will make a passenger's trip through the airport easier. that's it for this edition of "caught on camera." i'm contessa brewer. i hit the ground like a meteorite. >> they're pushing the limits. >> nobody knows what happens when you fall from 180 feet. >> climbing higher. speeding faster. >> everybody move. >> and falling further. >> oh, my. >> never turning down a challenge. >> the whole crowd was into it. everyone was egging me on. >> they take on the unknown. >> oh, my god. come on, buddy. >> and disaster is never far away.

>> one of the problems in setting records is you know you're going to experience things that other people have not. >> oh, we have an accident. "caught on camera: full throttle." hello, i'm contessa brewer. welcome to "caught on camera." remember when your mother said "if at first you don't succeed, try, try again"? we're not sure what your mother would say about the people in this next hour. they take that to heart, even if it means breaking bones along the way. as you watch their spectacular feats, remember, do not try this at home. not that you could, even if you wanted to. a high-flying bmx rider crashes to the earth. ouch. >> in my opinion, bmx is just as dangerous as what evel knievel

was doing. >> steve crandall should know. he's been part of this strange bmx culture since he was a kid. he owns a bike company and has been to hundreds of unofficial stunt events held in back allies and parking lots. >> bmxers in general are pretty subversive. it's an underground culture, a lot of outcasts, misfits, hell raisers and good time havers. >> thank you all for coming out. we'll run this at 4:00 exactly. >> today steve's in richmond, virginia, emcee ago jumping competition over an unusual but tasty obstacle. >> we're going to run over the world's biggest plate of delicious tacos. >> as the riders demonstrate their skills above a giant bowl of tortilla chips it becomes clear that, like nachos, riders get chewed up fast.

the stunts are amazing, but so are the crashes. >> oh! >> today's riding was probably some of the most world class riding you'll see in like a back street parking lot over a plate of nachos that will probably ever exist in the bmx or humanity in general. >> the nachos event may seem absolutely nuts, but it's light fare when compared to the aptly name bone death competition, a bmx event steve covered in 2006 in new bedford, massachusetts. >> we're at the bone death challenge riding in a swamp on some garbage. it was a course basically built in between two buildings on a swamp, ramps made out of junk.

>> bmx rider paul herrane built it. >> it started out as a bet. just built the most ridiculous possible think you can think of, have everyone come out, throw money into a hat and have everyone tell people you have something you think you want to do, you think it's worth a prize, you do it and i'll tell you what your reward can be. it got everyone pushing themselves to the next level. >> they had riders jumping off ledges, riding down rails, riding across like 2 by 6s. they went so far as to have dead animals on the landings. >> one of the daredevil riders who sticks out is matt plassman. he decides he wants to attempt the biggest most difficult jump in the competition, a ten-foot high leap over the two septic tanks known as the holy roller. >> the holy roller was the big

one. we were talking about it since that morning as a joke that oh, maybe somebody will jump this. i do not actually think somebody was going to literally try it. >> paul should have known. in the bmx world, if you build it, apparently they will jump. >> the whole crowd was really into it. and they were like chanting "bonedeath." egging me on. it was just something i felt like i had to do at that point. >> matt charges down the makeshift runway, pedaling hell for leather. >> when i saw matt pedaling, i was a bit concerned? >> concerned? not a word you hear often amid the bravado of these high-risk bmx events. but steve was right to be concerned. the trick was too difficult. matt falls short of the landing and crashes to the ground. steve interviews him just moments later. >> what just happened? >> i try to do jump the holy roller and i bounced off the roller on my face.

