Who's that guy on the radio?

The #1 question I've gotten since posting these SIV videos is who's that guy talking? Also: How is he talking to you?

That guy is Gabriel Jebb and he's easily the best paragliding instructor I've ever met, especially at SIV and acro. If you've seen Performance Flying, Instability or Broken Toe you've seen some good video, but the instructors are average communicators at best. Gabe really teaches. He describes how it feels when you're gaining momentum, when to pull, weight shift and all the other little things that happen when you're really up there.


Click to watch the video.

You can tell he's Swiss: he's methodical, patient and follows a clear unbroken line of thinking. But he's Californian too. He know's that not just getting it but making it cool is what we're trying to do. Sometimes cool's enough too. He gets those in as well.

With all due respect to those other guys, Gabe's simply the best. If you watch Instability 2 when they show how to get out of a spin it's clear they're practicing strong pitch control and laying off of the brakes when the wing's in front. But, all they actually say is "Lay off of the brakes". I remember watching that video for the first time thinking, "This video should be called 'Lay Off of the Brakes'! There must be more to active piloting than that."

That's what Gabe gets into. Everything else that you know is there that no one's talking about.

I love the video on Broken Toe. Owning that video's a must. But, the instruction is almost hard to listen to. He doesn't so much teach as do a free-association rambling about what to expect. There are no details, no finesse.

I don't want to take anything away from these other guys. I'm thankful they're there and have put out videos. All I'm saying is if you're a paraglider you need to take a clinic with Gabe while he's still teaching.

Robin too.

This guy manning the boat is exactly the guy you want to see after you end up in the drink. He's driving a half-empty man-made lake with 40-year-old tree trunks popping up everywhere as if he could see from our 1000+ foot perspective. He arrived when I threw my reserve within seconds and pulled my 210 lb. ass out of the water like I was a wet nurf ball. Amazing. Robin is reason enough to go to these clinics.

He knows his shit too. He's the king of "outside brake". Everytime I've messed up a move in the sky he's right there saying, "You need more outside brake." He's said it so many times now that it's become a reflex for me. And, when I mess up a move one of the first things I think is "Did I forget about the outside brake?"