What do you think?
Rate this book
Advanced Paragliding: What I've learned from the world's best pilots
Written by Gavin McClurg, edited by the Cross Country team, and packed with insight from the very best, Advanced Paragliding is aimed at all intermediate pilots up, to help them build on their foundations and progress. There’s a big focus on aerology, meteorology, psychology, safety and risk-management. If you have 100 hours or more and want to go places in paragliding, this is for you.
Advanced Paragliding draws on over eight years’ of in-depth interviewing with over 100 of the world’s best pilots. With Gavin’s incredible popularity among a listener base of 30,000+ pilots, this book is set to be a massive worldwide success.
“This book is an international curated collection of voices, experiences, perspectives, and approaches to the sport that we all love. It is the undeniable power of the lead gaggle, with the best pilots in the world sharing their knowledge. And it is not just about techniques. It is also about the philosophy of adventure, the value of accepting risk and managing it, and the importance of training the mind as well as the body. It is about the flying life.” – Bill Belcourt
18 ‘secrets of champions’ chapters include incredible insights from Adel Honti, Alex Robé, Armin Harich, Bruce Goldsmith, Chrigel Maurer, Cody Mittanck, Dustin Martin, Honza Rejmanek, Jeff Shapiro, Jocky Sanderson, Kelly Farina, Maxime Bellemin, Nick Neynens, Pál Takáts, Rafael Saldini, Russ Ogden, Thomas Theurillat and Will Gadd
OVER 14 TECHNIQUE CHAPTERS INCLUDE:
How to Thermal Better
How to Glide Better
How to Navigate ‘Intermediate Syndrome’
When to Step Up – and When to Step Down
How to Tweak Your Mental Game
How to Avoid Accidents
How to Kill Complacency
How to Throw Your Reserve
When and how to approach SIV training
How to Fly Competitions
How to Fly Big XCs – learning to fly faster
How to Recover from Frightening Experiences
Threat and Error Management: what we can learn from other aviation disciplines
Advanced Paragliding draws on over eight years’ of in-depth interviewing with over 100 of the world’s best pilots. With Gavin’s incredible popularity among a listener base of 30,000+ pilots, this book is set to be a massive worldwide success.
“This book is an international curated collection of voices, experiences, perspectives, and approaches to the sport that we all love. It is the undeniable power of the lead gaggle, with the best pilots in the world sharing their knowledge. And it is not just about techniques. It is also about the philosophy of adventure, the value of accepting risk and managing it, and the importance of training the mind as well as the body. It is about the flying life.” – Bill Belcourt
18 ‘secrets of champions’ chapters include incredible insights from Adel Honti, Alex Robé, Armin Harich, Bruce Goldsmith, Chrigel Maurer, Cody Mittanck, Dustin Martin, Honza Rejmanek, Jeff Shapiro, Jocky Sanderson, Kelly Farina, Maxime Bellemin, Nick Neynens, Pál Takáts, Rafael Saldini, Russ Ogden, Thomas Theurillat and Will Gadd
OVER 14 TECHNIQUE CHAPTERS INCLUDE:
How to Thermal Better
How to Glide Better
How to Navigate ‘Intermediate Syndrome’
When to Step Up – and When to Step Down
How to Tweak Your Mental Game
How to Avoid Accidents
How to Kill Complacency
How to Throw Your Reserve
When and how to approach SIV training
How to Fly Competitions
How to Fly Big XCs – learning to fly faster
How to Recover from Frightening Experiences
Threat and Error Management: what we can learn from other aviation disciplines
254 pages, Paperback
First published April 26, 2021
About the author
Gavin McClurg
4 books1 followerNever very comfortable writing about yourself, but for those that might like to know who the hell is posting all this stuff on the Mayhem, here’s a little background on who I am, and a bit of the why.
Back in what feels like another life I was a pretty keen alpine ski racer. I grew up in Lake Tahoe, Nevada and got pretty good at going fast. I wasn’t the best, but I worked hard and I didn’t seem to be hampered with fear so for awhile there things were going pretty well. Wasn’t so hot at the tech stuff- slalom and GS didn’t seem to fit my ability or style so I gravitated towards the speed events of Super G and Downhill. My dreams of competing in the Olympics were cut short just after I made the US Team in 1991 when I destroyed my left knee at a downhill in Aspen. I tried to come back the next year, but I made the fatal mistake of skiing in a slalom- (never my best) and blew the same knee again.
Which delighted my mom. I hadn’t gone to school much over the years (I’d gotten an “F” in Physical Education in my high school as I wasn’t in class for more than a few days that winter) and suddenly a world outside of ski racing came crashing in. University in Boulder, Colorado, where I took up rock climbing (friendly on the knees) and did well enough in school to keep mom happy. Near the end of school I learned to kayak and the climbing stopped and I found myself running harder and harder rivers all over the world. At one point I went on an extended kayaking expedition (6 months) to Central America with a now-famous Red Bull paddler, Tao Berman (at the time I was the only one who would paddle with him, as he was, and I’m sure remains pretty insane). We ran some pretty wild first descents, stuff that was considered class VI (un-runable) and in time my thirst for adrenaline caught up to me on a river in Mexico where my buddy Tao and another friend Brett stood on the side of the river near a waterfall waiting for my body. We all thought I was dead.
Kayaking was never the same after that auspicious day. I couldn’t seem to find the joy in running rivers that weren’t extreme, and I couldn’t find the head space to run the hard stuff. Time for something new.