it was fun. >> in fact, matt had so much fun, he wants to try the stunt again. >> when matt made his first attempt to jump the holly roller it was scary enough to watch him bounce off it let alone him tell me he wanted to do it again. >> i had the urge to go for it again to see how far i could get. maybe if i push harder this time i'll have just enough to get over it. >> he gave it a little more force, straightened out a couple more pieces of plywood and pedalled full throttle and went at it. >> it's not enough. >> he bounced his hid off the tank, and down hit himself again. >> this time matt doesn't leap to his feet. he's knocked himself out. >> he wasn't moving. he's hurt and he's hurt bad. that's what scared us. >> matt, hey? >> someone called the paramedics

and cops and everyone showed up. >> matt has a concussion and is taken to the hospital, but he doesn't seem much worse for the wear. >> it wasn't like i was in a coma or nothing. i was kind of -- within the next week i probably hopped back on my bike and went riding. >> matt's fellow bmx riders didn't even realize he went to the hospital. >> i don't know if he went with the ambulance or not. i think he turned them down. i think he went and got some food. >> he probably just went to, like dunkin' donuts and got a box of munchkins. >> or perhaps, they think, he went looking for nachos. after all, bmxers are drawn to that flavor. spice, variety, and lot's not forget the crunch. >> you always laugh when your friends fall. what's playful is you're going to fall eventually. what gets me is you could fall 100 times, but the second you land that trick, it's completely worth it.

coming up -- >> dude, let's do this thing, man. >> a kayaker takes the plunge. >> oh, my god. >> but is he diving toward disaster? >> come on, buddy, where are you at? and out of control, a racer is dragged by his runaway bike. when "caught on camera: full throttle" continues. in small business you have to work hard, know your numbers, and stay focused. i was determined to create new york city's first self-serve frozen yogurt franchise. and now you have 42 locations. the more i put into my business the more i get out of it. like 5x your rewards when you make select business purchases with your ink plus card from chase. and with ink, i choose how to redeem my points for things like cash or travel. how's the fro-yo? just peachy...literally. ink from chase. so you can. a dry mouth can be a common side effect. that's why there's biotene. it comes in oral rinse, spray or gel, so there's moisturizing relief for everyone.

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a kayaker plunges over an enormous waterfall on purpose. >> holy [ muted ]. >> and disappears into the foaming water below. >> oh, my god. come on, buddy. >> it takes a certain type of person with a certain threshold for danger to think going over a giant waterfall is a good idea, but such people do exist, and tyler bradt is one of them.

>> my name is tyler bradt. i live in missoula, montana, and i'm a professional kayaker. >> this 23-year-old has been kayaking all his life and travels the globe tackling rapid after white water churning rapid. >> what i've fallen in love with is the extreme side of kayaking. basically running difficult rivers, hard rapids, big drops and waterfalls. >> tyler paddled over his first waterfall at the age of 15, and has never looked back. >> i would say as an extreme kayaker i've probably run 100, 150-plus waterfalls. i've kind of lost count over the years. >> in september 2007, tyler came across alexandra falls in kalg da -- canada's northwest territories. it was far higher than anything

he's ever done before, 107 feet tall, and he decided to go for it. >> the feeling behind running that waterfall was a moment in time that i will remember forever. i surfaced upright without even flipping over off that waterfall. it was amazing. >> the ride over alexandra falls didn't just give him an a major adrenaline rush, he gained the world record for the highest waterfall anyone had successfully kayaked over. tyler thought he'd reached the limit of what was possible in a kayak, nobody could successfully paddle out of a bigger drop. nobody else but him, that is. in the spring of 2009, tyler comes across palouse falls in washington state, just five hours' drive from his hometown. >> it's a picture-perfect waterfall and it was kind of a neat thing to have spent my entire life traveling the world looking for rivers and waterfalls and to find the most beautiful, biggest waterfall

i've ever seen right here in my backyard. >> picture perfect maybe, this is where most people would snap a photograph, and leave it at that. >> by tyler leaves the falls with a nagging feeling and comes back to look at it again and again. >> we're standing here at palouse falls. i haven't been able to get it out of my mind. this is my third time here in three weeks. it's like between 160, 180 feet tall, which is a little wild, you know? nobody has even come remotely close to running anything this big. it's a big gray area. nobody knows what happens when you fall from 180 feet, so definitely makes you a little scared for sure, thinking about it. >> tyler and his kayaking partner russ sturgis go out to check conditions at the lip of the waterfall. >> dude, the level seems absolutely perfect. i love the look of the righthand side lip. i think that the landing's safe.

