On the 25th of November 2016 Joanna Di Grígoli beat her own personal best by 240 km and landed than 2 km away from beating the longest women’s footlaunch in history flying just over 400 km in Quixada, Brazil. But this talk is a lot more than chasing records. The flight in Brazil in the topping on the cake. Joanna grew up in Caracas, Venezuela and hasn’t been able to ignore the flying dream since she was a child. Her drive and stubborness to pursue her passion has at times caused some problems (like when she sold her violin to attend a comp!) and in this talk she takes us to at times some dark and very personal places (surviving a terrible crash at the Superfinal, losing her husband to flight, recovering from eternal fear), but the journey, like a great flight pays off in spades and is one you will not soon forget. You’ve seen her work in the Spanish version of Cross Country Magazine and if you’ve gone to a competition in the last ten years you’ve probably been bewitched by her smile. I hope you enjoy this fantastic journey of dedication and redemption.
A buck an episode, that’s all we ask.
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Show Notes:
- Joanna takes us up through her long competition history
- Chasing records in Brazil
- What proper “flapping to land” is all about
- the magic of paragliding and the paragliding community
- Selling musical instruments to pursue her dream
- Finding big sponsors, losing big sponsors, and sticking with it
- Discovery success, and battling failure
- Joanna loses her husband to flying…
- The terrible accidents in 2011 and flying dangerous wings
- Recovering from a broken world
- Surviving a terrifying crash at the Superfinal
- Doing an infinite tumble- by mistake!
- Overcoming fear
- Feeling vulnerable
- Flying 400 km in Brazil
- The adventure of getting home
- Maintaining perspective
- Mentioned in this episode: Rafael Saladini, Brett Zanglein, Sebastien Ospina, Cross Country Magazine, Isabella Messenger, Klaudia Bulgakow, Gin, Raul Penso, Carlos Cordido, Niviuk, Seiko Fukuoka, Petra Slívová, Gin
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:36:16 — 66.1MB)
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