My personal blog posts.
Back in October 2020 I was unashamedly badgering Jocky Sanderson to register on next year’s X-Lakes Hike and Fly race. I was only months away from finishing the previous race in August and still buzzing from the whole experience. After a few weeks of no response I eventually received an Read more…
X-Scotia 2021 After more than 13 years absent, the X-Scotia Hike and Fly race was resurrected as an informal get together of like minded Paraglider pilots in the Highlands of Scotland. Little did the organisers know that these events are exploding in popularity and, much to my delight and surprise, Read more…
The weather in April has been unusually good for paragliding this year, so I took the opportunity to make the most of it and take a day off for Hike and Fly training. Starting with Ben Dorain, this mountain is an iconic landmark for anyone driving north of Tyndrum and Read more…
Search for the core of the thermal. I’d find it, then lose it! It’s like a game of Snakes and Ladders. J
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…