there's really nothing that says no except for the fact it's a little high. >> nothing that says no? tyler has a different take on waterfalls than your average sightseer. >> dude, let's do this thing, man. i think this needs to happen. >> tyler and russ call in their support team. it looks like tomorrow will be the big day. >> in doing something like palouse falls, you can't really practice for it in any other way but mentally preparing yourself and running it over and again in my head. >> maybe so. but there's a big difference between visualizing going over a waterfall and actually doing it. the next day the safety team takes their places. two kayakers wading in the pool, a rescuer ready to rappel down behind the waterfall to pull out tyler and another on the shore with a lifeline. they also have multiple video

cameras pointed at the falls ready to record what will happen. >> at that point i was fully prepared to be able to walk away from it and say, look, this isn't something that i want to do. as it was, i decided that it was something that i wanted to do. so i gave the team the go ahead signal that things were happening. i got in my kayak. >> then he pushes off. >> approaching palouse it's flat water all the way to the waterfall so you have time for a conscious thought process, am i making the right decision? which is a dangerous thing to be thinking when you go off a waterfall. as soon as the water takes hold, your kayak begins to accelerate, everything goes away and you're simply focused on running the waterfall. >> tyler disappears into the mist, as his friends hold their breath. >> oh, my god.

come on, buddy. >> come on. >> looking for any sign of him. >> come on, t.d., bud, where are you at? >> dude down by the right wall in the shadows. >> he's made it. he emerges from the shadow behind his friends as boats, still in the kayak with only a broken paddle to show for the brutal plunge into the pounding water. >> the impact off of palouse was incredibly violent. i was jackknifed out of my tuck, thrown against the back of my boat, my paddles snapped, the wind was knocked out of me. >> tyler later discovers that palouse falls was even bigger than e estimated. a record smashing 186-feet tall. almost twice as high as alexandra falls. >> i'm very used to going over the lip, reaching free fall and landing, but i have experienced acceleration like i've never felt before.

wherein a matter of second you go from being at the top of the waterfall to being at the bottom of the waterfall. it's an incredibly overwhelming experience. you might say the whole experience was completely over the top. so what's next for tie officer will will he try to beat his new record? >> i don't envision myself running anything higher than palouse. that's what i said after alexandra, though. i'm looking forward to finding that out and to continue living my life-style as a kayaker and traveling the world and being able to meet and experience amazing people alongside incredible locations. coming up, a speeding motorcycle smashes to pieces. >> he crashed at probably 200 miles an hour. nothing moving out there. and are these guys flipping crazy? when "caught on camera: full throttle" continues.

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a motorcycle racer pushes the limit, and gets dragged hundreds of yards by a runaway bike. it's june 28, 1998, legendary show stopper ron cook is to break the 200 miles per hour land speed motorcycle record at murak dry lake in california. >> we knew he was going to give us a good number and go fast. >> this videographer is there at the starting line catching what he thinks will be another history making day for ron cook. after all, ron has already smashed 12 other speed records and rarely disappoints. >> i've seen ron race before a. he's very fast on the bike. his bike is 200 miles an hour.

