Blogs
Journey to the Core
Search for the core of the thermal. I’d find it, then lose it! It’s like a game of Snakes and Ladders. J
Blogs
My personal blog posts.
Blogs
Free Solo – Alex Honnold
This is a paragliding blog and I don’t do climbing. It’s also fair to say that I’ve fallen asleep in dozens of movies in the past ten years all churned out by the Hollywood film making machine. You know the kind, big loud characters who are on a personal crusade Read more…
Blogs
Normalisation of Deviance
Really enjoyed this article by Lesley Gale (editor of Skydive Mag) explaining the normalisation of bad habits and how these can filter into your everyday routines. https://www.smallteaser.com/@lesleygale/normalization-of-deviance-beware I had the pleasure of being trained by some very good skydiving instructors at a very safety conscience club, and during my student Read more…
Blogs
Saved by the hand of God (kind of)
There’s not many feelings in paragliding better than having a “Low Save”. Just when you think you’re about to bomb out and be forced into an early landing, along comes that lucky Thermal. It’s like a big hand has come out of the sky and pulled you back up to Read more…
Blogs
What goes up must come down…
There’s a few things in the history of humanity that have gone up and never come down. The Voyager space probes (1 and 2), now left the solar system. The Apollo 11 Eagle module (currently sitting somewhere on the Lunar surface). The price of bitcoin. (well ok, this one goes Read more…
Blogs
Taming the Wild Stallion (aka surviving Ground Handling)
After a couple of years in this sport I’m beginning realise that one of the hardest parts of paragliding is not the flying, but the art of getting the wing inflated and in the air. I, like many others that I’ve spoken to, have been dragged, quite some distance in Read more…
Blogs
What does Chrigel know?
Having spent many hours of my Swiss holiday watching the Live Tracking on the Red Bull X-Alps, and driving my family mad with constant updates on progress, it was great to see that Gavin McClurg has now interviewed the five times winner of this insane event, Chrigel Maurer. I’ve done Read more…
Blogs
Soaring with Seagulls
It’s been a while since I’ve posted here, but as I progress through my Club Pilot Rating new experiences in paragliding begin to stand out as significant in my journey to being a qualified flyer. Up until now, every time my feet left the ground I always had that “sinking feeling”. Read more…
Blogs
Gavin McClurg – Tom Payne – X-Alps
The Redbull X-Alps It’s something of an understatement to say that I’ve become fascinated by the iconic X-Alps hike and fly competition. So much so that I’ve managed to convince my wife to align our family holiday with the beginning of the event in Salzburg in July this year so Read more…
Blogs
Cedar Wright and Matt Segal – Fledglings
Insane, crazy and utterly inspiring is the only way I can describe Fledglings. Pro Climbers and Paraglider pilots Cedar Wright and Matt Segal take us on an adventure to fly off Mexico’s highest mountain Pico De Orizaba, and as relative new comers to the sport their enthusiasm is completely infectious. Read more…