Welcome to another episode of the Cloud Base Mayhem. Hope you're having a good spring if you're in the Northern Hemisphere. Before we get into today's show with Jacob Rott and the Czech Hike and Fly Champion and many other things, great show for you coming. Before we get to it, I just wanted to mention briefly that I just opened up registration for the now Niviuk Red Rocks Wide Open. This will be our fifth edition, maybe sixth, down in Monroe. Monroe, we've moved it back later a couple weeks this year, so it's right up. They're going to be back-to-back with the Global Rescue X Red Rocks, which is a hike and fly race that I run, four-day hike and fly race. It works like a stage race. It's kind of the only race that operates like that. Aaron Durogati won it a couple times, and we've had Patrick Von Cannell and Tangy Reno Agud and Mark Sanders and a whole bunch of others from the Pal Taggets, a whole bunch of others from the Red Bull X-Alps over the years, Jared Scheid, Sebrin Warren.
Quite a few folks really got into the X-Alps because of this race. We've got the three different divisions, Challenge, Adventure, and Pro for that one, and the Niviuk Red Rocks Wide Open, which is a race to goal. U.S. Nationals, Cat 2, Pre PWC, pretty mind-blowing terrain. We're known for really huge tasks and a great time of year with the colors just going off in south-central Utah, surrounded by national parks and national monuments. So check it out and just Google either of those. You'll find it. Or you'll find it on my website, xredrocks.com, and you'll find all that stuff. And also the X-Lost, this will be the second edition of that, and it's at the end of May here in my backyard over in the Lost River Range over at King. That's kind of our base camp, and that's a three-day hike and fly race, totally self-supported, kind of like a scavenger hunt, like the Wanaka hike and fly.
And last year we had a blast. I actually got to race in that one because it's just doing it on your own. There's not a lot of organization. It's really low-key, very relaxed. And again, the three different divisions, Challenge, Adventure, and Pro, and you can find out about that on xredrocks.com, or just reach out with any questions. All right, let's get to today's show. I had a frequent listener reach out from the Czech Republic a few months ago now at this point, Leah Nekisova, and I'm sure, Leah, I'm butchering your name. I apologize for that. But Leah runs the Moravian hike and fly Challenge in the Vesk. I have to look this up. Veskady Mountains, right on the border of Poland. I've never flown in this zone, so she recommended to get the winner from last year and this year's Czech hike and fly champion, Jacob Rott, on the show.
He's got a very cool history with flying, started by skydiving and then speed flying, and he's kind of done it all, tandems and instruction and hike and fly. He's flown all over the world. He's been flying for 10 or 11 years, as I remember. I recorded this one quite a while back. So it'll be fresh for me when I listen to it as well, but really interesting guy, a lot of fun to talk to, got started way too fast and furious, had some hard knocks and hard lessons, and has calmed down quite a bit, but just great advice, great insights, articulates the sport really well, and this was a whole part of the world that I know very little about, so it was really cool to hear about what the flying is like there and the launches and launches.
I'm really excited about the landing and what landings and what the terrain is like, and I'm inspired. This is a place I want to get to after talking to Jacob, so enjoy. Cheers.
Jacob, welcome to Cloudbase Mayhem. Appreciate you joining me there. We finally got our time change sorted out. Where are you in the Czech? Where are you in Czech Republic?
Czech Republic, actually. Hello. Happy to be here, and I was jumping straight in. Yeah, I'm in Poland. I'm in Pilsen, which is the city of the beer, probably about a Pilsner beer. Yeah. That's come from my home city, Pilsen, which is like west-south part of Czech Republic, close to German border.
I understand you're about 60 hours into a fast. What are you fasting for?
Good and deep question at the beginning.
Actually, that was my second fast, and I was just like, I was thinking about it a couple of years. I was like, I'm going to try, and before I just went to Kenya this year, in January, I was like, okay, let's do it now, and I tried 36, and it was quite nice, and my aim is obviously I don't need to lose weight or whatever, but just to clean up my body and find out how does it work, what's going on, and probably it's also nice for my training, for the hike and fly, long adventures and stuff like that.
Yeah. Yeah. And that's why. That's why your friend reached out, because she runs this Morovia, say it, what was it? Morovia Challenge, Hike and
Fly Morovia Challenge.
Yeah, and she's done this three, there's been three of these, correct? And you won the last one?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Actually, it's like, last year it's become to be National Soft Check Republic in Hike and Fly, and by some chance mistake, I managed to win this one, so that's how I get here.