kawasaki, has a nitrous bottle on it. this thing is a rocket. >> mark watches as ron shoots down the track disappearing into a cloud of dust. it's only later he learns what happens next ron moves up to fourth gear and hits the nitrous boost button gaining enough power to hit top speed. he's blasting at 175 miles per hour when his front wheel begins to wobble. ron struggles to regain control, but it's a losing battle. he makes a split second decision to aplan don the bike before it crashes, but as this terrifying video shows, ron doesn't fall away from the bike. his right leg is caught under the seat, pulling him at almost 200 miles per hour along the hard, dusty surface. >> and the bike actually dragged him like a horse would drag a cowboy. so it was quite a ride. >> the friction of his body against the grounds burns through his protective suit. in another moment, it will tear his skin to shreds. somehow ron flips his body over

and amazingly pulls free. as the bike speeds away, ron tumbles along the ground. it doesn't seem possible that he's not only survived the accident, he can stand up and has barely a scratch on him. >> i thank the lord that i'm still here with minor injuries, not too bad. >> i saw him shortly after. he drove his pickup truck back to the start line. >> i do plan to run again. i still want to get the 200 miles an hour record. this is part of the game here. it's just a matter of time before you get in a wreck. >> you would think ron might have learned his lesson and given up racing, but only two weeks after his spectacular wipeout he's back at it, showing

up at el mirage dry lake for another shot at the record. mark brazzo is there and isn't at all surprised to see ron. >> he's very successful, very fast. there was way ron was not going to get back on that motorcycle. >> but ron has a new worry. track conditions don't look good. >> the dirt here is all broken up. i don't like it for riding that loose stuff. it can get kind of squirrely. track conditions could definitely be better. >> but ron is not about to back down. he's ready to get back on the bike and do what it is he does best -- break records. >> i'm in a cautious state of mind. i made changes on the motorcycle and the changes i'm confident but there's still a little bit of nervousness there, there always is after a crash. you just have to get back on the saddle, do it again. let's just say i'm optimistically cautious. >> as ron prepares his bike, mark is manning his camera midway down the track. >> i always want to make sure i get a shot of ron because he is

the fastest thing on two wheels. i heard over the radio that ron was taking off from the start line so i immediately grabbed my camera and aimed. and almost immediately he went into the high-speed wobble. >> mark's seen that wobble before and he knows what's coming. as the camera roll, ron's bike hits the loose dirt on the track. instantly ron flies through the air as the bike smashes to pieces in a cloud of dust. >> rider down! everybody move. >> he crashed at probably 200 miles an hour. there was quite a debris field. there was debris flying everywhere. there was dust, motorcycle parts. it was difficult to see where he was. there was nothing moving out there. >> emts rush to ron's side. eventually word comes back to the anxious spectators. incredibly, ron has survived once again. >> i hit the ground just like a meteorite tumbling, tumbling. i felt like i was in a washing machine.

all of a sudden everything was quiet. all i saw was a big blue sky and a big bright sun, laying on the ground on my back side looking up through my helmet going, hmm, maybe i'm in heaven now, maybe this all ended. >> lying on the ground he tests his limbs to see if they're still attached. >> got to my right leg it moved, but when i lifted up the leg, the leg lifted up but my foot stayed on the ground. >> ron has broken five bones in his rielgts leg. this time he's rushed to the hospital. he's also broken his right arm and as third degree and forth degree burns from skidding over the hard surface. >> i went 588 feet. that's almost like two football fields tum ling and tumbling end over end. i'm amazed that i could go that far and still come out alive. >> ron not only survives, he has a new record. but not the one he was aiming for. his latest entry in the record books is for surviving the

highest speed motorcycle crash and that record is good enough for ron cook. after a long period of recovery, he retires from racing. >> i survived two bad accidents. i should have died in both of them. maybe the third one will do me in. maybe my recovery took three years for a reason. maybe it made me slow down and say, you know what, son? you've done enough. coming up, balancing on the brink. a high-wire walker steps into danger. and -- >> look at the penalty for failure, dude. >> a cliff top crumbles and a mountain biker tumbles. >> i literally thought i was watching miles fall to his death. >> when "caught on camera full throttle" continues. ♪ i'm going my way... ♪i leave a story untold...

