The episode features Benni Bölli, the inventor and designer behind Flare kites, discussing “flaring” or parakiting, a sport combining kitesurfing and paragliding elements. He explains the Flare system’s dynamic nature, emphasizing safe handling, training, and the significant differences and benefits between parakites and traditional paragliders for soaring.
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My neighbor and mentor Nate Scales has been flying paragliders at a high level for over 30 years. He competed in the 2007 Red Bull X-Alps. Owned the US foot launch record out of Idaho, where conditions can be about as rough as it can get. He has been flying 2 liners since their inception in 2009. But until this week had never done an SIV, and never stalled a glider. He finally decided the time was right and it was time to conquer his fears. This is his story. Let’s call it a PSA for those on the SIV fence. Nate has had a nearly accident-free flying career. Chalk it up to skill and making good decisions and a good dose of luck but we all know this sport can bite, and it’s never too late to mitigate some of the risk.
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Kinga Masztalerz gets after it. She picked up paragliding not too long ago, but has been pretty fierce about chasing it hard from the beginning. She’s tackled the Red Bull X-Alps twice, flown all over the world, runs her own hike and fly race in New Zealand, and instructs at home in New Zealand and in places like Bir, India. But her journey has had quite a few scary bumps on the way. We start off with her experience in the X-Alps. She shares her initial excitement and overwhelming feelings during her first race in 2019 and the disappointment of being eliminated and the emotional impact it had on her. Kinga also talks about her injury in 2021 and the challenges she faced in participating in the race. She reflects on the changing dynamics of the Red Bull X-Alps and how her approach to flying has evolved over time…
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Galen Kirkpatrick rose from a beginner to the 2023 US National Paragliding Champion in seven years, becoming the first female champion. Her journey from fear of flying to the pinnacle of the sport involved intensive training, overcoming a significant fear, and a shift in mindset to prioritize fun and creativity. Her success has been a mix of personal bests and learning to apply flying lessons to life, marking a seminal moment for women in the sport and inspiring camaraderie and emotional safety among pilots.
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“Flat out Phil” Hystek has been instructing free flight in Australia longer than anyone. It began with a fascination of hang gliding in the 70’s, becoming a hang gliding instructor in the late 80’s in California, being “forced” into paragliding in the early 90’s and his energizer batteries are going stronger than ever today. Phil has racked up 171,000 meters of vertical ascent in his back yard to date this year (at age 65!), just returned from a 4 weeks of vol-biv flying in Bir, India and is a story teller for the ages. We travel the world, meet the legends, pull off the absurd in Telluride, pack it hard in Bali, and find out who thrives in this sport and who should maybe take up a different activity.
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Tarquin Cooper has been the voice of the Red Bull X-Alps the last few editions and this year was joined by your host and four-time X-Alps competitor Gavin McClurg to add some commentating and live footage from the air. In this episode the two of us sit down to share our own unique perspective of the race as we chased the athletes and teams around the Alps and had our own adventures (and misadventures!) in our mostly frantic attempts to keep up.
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Right after Calef and I recorded the #201 Podcast he reached out to say he thought he’d missed an opportunity to talk about instruction, namely that very fragile time in a pilot’s career when they first get their license and are sent off on their own to figure it out. So here it is, a veritable primer on leaving the nest.
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Calef Letorney was a professional paddler back in the early 2000’s who made the switch to flying and has never looked back. When you think of places to fly in the world you don’t often put the North East US on the list. There’s a lot of trees, cloudbase is low, weather if fickle. But that’s where Calef found himself after learning to fly in the Colorado Rockies and his desire to send meant the first thing that had to happen was to get good at flying, and it’s hard to get good without other good pilots to fly with, so he had to get others up to snuff as well. So Calef became an instructor, then an SIV instructor, then a guide…and the rest fell into place.
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In this episode we discuss Philipp’s zen for going big, being a professional pilot, the importance of having an acro background and acro training, vol biv, and just some good old fashioned storytelling in the highest mountains on Earth. Tuck in for some inspiration!
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This week we dive into spring with the current World Champion and long-time Ozone test pilot Russ Ogden and multiple US National Champion Nick Greece. Year after year we see accidents in free flight spike in spring. Spicy conditions, rusty skills, new unfamiliar gear, heightened stoke, another year behind us, lack of confidence… we explore the many things that might have an impact on why we see the spike and what you can do to make sure you’re not in the data set.
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