Bio
Ask any up-and-coming South American kayaker who their hero is and the likelihood is that you’ll get the same answer: Rafael Ortiz. The Mexican has garnered a massive legion of fans with his aggressive, all-out approach and he can regularly be seen hurling his boat off 100-foot waterfalls and down the gnarliest of whitewater runs. Ortiz learned to paddle in Veracruz but honed his skills in Canada and in 2005 became the first Mexican ever to compete at the World Freestyle Championships.
It was daredevil Ben Stookesberry who introduced Rafael to the thrills of expedition paddling, a sport that has taken him all over the world. During a expedition in Veracurz in 2010, Rafael conquered the second highest waterfall in the world, The Big Banana Fall (42mts).
In 2012, Rafael had one of the busiest years of his life, beginning with a 6 week expedition to New Zealand with Ben Brown, for the Red Bull Flow Hunters project. It was followed with a short adventure in Washington, US, where he managed to land the tallest waterfall ever dropped by a man, The Pallouse Falls with 57.6m.
Now a top international kayaker in waterfall, Rafael finished the year in Mexico´s homeland called Red Bull Chasing Waterfalls, a two-year project for discover unknown routes, rivers and of course waterfalls. 2013 starts with a Red Bull US project alongside Ian Walsh and other legends.
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