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heck. maybe even 9. make no mistake about it. they're out there. i guarantee it. welcome to the nascar xfinity series. here's your hour's top stories. chilling new surveillance video released in an edited form by

tunisia's interior ministry shows gunman walking around the museum during wednesday's attack. an isis-linked group has claimed responsibility for that incident which left 23 people dead. the man suspected of attacking three tsa agents in new orleans last night is in critical condition. richard white was shot by a sheriff's deputy after he allegedly brannished bug spray and a machete. officers found other weapons in his bag and car. now back to "caught on camera." welcome back to "caught on camera." i'm contessa brewer. we're watching adventure seekers pushing the limit, breaking records and, all too often, crashing. but why do they do it? what makes them drive faster? climb higher? take bigger chances than the rest of us? our next risk taker has an interesting motivation for a breathtaking stunt that puts him on top of the world. christian skoue is balancing

on a narrow cord more than 3,000 feet above a norwegian fjord. he's attacking the world's highest slack line walk when suddenly -- it's august 3, 2006. christian is atop a mountain in southwest norway. he's strung the nylon cord himself, testing each screw to make sure it's securely fastened and then edging along the wire, checking it inch by inch. his only protection if he falls during the attempt will be a safety harness attached to the line. if a cord or screws break christian will plunge to his death. >> translator: there are a lot of things that can go wrong. for example, you could have something sharp in your pocket that could cut the line. >> once christian has gone through the safety check, he begins psyching himself up. music gets him in the zone.

it's hard to believe that anyone can relax perched so high above rocky cliffs, but with his feet dangling over the edge of the canyon like he's just sitting at the kitchen table, christian finds peace. he's ready. he edges along the rope to the other side of the ravine. christian climbs on to the line and struggles to find his balance. he's tried and failed to do this same slyke line walk before so he knows how difficult it will be. >> translator: the first steps are some of the worst. the start is the most difficult. >> tentatively, he takes a few steps. he tumbles, instinctively clinging to the rope for safety. it's a scary reminder how easily this can go wrong. seemingly unshaken, christian

prepares to start again. appears to start again. unlike a tight rope, the slack line is loose. it bounces and swings as christian tries to balance. the line is flat, but only one inch thick. christian is 3,280 feet in the air, that's nearly three times the height of the empire state building. slowly, cautiously, breathing deeply, christian places one foot in front of the other, bridging the gulf step by step. as he reaches the halfway point, he starts singing to himself. a tiny voice in the vast canyon. seconds later -- >> woo-hoo! >> he's made it.

>> yeah! >> immediately after the stunt, christian tries to explain why he took on the challenge. >> translator: we create contrast in our lives, so that for things to be really great, we must also experience hell. standing on that line is hell. it's damn good to come home and sit on the sofa and relax. >> be careful. oh. oh, no. a mountain biker plunges head over heels down a rocky cliff. >> it's a hard to describe experience when you think you see another human being in the process of dying. >> january 1, 2004, chorizo gorge, southern california. for experience cyclist bill and

todd, it's an annual tradition. bill's camera is recording as the men make their way along the narrow cliff top paths. they've been riding for almost three hours when miles breaks abruptly. this section of the trail is crumbling along the edge leaving judge inches to spare above a dangerously steep drop. >> look at the penalty for failure, dude. >> miles decides to try riding over the eroded area and moves his bike back up the trail to get a running start. >> where we stopped looked pretty freaking scary to me. i couldn't see riding that so i'm walking by. as i walked over there i looked over the edge and i was like holy crap, that's a big -- that's a big drop. >> as bill watches from the other side of the gap, another friend, e rick. attempts the narrow trailer. >> eric got up to the crux spot, which is the nastiest spot along the trail and he decided to put a foot down and tripod through the area. >> he makes it but barely. >> that's a hell of a job.