Ah. So, can I, is the X-Alps in your future or something like that, or what are you, are you pretty, are you chasing Hike and Fly pretty hard?
I wouldn't say pretty hard.
My goal in everything, not just Hike and Fly, paragliding, but in general in life is to mostly enjoy. So, I'm enjoying all the competition, and actually also for this Hike and Fly Morovia Challenge, I wasn't sure if I would go there, because I had, you know, different competition, in Austria, or X-Race, which was quite close to time, and I was, like, busy with my tandems in Austria as well, and just two weeks before, they canceled the X-Challenge in Austria, and I was like, okay, then I can go for the Hike and Fly Morovia Challenge, why not? And so, I look at it, look at the people there, and say, okay, let's do it, and I went there to enjoy the competition, and if I will, like, okay, let's, like, do it, let's do it, let's do it, let's do it, let's do it, let's do it, let's do it, let's do it, let's do it, let's take this more deeply about the competition.
If I look at the people who are in, like, all the X-Pyr and X-House pilot, like, Thomas Matera, and there were Michal Radnicki, the Polish guys, and Stanislav Mayer, which is one of the best Czech Hike and Fly athletes, who is also the X-House. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like, okay, everything between third and seventh place would be nice, and I was like, okay, we'll just go enjoy and see, and somehow it's happened that I managed to be first, so.
Ah, and what, tell me about this place, it's on the border of Poland, what are the name of the mountains? Yeah, it's
a basket of mountains, it's like, that's funny about the Czech Republic, we don't have a high mountains, like Alps and all this stuff, we have just, let's say, small or bigger hills, and you have to learn to fly here, and we have a lot of good pilots, good competition pilots from Czech Republic. And I would say that it's because we have to learn hard, we have to learn how to catch all the small bubbles and everything, and Meskede, I would say, is one of the best places in Czech Republic to fly, and we have also some, like, cross country competitions there quite often, and these mountains are just on the border with Poland, with Polish, with Czech Republic, and it's nice.
Yeah. It's all hills, it's hard to fly because you are quite low, always close to the ground, catching some thermals, looking at the terrain, and it's interesting, and more interesting makes that the High Can Fly More Average Challenge is unsupported, so you go with this stuff, and that makes it special. How many days? It was, last season, it was planned for three days, 250 kilometers flying, and... Okay, cool,
so it's a set, it's a set course, it's like the XL. You start, and you try to get to the end, and however long it takes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
exactly. The thing is, the track is planned just days before, so you cannot train for it, which is, in my opinion, good, because everyone are at the same level, and it was planned for three days, and me and Stanislav, we managed to do it in two days because nobody was quite good, I would say.
And how did you beat Stanislav? He's great, he's solid. Did you just make a better move?
Um... Good question. Let's say that I was lucky. No, no, it's, you know... Now we need luck. Yeah, it's, it was, we started the competition the first day, we just, let's say, walked up Javorový Hill, which is like, I don't know, 400 meters high difference to take off, and we were quite, not in a rush because it was just starting today, and we were known that we have to wait a little bit for the thermos, and Stanislav tried to take off first because he's pushing. He's a raceman, and he bombed out just like 100 meters below the takeoff because it was not working yet, so he climbed back just with the wing in his head, hand, and then
I think so, Bicho Carrera were taking, Tomas Matejra, Michal Radnický, Stanislav and me took off at the same time, and we were flying, the day was quite good, the first turn point was top landing. Top landing.
