Tag Archives: competition

#238 Acro, Test flying, SIV, Instruction, Meteo and Comps with Karlis Jaunpetrovics

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In this episode we talk about his journey to becoming an instructor, the challenges and intricacies of test piloting, his passion for acrobatics, his experiences flying in Taiwan, and the vibrant paragliding community he has encountered along the way. Karlis shares his passion for cross-country flying and the importance of mentorship in paragliding. He discusses the significance of finding the right instructor and community, as well as his transition into teaching SIV training, the 4 fundamentals of SIV, and how progression works when it works well.

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#236 Soaring through History with Butch Peachy

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In this continuing series on legends in the sport I sit down with Butch Peachy to discuss his over 40 years of flying hang gliders and his continued passion today. We begin with Butch’s early days in hang gliding, his unique adventures including being (likely) the first to vol-biv with a hang glider, and the evolution of the sport. Butch shares crazy stories from the 70’s, his experiences in competitions, and how music has played a role in his flying adventures.

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#231 Chasing Excellence with Evan Bouchier

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Evan discusses his transition from extreme kayaking to paragliding, highlighting the significance of tandem flying, competition experiences, and mental techniques like intuition and visualization. He reflects on challenges, the thrill of flying, and the importance of resilience, emphasizing the parallels between sports and his aspirations in cross-country paragliding.

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#230 Hugh Miller and making the Glide to Sailplanes

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Hugh Miller, a renowned paraglider pilot, has recently transitioned to flying sailplanes, capturing interest with his first competition experience. His journey highlights the challenges and excitement of learning a new aviation discipline. The piece reflects on the differences between paragliding and gliding and explores the unique skills required for the latter.

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#220, Martin Scheel and 30 years of the Swiss League

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Martin Scheel was one of the best climbers in the world when he discovered paragliding and the sky crack immediately became his new passion. His images and videos have entertained and awed for several decades across the free-flight spectrum. In the mid 90’s he helped create the Swiss League and has headed it up since. His collaborative efforts with generations of pilots have helped create some of the most successful pilots on Earth, including Chrigel Maurer, Stephan Morganthaler, Dominik Breitinger, Tim Bollinger, Nanda Walliser and many, many others over the past three decades. Martin organized the Superfinal in Disentis in 2022 and more recently the PWC in Grindelwald last week.

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#206- A Walk (and Fly) down Memory Lane with Paul Guschlbauer

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Paul Guschlbauer has been on the podium more than anyone in the Red Bull X-Alps other than of course Chrigel. He began his X-Alps journey back in 2011 when by his own account, he was a pretty beginner pilot. But that year the weather was horrific and he is a beast on the ground and he managed to nab 3rd place. This result lead to becoming a Red Bull athlete, a spot in that year’s Dolomitimann, and the rest is…well at least history in the making as Paul is far from done! This year’s Red Bull X-Alps was Paul’s 8th edition of the incredible race and a lot has happened over the more than a decade of racing.

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#204 – Flying High with Martin Jovanoski

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Martin Jovanoski has been flying his entire life. Sailplanes, Hang gliders, Paragliders- in any and all forms. He got started in accuracy, moved into cross country competitions and pretty much does it all when it comes to free-flight. He’s one of the big reasons Krushevo, Macedonia has become such a mecca for competitions, and he instructs, guides, flies tandems, designs wings, consults and more. I’ve been lucky enough to compete with Martin many times in World Cups and hands down Martin is the cream of the crop when it comes to unabashed love for our sport. He’s always got the biggest smile on launch. He’s the pilot who seems to have retained that first flight wonder of flying we all have throughout his long and very storied career.

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#203- The French Domination with Julien Garcia

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The objective is simple- be the best in the world, and win championships. In other words- you can go to University to paraglide! Charles Cazaux, Luc Armont, Pierre Remy, Honorin Hamard, Meryl Delferriere, and Maxime Pinot are all products of the French training program and Julien Garcia, our guest on today’s show is their coach. For years he was the coach of the junior team and is now the coach of maybe the most elite team the world of paragliding has ever seen. 5 of the top 10 pilots in the WPRS ranking are French right now. In last week’s PWC in Targassone, home of the Polisport training center all three top spots went to French pilots. In this episode I grill Julien on the secret sauce of winning.

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Episode 191- A Walk (and Fly) down memory lane with Gaspard Petiot

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Gaspard Petiot is a mountain guide and very accomplished pilot who competed successfully in the Red Bull X-Alps in 2015 (5th, Monaco), 2017 (broken wrist, withdrawn after leading day 6) and 2019 (7th, Monaco) despite having very bad knees. In this episode we rewind the clock as we have done with the others in this X-Alps series and hear the behind-the-scenes stories that the fans didn’t see on live tracking.

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Episode 190- A Walk (and Fly) down memory lane with Manuel Nubel (Ger 1)

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Manuel Nubel has competed in four Red Bull X-Alps, starting in 2015. On Team USA 1 we call him the comeback kid. He often starts in the middle or back of the pack but gets stronger and more crafty as the race goes on. We rewind the clock to 2015, his first race and find out the back story of landing in a tree on his way to Monaco and the hilarity that ensues, the ups and downs of his campaigns, (for example having to quit due to exhaustion in 2017, and making a series of magical moves in 2021 which saw him climb from 16th to 6th in the final days of the race) and his decision to not compete in 2023, but why we may see him again in 2025.

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