>> now it's miles' turn. he tries the same technique but loses his balance. suddenly, disaster. >> oh, [ bleep ]. oh, my -- >> you see him fall for a while. you see him hit and bounce. he catches more air, going shoulder over shoulder. i literally thought i was watching miles fall to his death. >> after miles plummets almost 150 feet over jagged rocks, his friends see him leap to his feet. >> are you all right? >> sit down, sit down. >> don't move, miles, until you know everything's connected. >> bill puts the camera down as miles scrambles back up the stony slope. he can't believe he's not more badly hurt. >> i was wearing a helmet and backpack, both of which i credit with saving my life. it was a big drop and very unforgiving terrain. my first thought was that's it, i'm going to die. i was so focused on trying to

grab anything i could, trying to stop my fall, that i guess i wasn't thinking about how much it hurt. >> but miles will have plenty of time to feel exactly how much it hurt. once his makes it back to the path, he must bike in horrible pain back to the trailhead more than ten miles away. >> my right hand was broken, left wrist was very badly sprain sod it was hard to hold on to the handlebars. i'd also broken my glasses and i'm fairly near sight sod it was hard to see where i was going. but the plus side that movement kept me from going into shock. >> despite his close call, miles' cliff top tumble hasn't deterred him from mountain biking. why would it? like all these daredevils, he's soon back at it just six weeks after the accident. he's ride nag 24-hour race in arizona. >> people have asked me if i learned anything from this andive to say no, really, i

haven't. if i were faced with that same situation again i would give it another shot. hopefully i'd make it this time. coming up -- hydroplane racing is one twisted sport. >> you've got to remember that you're traveling at over a football field per second. when something happens, it's going to be big. and gigantic waves make for colossal wipeouts, when "caught on camera: full throttle" continues. in small business you have to work hard, know your numbers, and stay focused. i was determined to create new york city's first self-serve frozen yogurt franchise. and now you have 42 locations. the more i put into my business the more i get out of it. like 5x your rewards when you make select business purchases with your ink plus card from chase. and with ink, i choose how to redeem my points for things like cash or travel. how's the fro-yo? just peachy...literally. ink from chase. so you can.

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>> in the blink of an eye, a piece of equipment fails or a driver makes a mistake, that boat could be 50 feet up in the air or backwards. >> at first glance, this conservatively dressed man might look more like a banker than a daredevil, but in champion driver has been racing hydroplanes for years and has been in some pretty dramatic crashes. >> we have an accident. >> you're travels at over a football field per second. so if you aren't anticipating what what's going to happen, you're likely to crash. >> they flip through the air as if they weigh nothing, but these boats are 30 feet long, 7,000 pounds with 4,000 horsepower engine. >> it's a celebration of excess.

everything about it is bigger and badder and more extensive than you could possibly imagine. >> dave says imagine driving your car at 200 miles an hour without springs or shocks. that's what it feels like to ride this thing. >> the environment of looking from the outside of a hydroplane, it likes wonderful, graceful vehicle that flies over the water and the truth is the boat is actually beating the snot out of the driver that's inside. >> david fell in love with racing boats as a teenager. while most kids his age were out riding bicycles -- >> i started out racing flat-bottom boats, because that's what my uncle had done. >> dave, good-bye. >> and it was a lot of fun, and it progressed into bigger flat-bottom boats, managed to set a lot of world records and win a lot of championships. >> from there, of course, it was a step to racing hydroplanes.

dave's soon breaking almost every record in the book. in 2004, he decides to see just how fast he can drive his legendary hydroplane, "miss budweiser" and tries for the world straight away speed record. >> we'll be racing hard this weekend against time and mother nature and see what we're made o of. >> dave doesn't let his nerves show as he sets out to make the record attempt. >> one of the problems in setting records is you know you're going to experience things that other people have not. >> everyone pay attention, the course is live. >> the speed record is calculated by averaging the time over two one-kilometer runs. >> 9.83. >> the speed to beat is 198 miles per hour. dave is buckled into the cockpit and hits the gas. >> here he comes. >> 213.437 miles an hour. >> he's on record pace over the first leg. for the second leg, he gives it everything he's got.

