Red Bull athlete Tyler Bereman stares out at the peaceful Florida lake, facing the challenge of six islands ahead of him. One slip and you’re in, and the thought of a 220-pound machine joining you is sobering. However, Bereman powers up the motor and launches himself into a series of jumps that can be up to 150 feet long each. This project, nicknamed Island Hopper, began as a wild concept that Bereman and track mastermind Jason Baker just had to attempt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGnHMPvdK7c
Over the course of 18 months, they took a risky idea and made it a reality. First, they built a full replica course in California to test and fine-tune the details. Bereman spent a lot of time on the bike there, practicing his lines and increasing his speed, honing the abilities needed to achieve this daring new stunt.
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The team then proceeded to Florida, where they worked for almost 1,500 hours to finish the job. This included building all of the islands that dot the lake, ramps that rise two to four feet above the water, and custom-made floating barges that can take the impact of a rapid 40 mph in full gear weighing 190 pounds.
The crew used 3D scanners to map all of the distances and trajectories on the lake, ensuring that they knew exactly what they were working with. They designed the platforms to be as sturdy as possible while being simple to set up and operate, causing as little damage to local wildlife as possible. Safety was taken extremely seriously, and they participated in breath-holding training sessions with professionals to guarantee they could handle an underwater escape if the bike sank.
Parks Bonifay, a wakeboard legend, stood out on the sidelines to provide encouragement and keep an eye on things if they went out of hand. Bereman negotiated the whole 2,316-foot course in a single, faultless run, clearing 15 of those big gaps where you sit on the bike, about 150 feet in the air. On the final run, he pinned the throttle wide open, roaring across the finish before dropping the bike and collapsing in relief on solid ground.
The entire event was captured in an unprecedented way, with over 40 iPhone 17 Pro Max phones used in the shot, each positioned to capture a unique angle. Apple was an important part of this project, lending them all of those phones and placing them throughout the lake, including on the islands, the bike itself, and even Bereman’s chest. They also had several iPhones hooked up to an FPV drone that was doing all the work of following Bereman as he soared into the air on those big 150-foot leaps over the sea.
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