It looked like the only wave Frenchman Anicet Leone would get was a tearful farewell, but he and his offsider managed to hit 75kph as their surfboard rattled along a tightrope slung between two mountains.
Then, pooper valves a-flutter, they bailed into the ravine 600m below.
The setting was the Vercors Massif in France, and the pair belong to a group called The Flying Frenchies, Gallic galahs who pull off a lot wacky shit which often involves BASE jumping.
Label us as fuddie-duddies, but 600m is in the shitty grey area for jumping off things. We either want a lot more height than that – say 6000m, so the ’chute can open and there’s time to fight EBE (explosive bowel evacuation) – or maybe 0.6m, so we can do a bit of tuck’n’roll on the grass, bounce up like we’ve done something clever and highfive anyone who was watching.
But that’s us.
On this particular day the group did a few wild stunts, including playing musical instruments while hanging from the high wire. Maybe we should send them an encouraging French letter to use on their French horns.