And funny, like, let's say one hour after I took off on half or three quarters of the way to the first turn point, I got on my, it was quite a brand new wing, I think, so I had like 15 hours on it, and I got something like, it wasn't a collapse, it was just a hard bump, I catch it, look it up, and one line was broken in the gallery, probably just some tension knot or something. Yeah. And I look at it and was like, fuck, okay, now I should go probably for some landing in the valley, but it flies okay, let's see how it will work for the landing, so I continue flying with it and made it, and that time we were flying together with Stanislav, and Stanislav didn't catch some thermal and stay in the wall a little bit longer, so I managed to top land the next turn point, which was in a lee side of the wind, and a bit of work,
and some guys were flying, and I was like, fuck, okay, now I should go probably for some landing, and they just held me, and we used my line from what I was using to secure my phone, which was a tandem line, like, quite thick, and we replaced the line from the gallery with this, and just measured it by hand with either side, it took me like, let's say, 15 minutes, 10 minutes, and then I was able to continue, and we took over with the guys, it was quite strong wind, and the thermals were already broken, the next turn point was, let's say, 5-10 kilometers downwind. then another 10 kilometers side crosswind a little bit against and when i turned the second turn point i was already on let's say third place something like this i see some guy in front of me but he was quite low so i was quite sure that i can beat him and was playing with one guy beside me uh victor vashe friend of mine it's the best all of us are friend in the air i was just calling him hey victor let's push in a little bit more we are flying a little bit crosswind against the wind
and victor oh i will keep my i will keep my keep my height and and then we got on the lee side of the next turn point hill and victor bombed out and somehow i managed to climb back got it and landed close to the top just back here on another like kilometer kilometer and a half it was quite late in the evening and i was like okay i am here first i didn't suppose that and then i took off again continue jumping some other volleys and ridges and in the evening i look at the life tracking and i was first first like by one hour and a half or something and i was like okay you came here to enjoy now you should probably start compete but i was quite sure that stanislav will catch me up the next day because he is machine you know and running and he's you know he's running and he's you know he's running and he's you know he's good in flying and everything but somehow i managed to keep the next day we were running like well in total the day was like 50 55 ks of running a long day and i was quite sure that standard will catch me up but i keep to keep the distance and from the last turn point it was it was in poland on the polish side of the border it was like let's say 30 kilometers to fly back to the finish
and the wind was quite strong that day and i managed to fly back and then stanislav was speeding up and he landed just like 20 minutes 15 minutes after me in the finish but oh
wow yeah
it's happening i didn't suppose that at all so is this is
the course the same every year regardless of the weather or do they make it depending on the weather
no no no they make it depending on the weather wind direction and everything to be able to manage the competition for at least let's say first half of the competition or you know like yeah for a few people and last year i think so 10 people finished from let's say 35 and okay i'm really looking forward for this year because it's going to be again you know if you go with the competition with your staff sleeping in the nature and let's say from all the hack and fly competition what i did this one where the one what i enjoy most not just because i won but because all the work what the organizer put in like the life tracking the life report from the each day and it's quite nice prepared and they put a lot of effort in it so it
sounds like a nice place to fly and it's well set up for hike and fly there's lots of places to top land and stuff is it quite cool how you connect all the moves yeah
i highly recommend everyone to do that if you want to do that if you want to do that if you want to have a look at the website of xmoravian you can find it quite easily and or maybe you can put some link on it and there are some videos from the last year and if you have a time this year you are more than welcome to join because it's going to be i'll put
all that up in the show notes it's in june yeah hey
let me see i think so it's in june just after the czech nationals of the cross country yeah yeah ah
cool and then you're you're saying it's you kind of so what what do you take with you uh you know in the X-Alps or even the x period you've got a support team so you don't really have you're not it's you don't take much what are you taking an additional that you normally wouldn't on just a day of hike and fly you
know usually that was my second baby i can fly competition the first one was i can fly vanaka in new zealand uh-huh so you have to pack yourself as light as you can and also depending on the weather i'm flying like i have a ring my ozone light is up to 95 kilos and if i go normal flying i'm like 93 kilos yeah 92 and you don't have a lot of room not really not really so this time i was definitely over yeah and uh yeah so i took a light sleeping bag sleeping pad a little bit of the dried food food you can buy by the way but you have to be overnight in the nature you cannot go to the
hotel or city or village or ask someone
oh so you have to have a
car you have to be that's the rule of the competition so i love it yeah so you take as less as you can
but you are anyway you are like heavy always if you go baby stuff so i had uh some water the good thing is that you have to take as much water as you can so you have to take as much water as you can buy water everywhere on the way or just refill from the stream yeah and it's the most heavy thing and i have some dried food with me some bars to eat and i just bought at the last 10 point the first day i bought some some quick dinner and some cake for the breakfast which makes me very happy in the morning yeah and is this an area that
has has quite a bit of infrastructure like on the top of the mountain
yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
mountains are there huts or cabins yeah
yeah yeah yeah like in basket mountains most i would say almost all of the mountains have some hot at the top especially if there is a turn point there is usually a hut or a small restaurant or whatever and then you are running through the through the waters where are all the villages and everything okay
gotcha there
is a bird thermal link come on yeah you're
you're 60 hours into your fast you're getting distracted easily
and you know look at the pilot if see a bird tamer link you have to look up yeah
100 uh tell me about your your business you're you this is what you do is living right paragliding uh
let's say last four years i'm fully in a paragliding okay and um it's a question of nowadays if i like to be like full full in paragliding or if i like to start again some side business i'm fully in paragliding and have a paragliding just as a joy because you know if you are just need to earn for yourself it's quite easy i'm flying a tandem so over the summer in austria we're
in austria
and uh mostly wolfganze which is close to the salzburg okay get about a beautiful lake and also spend some time last year no two years ago in chelamze but mostly like salzburg area and all this good lakes and everything around which is beautiful and interesting for tourists and are
you are you big into distance or that's a nice place for big FAI triangles that's a great zone for that especially zell and stuff uh is that your jam in the summer too or are you mostly focused on the tandems oh
that's a problem if you do tandems all the best days you have to walk or you don't have to walk but if you take a day off
it's quite
expensive on your cost yeah
sure and
especially if it's a good day you know if it's a rainy day it doesn't matter but yeah right and so i would say my best flights are usually done in the winter somewhere abroad like yeah this january i was smashing 300 triangle in kenya and before some big flights in austria and colombia and in the alps i do fly mostly competitions and some shows in the alps and other flights just to enjoy and were you
down in kenya with andre oh
yeah yeah we met we met this by luck i was just heading there and say okay he's there so let's let's stay in contact and let's fight together didn't
he break the record or something the out and back record this year
yeah yeah yeah yeah he did he did uh he was there like let's say i think so two weeks before me i came i came just for two weeks and we fly together it was nice because i learned something from him he's really pushing on the speed bar so it was a lesson for me how to be faster yeah and
i think so it was like in a half of my holiday there i was nearly smashing the record which was 306 kilometers and let's say 600 meters and i didn't focus on it and i just smashed 306 kilometers and 300 meters so i was missing the record by 300 meters but you know that's that's what i said i don't fly for um i fight for my pleasure for to enjoy yeah and i didn't focus how much is the record i just fly there and say okay now it's enough i fly back to make it and i turn exactly the place that was probably the yeah i could make the 300 meters more but the guy who was smashing another five kilometers a polish guy uh just missed the name so he bombed out he couldn't manage it back because he was just like oh my god i'm gonna make it back and he was like oh my god i'm gonna make it back and he was like oh my god i'm gonna always in kenya is difficult to make it back in the scale wallet and actually the let's say three or four days before this i had opened 315 and on the way back my phone died because my power bank died and it's my own because i don't use even a external vario i fly just with the phone oh wow
it's you know i used to be doing this for last four or five you don't even
you don't have a XC Racer or anything you don't have any little no
no no but i'm going to get one now yeah well so you don't have a track
log yeah
i don't have a track log and because i also like lost my vario that time i wasn't able to manage it back i was just flying with i switched on all my watches you know like hiking and i was looking like 15 15 seconds delay on my which is okay i'm going up i feel it in my ass so i'm still going out yeah but that was a big day and yeah then so i managed the 306 which was for me over what i planted there i was super happy with that that's a great flight actually it was a day before my before my birthday and only i stayed another two weeks and then i think so a week after i was there he smashed the record of the takeover there
is that was that your first trip to kenya or is this kind of an annual thing no
no no it was for my first time in kenya okay
what did you what did you think how was the flying difficult yeah yeah i always hear that it's quite it's quite windy yeah and it comes like the transitions or you don't you don't have a lot of margin it's really a ridge run right you're you're quite low to the ground all the time and it's quite feisty yeah
that's it you get it so the thing is you can take quite early in the morning like half past seven even quarter past seven o 'clock which is very nice because there is the east wind coming to the ridge which is quite strong and in the morning you take off and you fly like 40 kilometers to the south all the time you are just playing with the speed bar full speed bar or half speed bar sometimes you go no speed bar but no turning snow thermaling you just push the speed bar and you fly very fast and usually you fly like 100 meters over the ground level then turn continue another let's say 100 kilometers to the other direction and then you start thermaling because then it starts to be you until that time there is the rage and then you have to start flying like more alpine style i would say and in this part i was always a bit stronger i would say and at