Over the next few years I worked at nearly 50 different jobs. I didn’t care much what the job was- just that it paid enough that I could save some cash, quit, and go exploring. Ran chain saw for a Hot Shot crew in Oregon. Commercial fished in the Bering Sea. Instructed mountain and river courses for Outward Bound. Bussed tables, worked at a high tech firm, built stages for dancers in Vail. Whatever seemed to come up.
In 1999 my Dad and I sailed from Vancouver to Santa Barbara on a monohull he planned to sail to the South Pacific. But neither of us knew much about sailing. We got caught in hurricane force winds off the coast of Mendocino and had a pretty wild couple of days. Got knocked down (ie mast in the water), Dad went overboard, I nearly blew off the boat while hanging onto a sail that was rapidly coming separated from the mast when I was 20 feet off the deck. We limped into port and Dad decided he’d had enough, and I decided I wanted more. Turns out it would be a LOT more.
5 Years. 54,000 miles. 50 Countries. Right the whole way around the world.
5 Years. 54,000 miles. 50 Countries. Right the whole way around the world.
I started a company called Offshore Odysseys that year while bar tending in Santa Barbara saving money to head offshore. For the next 13 years I lived nearly year-round at sea taking people to remote places. On the first boat we spent 8 years and made it as far as Thailand. On the second boat we spent 5 years and went all the way around. Rounded both notorious Capes (Horn and Good Hope) shorthanded (ie me and one other person). Even sailed solo from Brazil to the Caribbean 4600 miles, a trip that took 32 days where I learned that my own company wasn’t all that spectacular. In 2006 my partner, and very talented photograp
Back in what feels like another life I was a pretty keen alpine ski racer. I grew up in Lake Tahoe, Nevada and got pretty good at going fast. I wasn’t the best, but I worked hard and I didn’t seem to be hampered with fear so for awhile there things were going pretty well. Wasn’t so hot at the tech stuff- slalom and GS didn’t seem to fit my ability or style so I gravitated towards the speed events of Super G and Downhill. My dreams of competing in the Olympics were cut short just after I made the US Team in 1991 when I destroyed my left knee at a downhill in Aspen. I tried to come back the next year, but I made the fatal mistake of skiing in a slalom- (never my best) and blew the same knee again.
Which delighted my mom. I hadn’t gone to school much over the years (I’d gotten an “F” in Physical Education in my high school as I wasn’t in class for more than a few days that winter) and suddenly a world outside of ski racing came crashing in. University in Boulder, Colorado, where I took up rock climbing (friendly on the knees) and did well enough in school to keep mom happy. Near the end of school I learned to kayak and the climbing stopped and I found myself running harder and harder rivers all over the world. At one point I went on an extended kayaking expedition (6 months) to Central America with a now-famous Red Bull paddler, Tao Berman (at the time I was the only one who would paddle with him, as he was, and I’m sure remains pretty insane). We ran some pretty wild first descents, stuff that was considered class VI (un-runable) and in time my thirst for adrenaline caught up to me on a river in Mexico where my buddy Tao and another friend Brett stood on the side of the river near a waterfall waiting for my body. We all thought I was dead.
Kayaking was never the same after that auspicious day. I couldn’t seem to find the joy in running rivers that weren’t extreme, and I couldn’t find the head space to run the hard stuff. Time for something new.
Over the next few years I worked at nearly 50 different jobs. I didn’t care much what the job was- just that it paid enough that I could save some cash, quit, and go exploring. Ran chain saw for a Hot Shot crew in Oregon. Commercial fished in the Bering Sea. Instructed mountain and river courses for Outward Bound. Bussed tables, worked at a high tech firm, built stages for dancers in Vail. Whatever seemed to come up.
In 1999 my Dad and I sailed from Vancouver to Santa Barbara on a monohull he planned to sail to the South Pacific. But neither of us knew much about sailing. We got caught in hurricane force winds off the coast of Mendocino and had a pretty wild couple of days. Got knocked down (ie mast in the water), Dad went overboard, I nearly blew off the boat while hanging onto a sail that was rapidly coming separated from the mast when I was 20 feet off the deck. We limped into port and Dad decided he’d had enough, and I decided I wanted more. Turns out it would be a LOT more.
5 Years. 54,000 miles. 50 Countries. Right the whole way around the world.
5 Years. 54,000 miles. 50 Countries. Right the whole way around the world.
I started a company called Offshore Odysseys that year while bar tending in Santa Barbara saving money to head offshore. For the next 13 years I lived nearly year-round at sea taking people to remote places. On the first boat we spent 8 years and made it as far as Thailand. On the second boat we spent 5 years and went all the way around. Rounded both notorious Capes (Horn and Good Hope) shorthanded (ie me and one other person). Even sailed solo from Brazil to the Caribbean 4600 miles, a trip that took 32 days where I learned that my own company wasn’t all that spectacular. In 2006 my partner, and very talented photograp
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 1, 2022
An amazing compilation of some of the best tips from the Mayhem. Definitely enjoyed it as a companion to the podcast. It is a great resource for pilots of any level, being a beginner myself I can say I learned a ton from this books, and will continue to do so in the future! Gavin and the team at XC magazine did a great job at compiling the great advice, particularly in the shorter sections with tips from many great pilots. I would have enjoyed some diagrams and maybe some more concrete explanations of some concepts (gliding, thermalling, wing control, etc.). Can't wait for a follow up with all the new lessons!
October 13, 2021
One of the best I've read so far. Most of it is know to people that are familiar with the Mayhem but it's just distilled into a lovely form that I'm really looking forward to using as a reference book.
Hardly any graphics in it (most of it are transcriptions of the podcasts) so this might be one that will work well in eBook format once that gets released.
Hardly any graphics in it (most of it are transcriptions of the podcasts) so this might be one that will work well in eBook format once that gets released.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews