keep performing on the high wires until he is no longer physically able.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I want to be the first person in the world to walk across the Grand Canyon,&#8221; he said, &#8220;and I have the permit to do it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nik Wallenda, of the famous Flying Wallendas circus family, looks sure to break his own Guinness World Record after safely cycling along a wire strung between the Royal Towers at Atlantis, Paradise Island, Bahamas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[55,46,33],"class_list":["post-1466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-awards","tag-celebrities","tag-tourism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1466\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}