the beginning and even in this north part you are flying in a strong wind once i find myself flying like full speed bar behind the age like on the bees catching all the stuff what games and i wasn't moving clearly forward and i was like just okay now is the moment when i wish to be on the ground but there were no place to land there were like one small valley and the wind will be probably over let's say 80 in the valley I would say and just the river and no place to land so yeah this is what
I've heard it always sounds a little bit it sounds fun but it also sounds a little dicey
yeah you know we were there with a group of my German friends and they fly just in the morning since 7 o 'clock till 11 then they stopped go for a safari or just enjoy a day and then if the wind drops at 4 o 'clock they start flying again at 4 o 'clock that's the same way how to do it I would say and I'm you have to be strong to make it that because you know just to challenge it to yourself not to fly for the record or whatever just to enjoy and I would say that's the way how to do it and I was thinking a couple of times because I'm doing now some like thermaling course and everything if I would take my students there and so far I am on the edge no or yes because it could be like my very good friend who came with me he crashed first day and I'm happy that nothing serious happened but he didn't fly for another two weeks because of this injury and in the middle of our trip one French women passed away unfortunately my some accident and
one of the Czech best pilot Tomas also passed away at this place so you have to be focused when you fly there definitely
there's pretty frequent bad accidents there but it sounds awesome I'd love to go someday so you instruct as well you have a school
yeah and
is that in the Czech or is that in Austria
it's in Czech Republic in Austria I just fly a tandem commercially and I'm not a pilot I'm not a pilot and my school I'm running in Czech Republic it's quite small and I would say I probably will like to keep it that way because I don't want to be fully in the paragliding as I said at the beginning as far as I have to earn money just for myself I'm happy to do it but as soon as I will get a family and I will feel that my family is depending on my paragliding business I would be pushed too much in and then you lose your hobby probably
how did you get into all this how did you start
okay let's jump into this
since the very beginning I have a very sporty family so my mom and dad they are both windsurfing and kitesurfing and all this stuff so I was windsurfing doing some competitions and before I was just doing small sailboats then I started kitesurfing I become to be kitesurfing instructor when I was 15 I was teaching a bit on Germany and then Australia when I was there okay and then one day we were in a pub with good friend of mine and we get a drunk a little bit and then become the idea okay let's do something crazy let's start skydiving so we found a local airport local air club and start skydiving and after
I think that was second season of skydiving we were quite pushing let's say first two seasons like a hundred jumps mhm And we were already looking at the speed flying videos and everything. And I was like, that time, a good friend of mine took me. There were no conditions for skydiving because of low clouds. So he went paragliding and was just, hey, Jacob, would you try? And I said, fuck yeah, why not? And he threw me up from the local ridge here in Pilsen. It was like 50 meters high difference over some nasty trees and everything. And I was like, wow, that flies. You know, if you compare it to the parachute, it really flies, really glide. And I was like, wow, that's also I should try. So then with the friend, when we start skydiving, we start paragliding.
What year was this? How long ago? I think it's like 10 years ago, something like that. Not flying that long. 2015, 2016. And when I bought my first paraglider, I bought straight away for speed flight together. Wow. And at the beginning, I would say I was more speed flying than paragliding.
And learning by doing because there were like, there were some speed flyers in Czech Republic, but, you know, no one like really like making some community or anything. So I was learning the hard way of speed flying, but I was, you know, it gets me a lot. So I was pushing and enjoying and having fun and traveling everywhere. Like France, I met the guys from World Speed Flying Meeting and Francois. Wow. Wow. And then all these level of stuff and everything.
Why do you think you're, why do you think you were more drawn towards that end of the sport in the beginning? Was that because what your friends were doing or what you were seeing or it was just, it was just the right fit?
You know, speed flying were more close to the skydiving definitely because I was already skydiving some small things. And I would say that time I was more ego man, more adrenaline guy. And I'm now, so I was like, okay, speed flying is the thing for me. And I was really enjoying to hiking up and flying down some different lines. And I did some crazy stuff, what I wouldn't do again. And I'm probably, and yeah, I was even until now, I'm trying to need myself that I'm not a cross country pilot. I'm more sleddy pilot still, but no, no one tells me already anymore.
Do you still speed fight quite a bit?
Yeah, I do. I do. But let's say that the last couple of years, I'm more in paragliding. I enjoy speed flying last couple of years. I was always just changing eight square meter and nine square meter. I was like, okay, what I go for now. And now the parakeets game. So I have some parakeets as well and got some dealership for parakeets. So I spent some time flying parakeets in Australia, June flying and speed flying. Can you. New Zealand parakeets. And yeah, I'm enjoying, but let's say that I'm getting be more relaxed and chill and enjoying some cross country as well.
Has there been any bumps along the way? Any, any, any accidents or any kind of, uh, you know, times where you've had to reflect and change how you, your approach.
Well, of course.
Uh, at the beginning. I think actually second or third year of my paragliding, uh, actually it was paragliding. I broke my spine and local Hill in here in prison in Czech Republic. It was just, I was working hard for my father's company and I had full mind of some different stuff and I was like, okay, I'm going to fly today. It doesn't matter what, and I came to the takeoff. I had a new pod harness. It wasn't settled. Good. I was a little bit too much forward, pushing the, pushing the risers, you know, and grabbing them. And no one told me, don't grab the eyes of the, you young man.
Uh, this was real, this was real early. You were just learning paragliding.
Yeah. I think that was my second year. And, you know, at the beginning, that's what I really, really, it was shame for me. I had no one who came with him and who would tell me, Hey, Jacob, fly this way. Do this. Don't do this. And okay.
You were just, I was like,
okay. I'm just
learning by doing. Yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah. I was in a school definitely, but then I had to know pilots who will be like way better than I do or something who would say me, Hey, Jacob, this is the way how to tell him, or this is the way how to settle your harness and everything.
And the time I was still mostly speed flying. And so that time I get broken my spine, but yeah, it's, that
was just right after the takeoff. You were just taking it off.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think often doing was too strong. And even. The birds were walking and not flying. I would say the day and I get into the two and collapse, like two thirds of my wing, which was like very old viewing. And I had no reflex at the time to catch it. So I went straight to the ground, straight legs smashed. And yeah, one of my, part of my spine cord was pressed a hundred percent. So I got some steel in my bag and. Yeah, it takes me like three months to be able to fly again. And my first flight was speed flying. So.
Wow. Was it hard to come back? Was it scary or did you, did it take a while to kind of get back into the groove?
Um, definitely I did feel something I was thinking when I was flying. Okay. Don't don't make a mistake again. Don't. But it wasn't that hard. It was like, yeah, definitely. I shouldn't fly that early. When I was going for my first takeoff, I still feel my back a lot when I was hiking up even, and I would say any like hard landing, I was, I had still steel in my bag at that time, so it would probably keep it, but you know, that, that time I was young and ego was involved a lot and I was flying because I was like, okay, I will do it. I
will do it. Hmm. Hmm. You're quite young. I mean, you were, you're quite young now. I would imagine. Yeah. You know, 10 years ago, uh, that's, uh, uh, you know, I, I didn't learn how to fly until I was in my mid thirties. You know, I always think if I'd learned how to do this when I was a teenager or 18 or something, when I was really stupid, I don't know if I would have made it, you know, it's, I always think it's, it's gotta be trickier in some ways to learn this sport when you're young, when you just have a lot more, you know, you feel more invincible than you do when you get older. You know, like you said, now you're kind of more calm and you've chilled out and, uh, but, you know, I would imagine those early years when you're young or they can be pretty scary.
I mean, not, you probably don't even know they're scary, but they're just, they're, I bet they're often tricky to
navigate. You know, I'm, I am happy that I survived this year. Yeah. And, uh, let's say now I'm at a stage when I'm super happy, even not to fly. Because, you know, I'm flying like every season, let's say 200, 250 hours. And some of them just personal, some of them are tandems. And actually I'm just really now, let's say picky just to fly when I feel that I will a hundred percent enjoy that it will be some nice flight or some, you know, nice weather or with good friends or whatever. And if I don't have to fly or I don't have to fly, like before it was like every day. Okay. I go fly now. Okay. It's flyable now.
It's like, okay, I will enjoy some nice hike. And if it's not flyable, I go rather bike or I will teach someone how to fly, or I will go bike or wing foil or kitesurf or whatever. And now I'm super happy that I can pass my experience to my students. And I would say I'm, I'm even enjoying more to teaching someone and flying myself or just showing someone flight on them to give them the joy because now I can pass my experience. And they don't have to do the mistakes what I did. And it's very interesting for me at my quizzes two weeks ago, when we get in contact, I was with my students in normal in Italy. I had just three students, which was just because I had the time for each of them to spend some time with them and to teach them what not to do, what to do, how to find the best term loss, where to fly, what for Luke.
And because you got it. Already into your subconscious, you know what to do, but you can pass this experience to the people who don't know, and they will not catch all of it. Definitely. But they will know, okay, now if I will sit too much in the front of my harness, I will start grabbing the risers and then it's bad because I don't feel anything from the wing. And we did some training sitting, moving the hands, like to make them easy. And I'm really enjoying that because it's something where you can make the people fly better. And when you see how they improving, it just makes me happy. And sometimes I was just on the ground. Sometimes I was flying with them in the air and yeah, that's what, that's what I like now.
