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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I watched (sort of) - it was freaking me out.  Why did he stop twice and kneel down?  was that planned? Was it because of the wind and/or he was losing his balance? I am glad he made it, but he is a complete NUT.  There is no point in risking your life for a stunt. [/quote]

It stabilizes the wire. Over time, each step makes the wire bounce, and walking at a consistent speed/gait makes the wire build up a harmonic wave so that each bounce becomes higher and higher. Stopping and kneeling dampens the wave so that it's safe for him to continue walking. If you saw any of the interviews with him, he also talks about how he continually adjusts his speed and step size to help quell that bounce.

It's a similar effect to what caused the Tacoma Narrows bridge to collapse.

From other interviews with him, his argument against safety gear is that it gives you a false sense of security and leads to carelessness. Apparently one of his family members was badly injured (killed?) when he fell into a net, and bounced right out of it. Also, because he doesn't generally use it, it throws off his balance. (Personally, I find this line of argument kind of crazy when dealing with things like crossing the grand canyon, but wanted to share his viewpoint.)

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