Man on a wire

Bangkok once again became a playground for extreme sport when American slackliner Andy Lewis broke his personal record on Wednesday by walking a rope 169-metres long and tied 175 metres above ground, between The Offices at CentralWorld and the Red Sky Bar on the 55th floor of Centara Grand at CentralWorld within two hours.
In “Rexona Men presents the World Record Breaking Slackline” event, the 28-year-old Californian braved the afternoon heat and a surprisingly strong wind to walk the whole length in just 65 minutes. This marked a new personal record for the world slackline champion, whose previous best was a 105-metre-long rope in Las Vegas last year. So far he has walked more than 100 lines, 62 of them as a free solo without a safety harness.
A wild child fascinated by heights and the great outdoors, Lewis learned to slackline in 2004, and since 2008 has been winning or on the podium at all major slackline competitions. He picked up first prize at the Slackline World Cup 2012 in Germany and later that year slacklined across the stage of the Super Bowl dressed in a toga while Madonna performed below.
A few hours before his Bangkok adventure, Lewis sat down with us for a chat.


What happened to playing baseball and basketball like normal kids?
My interest in slacklining was spawned because I was looking for something that wasn’t normal! My sport had to be something unique. I looked at different sports but there was something missing from all of them. I also wanted to connect with the outdoors but didn’t want to be limited, for instance, by skiing where you have to go somewhere where there is snow. Slacklining is a sport you can do anywhere.

So you just go around slacklining between tall buildings and mountains?
If it were that easy, it wouldn’t be special at all! Access is very difficult thing to get, and then on top of that you need a team to rig the line. We had the best Thai climbers come and help us rig this line. Then you need equipment, the gear and to schedule the time to clear the road. Every step is about cutting through red tape. You can’t just go to a building and rig the line.

And sometimes you slackline naked. Why?
We’re born naked but somehow nakedness has become weird. When I try to focus, clothes become a distraction. I want just me and the line, and nothing else. It’s not the idea of being naked; it’s the idea of nothing holding you back. When the clothes come off, I shed my fear. When I am up there I think about death, about falling and I am so scared my heart is pounding. But to cross that line, it has to be me and the line. It sounds ridiculous but I can’t really explain it.

What’s more important, the body or the mind?
Slackline is very physical sport. You need to have muscle and be able to breathe and force yourself to go across the line. A strong person with a weak mind will not able to do this but a small person with no muscle but a strong mind can slackline. They can focus and all the distractions, noises, doubts and fears fall away. It’s the spirituality of slacklining.

Other than its being a very unique sport, why are you so crazy about slacklining?
I like to push social limits as well as my own mental and physical boundaries. The world has lost much of its humanity. In many parts of the world, we’ve lost the ability to just be human, and that’s horrible. It’s awesome to be free and confident. It’s great to be yourself and to love being yourself.

It seems slacklining is also a form of spiritual guidance for you.
Yes, it’s like my religion. Everyone looks up at the stars and wonders why we’re here. A lot of people listen to what other people have to say, but I wanted to find my own way. God is the most personal connection and that’s beautiful, but you have to find it yourself. And doing things that can make you die or sad makes you realise that life is so tiny. It’s hard to see people trying to believe in something else rather than themselves. Eight months ago today my friend died and that told me that life can be taken away like in the blink of an eye. I don’t want to waste my life, so I am trying to find my own God, my own way, my own love and help other people realise that you can find your own personal connection. I don’t want to die sad or with regrets.

What goes through your mind when you’re up there on the line?
It varies. I can feel comfortable and wonderful or I can be scared to death. There’s this moment that I call the “matrix” when you’re very focused and feel that you could do anything, but on the opposite side you have this fear that is so distracting You can’t move and can’t even look at the line – it’s that powerful. But it’s all a metaphor for life; that’s what slacklining is all about.

How so?
You see the line but you can’t just get across. You have to take one step at a time. You think about the next step, but you can’t take it unless you’re very focused on the step that you’re in. It’s about focusing and feeling good in the moment, but also having an end goal. On the line I am really focused in the moment, and living in the moment is exactly how I live.

What did you mother say about your career choice?
My parents were against everything I did. I started slacklining right before I went to college and I knew immediately it was something I was going to carry on doing. Everyone said, “you’re wasting your time; you’re going to kill yourself”, and yet they also saw why I was doing it, that I loved it. I would come home for Thanksgiving and my family would talk about was how I was making them scared. The neighbours would yell at me, saying I was being mean to my family. I would stay calm and just tell them stories of the cool places I’d been to, things I’d seen and people I’d met and I how I was doing these amazing things.