Where you're from to become an instructor, do you have to go through any kind of specialized training or certifications or can you just become an instructor? How does it work?
In Czech Republic, we have quite good training for that. We have a light aircraft association. Czech Republic, which works for, I would say, very nice for all the pilots. Sometimes there's some blah, blah, blah on one side and blah, blah, blah on the other side as everywhere. Like the pilots are doing enough for us, but I would say they're doing a lot. And especially for this training in Czech Republic, you have to get first a pilot license, which takes at least two years of flying. And then you have to wait another year. So I think, so it's at least three years to get the... to be able to join the course and then you have you need some inspector who will say okay this guy is enough good to become inspector and you have to sign for yourself usually it's made that the people are in some paragliding school and they like take them okay this is going to be our instructor and we take care about him and they sign for him i did it the different way i did it because i was i was thinking i was i would be working for one paragliding school but it wouldn't work for me because of some business issue so
i was doing it all on myself and the main inspector of the czech republic actually quite i would say good friend of mine he's a brilliant guy he's base jumper and he's older i would say he's like 60 now i think so or 55 or something like that and he's a good guy and was like okay jacob i will sign for yourself and you can go through like independently without paragliding school and you have to do like two weeks course with the light aircraft associations and then you have to do two weeks of the training with some different school and then you become to be instructed but usually you are still with the paragliding school teaching with them getting the instruction from them learning how they do it and i was again walking my own path in this and finding my own way and i would say now i teach a bit different and
the good thing for me is that for me it's still not like a main business i have even now i'm fully in paragliding i have also pedalboarding school and some stuff other what to do uh i said paragliding i would say by a paddleboarding school pedalboarding shop you yeah
what would you say uh you know that all these years of flying and you know like you said we all make a ton of mistakes early on now you're instructing uh when you have students now that are coming you know their first time their eyes were wide open they're super excited what what's kind of the most important thing that you feel that they need to learn right off the bat what what's what are you kind of constantly drilling in what's what what are the either the skills or the mindset or the approach that you think is really important i
would say definitely the mindset and approach is way more way more important than the skill because you don't have to be super skilled to fly safe and to enjoy and why we fly we fly to enjoy or we should fly to enjoy most we should i i would say a lot of maybe most of the pilots in my opinion flies for some goal to beat this record to be first in the competition to show that i am the paraglider and show my friends that i am the one who flies but the goal is to enjoy so i'm trying to teach my students how to get into it to be enjoying to don't you know some of them are really pushing some of them are a little bit slower and it's
a little bit harder but i'm trying to teach them how to get paragliding into your subconscience because that's my favorite theory i would say and i'm always saying to my students if you were first time driving a car you were driving you were driving 100 % consciously put the first gear push the clutch it is in the clutch put your gas you know and everything and now when you drive a car you drive totally subconsciously and you're speaking to your co-driver hey how was your lunch and whatever and then a little kid jump into the street and who pushed the brake it's not your conscience it's your subconscious which is way faster and way stronger and that's what all my students need to learn how to drive how to steer the wing how to fly the wing without focusing on it just to get it and there are no shortcuts you know yeah another beautiful example is
if you have a ball and you give it to the five years you will throw it and say five years old guy hey grab it he will probably get it but if you have five scientists and say okay this is the ball i am throwing the ball this direction this power in this viscosity of the air and blah blah blah count where the ball will be where should be the hand of the young man they will spend hours to counting because the conscience is not that fast not that strong and it's the subconscious and there are no shortcuts you can do it yourself you can do it yourself you can do it yourself you can do it yourself you have to be just flying you can be talented definitely you can be untalented it depends but if you go and learn slowly step by step not pushing on yourself and just enjoying that will makes you fly way way better and mostly safer than if you consciously pushing on something hmm
what what do you love about this sport the most you you know you speed fly you spend some time skydiving you instruct you fly xc you do hike and fly you know when you're just sitting here right now what's the thing that pops up that has you most excited about you know what what keeps you chasing it the
best that i can always change i really love the freedom of the paragliding i really love the touch with the nature i love the community around the paragliding which is just great all around me speaking i met the best people during the paragliding like australia colombia everywhere around the world you met the paragliding people are just the best so i would say you know once when i get tired by flying cross country i'm super happy to go speed flying or to fly the tandems and just to show the people how beautiful it is to be in the air or teach my students and everything i would say last year i said i'm pulling myself out of the speed flank or out of the let's say danger speed flying some proximity and man i did like crazy stuff i was speed flying eight square meters tandem oh yeah i didn't know that was the thing yeah it was it was part of the old danish air games show you know that yeah yeah i was i was there a couple years like as a part of the show team uh beautiful players beautiful people to meet and his friend of mine based jumper we just settled we were taking off three people on a big tandem then we cut the win we throw my eight speeder eight square meter wing during the flight and cut away into it then speed fly and then my passenger cut away and opened the basic wow cool i think so we were maybe we were the first who done it probably the smallest tandem fluent ever that time uh then the other people start to joining and every here there is something new and it was nice it was faith we were like four hours preparing this this thinking and everything and if something will not open or something will open or and the problem was that when we jump into the speedfly one tremor open
mm-hmm
and then it starts turning to the sea and before i was just okay i need to slow down this part close it with the other hand then get the seas turn back to the air and we were too fast to make it back to the beach, so we were both waterlanded. Just about
doing it over the water.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it was fun and we survived.
