Author Archives: Gavin McClurg

Episode 25- Kari Castle and flying for life

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Kari Castle has been flying for 35 years. You name it, she’s flown it. Hangliders, paragliders, paramotors, speed wings- her passion for flying began early and she still goes hard. She was winning hang gliding competitions before paragliding was even invented and then when paragliding came around she went ahead and won a bunch of those too. A fraction of her resume is enough to put most of us to shame: 14 national HG championships, 6 national PG championships, 3 world HG championships, multiple distance records, Red Bull athlete, and that’s just the beginning. Kari has made a life and a living out of flying and her wealth of knowledge is a tank I try to tap in this great conversation with a true legend in human flight.

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Episode 24- Isabella Messenger and Unconscious Competence

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Isabella Messenger took a paragliding course in 2007 and quit her job as an IT Specialist after the first day. She’s been chasing it ever since. She and her husband and air-Jedi Jamie Messenger spend half their year in the Alps traveling in their camper van and the other half in Nepal flying as much as they can. You name it, Isabella flies it- world cup competitions, acro, vol-biv, tandem. In this inspiring episode we flush out why there aren’t more women in the sport, the importance of surrounding yourself with the type of pilot you want to become, what’s so special about flying, how pilots develop an “unconscious competence” that can really help in emergency situations, how difficult it can be to return to the sport after a long break, where to do your first vol-biv, how to reduce stress in flying and a LOT more.

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Episode 23- Guy Anderson and Lessons for Everyone

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On the last day of the World Cup in Sun Valley in 2012 British pilot Guy Anderson disappeared in an area we call “no man’s land.” Three days later, in a heroic search effort involving thousands of man hours and a very fired up team Guy was found, in no small part due to his own monumental efforts to stay alive. Guy suffered some pretty major injuries but three months later he was flying at the top of the stack at the Superfinal and hasn’t looked back since.

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Episode 22- The Alaska Traverse- Ed Ewing interviews Gavin McClurg

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Ed Ewing, the editor of Cross Country magazine takes over as show-host and asks Gavin the questions many people have wanted to know about how it all went down on the traverse. We talk about the Red Bull X-Alps, how Gavin’s obsession with paragliding started and find out what led to his 6-year pursuit of a dream- to traverse the full length of the Alaska Range by paraglider and foot. We find out what went right, what went wrong, what gear was used, what happened after Dave had to leave, and hear some pretty wild stories of what went down.

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Episode 21 Rafael Saladini- Chasing World Records and World Cup Tactics

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What’s it like to break world records? How do you win tasks at World Cups? Find out how to train to truly go big from one of our sports most talented and dedicated pilots, Brazilian Rafael Saladini. Rafael discusses strategies and tactics at the world cup level; why the Brazilian team and his mentors are able to send such huge flights with so much style; why he left the sport for seven years and how he rediscovered the passion; how to avoid the “superman” illusion; coming back from accidents and fear; the importance of team and gaggle flying; where he thinks 600 km is possible and a LOT more. This was one of the most fascinating and fun talks we’ve had on the Mayhem, you’re in for a treat!

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Pounding gear- A look at what we carried in Alaska

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The Alaska Traverse took 37 days to complete. Bashing for days through dense alders, slipping on talus and hurtling down glaciers, and living in the dirt for nearly 800 kilometers put our gear through the test. Here’s what worked, what didn’t, and where we went wrong.

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Episode 20- Bruce Goldsmith and Passion

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Bruce Goldsmith has quite possibly more competition flying under his belt than anyone. One of the few pilots who’s won in both Hangliding and Paragliding Bruce began flying comps in the mid 80’s and capped off over 30 years of success by winning the world championships in 2007 in Australia. He’s started or designed for most of the major brands in paragliding (Ozone, Airwave, Advance, etc.) and now heads up Bruce Goldsmith Designs.

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The Alaska Traverse is ON!

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Dave Turner and I are ready to go on the planned traverse of the entire Alaska Range by paraglider (and probably some walking!). With only two roads dissecting the entire range and not a single village the whole way, we’ll be covering just shy of 500 miles of one of the more remote and inhospitable places on Earth totally unsupported. You can follow along, thanks to our Delorme InReach trackers!

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