>> 225. >> 225. 30 -- >> he's out of it. >> it's more than fast enough to break the world record, but the burst of speed also breaks the boat's rudder. >> the race is on hold. the bud has got a hole in it and we need to get him off the course. >> luckily dave isn't hurt in this record stunt. >> smashed the propeller and cleared the propeller and strut off the boat. >> but it's a very different story seven years earlier. dave was at the columbia cup championship in washington state, ready to claim the record for the most consecutive race wins. this would be his 20th win in a row. but as he bursts out of the gate, almost instantly the boat has hit two waves in a row. at top speed, the force is too much and the hydroplane blows over.

the top of the boat crashes onto the water, exploding the protective canopy, ripping off his oxygen mask and submerging him in the water. >> i was unconscious under water. the safety team got there right away, got me onto the bottom of the boat. they cleared the airway and got the water out. >> amazingly, dave survives. his hand is crushed by the flying metal. he ends up losing two fingers on his right hand. it's the type of crash that might deter another driver from racing all together, but dave is no quitter. >> i just felt i had something more to give for the sport and things to prove to myself. >> dave and the team rebuild miss budweiser redesigning the capsule to make it safer. >> luckily to date since we've done that, nobody has been killed or hurt significantly inside that capsule.

>> years later, dave will have good reason to be thankful for that safer capsule. in the summer of 2009, he enters thunder on the ohio, a race he's won ten times before. in his first heat another driver loses control and hits dave's boat. dave flips over and smashes into the water. but dave's work redesigning the driver's capsule pays off. it stays in one piece, and he waits in safety for help to arrive. >> the only injury i got was a finger injury, where it broke a knuckle in the finger. as boat accidents go, i'll take that. that's a good one. >> after decades of speeding, crashing, and tumbling through the air, dave says driving a hydroplane is a thrill few can experience. but many more can enjoy watching

safely from the shore. >> there's such an unexpected and unanticipated and unpredictable sport. i think people watch because they know when something happens, it's going to be big. >> coming up -- wipeout. >> my god. >> oh, he's down. >> that guy's going to die. >> a surfer is trapped under water, pounded by giant waves. >> you could tell even if he gets a breath after this one, it's going to be horrible. >> when "caught on camera: full throttle" continues.

so i got on the plane and thought... yeah! empty seat next to me. and then i saw him, slowly coming down the aisle. one of those guys who just can't stop talking. i was downloading a movie. i was trying to download a movie. i have verizon. i don't. i get that little spinning wheel. download didn't finish. finished the download. headphones on. and i'm safe. i didn't finish in time. so... many... stories.

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[ chuckles ] he'sthere's a guy out there whose making a name for himself in a sport where your name and maybe a number are what define you. somewhere in that pack is a driver that can intimidate the intimidator. a guy that can take the king 7 and make it 8. heck. maybe even 9. make no mistake about it. they're out there. i guarantee it. welcome to the nascar xfinity series. a surfer comes tumbling down a giant wall of water and gets trapped underneath the crushing waves. >> that guy's going to die. >> in the world of big wave surfing, maverick surf spot in northern california is

legendary. >> maverick's is like a holy spot for big wave surfing. >> neil matthews has been surfing almost all his life, but he's never seen anything that compares to mavericks. >> if you go to mavericks for your first time, pretty much no matter where you surfed before and what kind of big wave experience you've had, you will find it to be remarkable. >> they've measured waves up to like 70 feet. and they actually get bigger than that. >> filmmaker grant washburn has been surfing and shooting the giant waves of mavericks for almost two decades. he's seen some incredible surfing and some insane wipeouts. >> it's not necessarily harder to ride big waves. the stakes are higher, and they are punished more severely. so if you make a big mistake at

mavericks it's going to be unlike anything that would happen to any surfer pretty much anywhere else. january 30th, 1998. the el nino weather pattern makes for a winter of record surf and a big swell is coming in from hawaii. >> it didn't originally look that huge, but they actually were so thick and so powerful that they were some of biggest waves we had seen. >> the waves are powerful enough to give even the most experienced surfers second thoughts. but a few decide they can't miss this opportunity. as grant films, one of mavericks' best-known surfers, who goes by the name flea, goes for a wave. he doesn't make it. >> when he came up to get his breath, the next wave came right on him. this huge wave. beat him down into -- really deep. he held his breath, got pushed into the rocks and got stuck there.

