Nassau, Bahamas: A seventh-generation high-wire daredevil pedalled a bicycle across a precarious line strung between two hotel towers on Saturday in an attempt to break his own world record.
Nik Wallenda, of the famous Flying Wallendas circus family, cycled safely more than 31 metres along the wire at the Bahamas' Paradise Island Atlantis resort some 79 metres above the turquoise ocean, without a safety net.
Wallenda holds the current Guinness World Records for longest distance and greatest height travelled by bicycle on a high wire, set in 2008 in Newark, New Jersey, when he travelled 72 metres at a height of 41 metres.
Hundreds of tourists and resort workers gawked from pools and sidewalks, snapping pictures and shooting video.
"It shows you the agility, balance and intestinal fortitude that these people have," said Randy Stein, 54, of Princeton, New Jersey. "It's phenomenal, incredible, a gift of balance."
Guinness will have to verify the new height record, the one he was trying to break on Saturday.
Teeming with sharks
Wallenda later performed a second high-wire stunt on foot, walking about 610 metres at a height of 76 metres over the resort's open-air marine habitat, which teems with sharks, barracudas and piranhas.
It was the longest distance he has travelled by foot on a wire, according to spokesman Winston Simone.
Before the second stunt, Wallenda's father passed out with heat stroke and was carried off in an ambulance. The father is said to be in good condition.
Wallenda never stumbled during either performance, despite winds measured at 28 knots (51 kilometres per hour) and scattered thunderstorms.
