By Chris Breece
 
July 23, 2010
 
NEAR GOLD HILL, Ore. - Life can sometimes bring rapid and sudden turns.
 
For 24-year-old Chris Korbulic, it was becoming a professional kayaker.
 
"Probably would have said, 'you're crazy. I'm never going to run that kind of stuff.' And I was saying that a while ago. I was saying, 'no, I'm not going to run those kinds of things. I'm not interested'," Korbulic said.
 
Five years ago, while at Oregon State University, Korbulic determined kayaking was his true passion, and left school to pursued his dream.
 
"It wasn't easy for us to say, 'oh yeah, go ahead, quit college.' We are a very education-oriented family," said Mary Korbulic, Chris's mother.
 
"Some people were saying, 'don't do this. You need to get your education and finish what you started.' But people, for the most part, and surprisingly, my parents were really excited about it. They thought it was great I was taking the opportunity while I can. While I'm still young, to travel and adventure, and go explore new places," Chris said.
 
Korbulic's big break came a few years ago while on a trip in South America.
 
"Pedro Leva, who had this great vision to break the world record of the highest waterfall descent. And I was pretty intrigued by that and actually watched Pedro break the world record for running the tallest waterfall, which was 128 feet," Chris said.
 
The stunt gained worldwide attention. From there Korbulic and his friends starred in a reality kayaking television show, which aired in most of Latin America. Since then, he has been hired by Eddie Bauer's new outdoor sports brand. He travels the world exploring new rivers.
 
"There's nothing more exciting to me than to go on a river where I know nobody's ever floated down, nobody's ever paddled down," Chris said.
 
"He's a humble person. He's not a show-off type guy. So when he does these things that other people think are adrenaline junky stunts, I know that's not what he's really doing," Mary said.
 
"One of my biggest motivations now is to expand the sport and get a lot of people into kayaking so they can enjoy what I've enjoyed. And I think there's no better way to go experience nature and experience your local surroundings than by floating down a river," Chris said.
 
Chris says there's some great rafting in Southern Oregon.
 
"If you live in Medford or Ashland or Central Point and you've never floated down the Rogue River, I think you're kind of missing out. This is what makes the valley what it is. Maybe it's home, but it seems like paradise, and I always feel fortunate that I was born and grew up here," Chris said.