>> the leech attachal flea's surfboard to his leg is wrapped around one of the jagged rocks so dangerous, surfers call it "the boneyard." the battering yards give flea no chance to release himself. >> just surge after surge, held in the spot. we thought we were going to watch him die, because he's in 15-foot whitewater being pounded by waves. there's no way anyone can get there. >> miraculously the leash comes off, and flea makes it safely to shore. >> it wasn't that big of a mistake. it wasn't that bold of an attempt. so that scares everybody off a bit. people are like "whoa, okay." >> everybody but one. >> neil is already on his way out to the surf spot and doesn't see flea's narrow escape. after a full 45 minutes of paddling, he reaches the point where the waves are breaking. he sees a big wave coming and takes it. >> he got it. oh, my god. >> oh, he's dead. that guy's going to die. >> his balance was thrown off.

and he falls really hard into the middle of the wave. the wave lands on him. and you could tell even if he gets a breath after this one, it's going to be horrible. >> on shore, grant watches, as neil disappears below the massive wave. he scans the foamy water, hoping he'll surface. >> you can see his surf board sitting there and it's pulling. he's got a rope to his leg and it's pointing up the whole time, which means he's about 20 feet underwater. >> surfers call this tombstoning. neil is trapped deep underwater. a second wave, bigger than the first, crashes directly onto his board. >> i was looking up seeing daylight thinking i'm going to get a breath. then all of a sudden i dropped back down to the bottom like an elevator ride. and i was hanging out there thinking, okay, maybe i need to get some air and starting to get a little bit worried. and then it happened again, another boom.

>> a third wave has broken overhead. the boom shoots neil up to the surface and finally he catches a breath. but just as he gasps for air, he spots the jagged rocks and knows he's in deadly territory, the same place flea just narrowly escaped. "the bone yard." >> there was another 20-foot wall of whitewater coming toward me. and so i decided to grab onto the back of my board and point it toward the crack in between the rocks. somehow i managed to balance myself between the rocks and make it to the lagoon safely. >> neil was held underwater for almost a full minute, pummeled by three enormous waves before he drew a breath. it's amazing he's still alive. >> i don't think there's many wipeouts in the history of the sport that are nearly as bad as his. he lived, but he got lucky. there have been people that have died. >> neil paddles to shore through the foaming waves.

he later discovers that the pounding whitewater broke his back. >> i couldn't do anything. i was just that far under. it felt like i was going over the falls over and over again. >> but surfer dudes are built tough. a broken back didn't stop neil from returning to mavericks, even if this maverick approaches the sport a little more cautiously. the rush he gets surfing is in his bones. >> when i finish every single ride that i ever had at mavericks i feel enlightened and i feel like i've done something just wonderful. so there you go. extreme athletes who are not just breaking barriers, they're smashing them to pieces again and again. if you have a video you'd like to send to us, you can log on to our website. caughtoncamera.msnbc.com. i'm contessa brewer. that's it for this edition of "caught on camera.

a hungry eel. an aggressive octopus. >> and i turned over to look at doug and next thing i know, he's got this thing pancaked to his face. >> killer whales stalking their prey. >> there they go. look at this. three of them. >> oh, god. oh, no! >> from the depths of the ocean, some of nature's most vicious predators on the attack. >> i just thought that the fish stabbed him in the face, and i was like, oh, my god, my brother's dead. oh, my god. oh, my god. >> rare and terrifying encounters under the sea. >> all of a