Then worthy. Okay, so you've mentioned Australia, Kenya, Austria, Czech Republic, of course, Turkey. Now, all the places you've flown in the world, what's your favorite?
What's the best place you've flown and why?
I didn't prepare for such a difficult question even. I know,
I know. This one's impossible.
You can think about it.
We can edit this silence out. But yeah, what just comes to mind as a place?
You know, I was flying a bit of the world. I was flying the volcanoes in Canary Islands and the waterfalls in New Zealand and the flatlands in Australia and pyramids in Mexico and all these beautiful places. And I would say so far for paragliding, I really love the Dolomites still in the Alps. It's very beautiful here. And for some unifying, I really like Rainbow Beach at the Australia. It's the place to be.
Yeah, that's a nice spot.
The nature, let's say the best nature is New Zealand, definitely. And I can remember digging deep into the Skipper Valley, like hiking through the river eight hours somewhere. Lost in New Zealand. That was a beautiful experience.
And yeah, hard to choose one. Very hard to choose one.
Yeah. Did you bivvy New Zealand?
Yes, I said we had a hike and fly, Wanaka. Competition, which is a bivvy competition. That's King's deal, right? You can have a support, but if you go for a long flight in New Zealand, you have to bivvy always. Yeah. And yeah, the first day I was like, that was funny. That was like, there were a map of life-taking all the competitors and everyone were like around Wanaka and around the Queenstown and then Jacob, fire everywhere from in the middle of nothing. And I landed in the Skipper, and I was like, I think so two hours hiking by the river the first day because there were no other way, no check, nothing. The bush was too hard to go through and too painful.
And then the next day I just found out that I cannot cross the shoot over settle what I was aiming for. So I had to turn and go back by the same river to find some hill to take off again and fly back to the Queenstown. Beautiful nature experience.
Yeah. Yeah, that's South Island's pretty magnificent. That would be a fun place. I've spent a lot of time in New Zealand. I've done a ton of sailing down there and my dad lived there in the North Island, but that was all pre my flying years. It was a long time ago. So I'd love to go back and participate in some of the cool stuff that's going on down there. That's Kinga's race, right? The Wanaka hike and fly? I gather. That's Kinga's race, isn't it?
Yeah, that's Kinga's race. Yeah. Beautiful competition, beautiful. And
that one is, that's more of a scavenger hunt, correct? Like you go out, it's kind of like a scavenger hunt. You go out and you tag as many places as you can. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah. That was my first competitions of this, let's say, settle or how was it made? And you have to choose your three points and as further the three point is, then you get more points. Yeah. Yeah. So I was aiming for that. I was aiming for the one which went most far and yeah, that's how I get the way I get.
We have one, I have one that I run here called the Niviuk X Lost in the Lost River Range, which is just the next range over from where I live in Haley in Idaho. And it's, I based it kind of off her, how she does it. You know, it's a scavenger hunt. So the waypoints that are close to where we start are not worth very much and then they get worth more and more and more as you go away. Yeah. Yeah.
And you have to
get back. If you don't make it back, then you lose 50 % of your points. So we try to not have a lot of retrieve and stuff. It's, that's super fun. And last, because it's mellow, I was able to race too, even though I'm organizing it and me directing and stuff. So it's, it's really fun for me as well, but it's a, it's a cool concept. It's a great way to go out into the outdoors and just, you know, there's lots of strategy when it's like that because you got to get home.
You got it. That's it. Yeah. And that would be something, I think what I like to focus also asking, I do like to focus now a little bit more when I teach for some small groups or the people and I would be super happy just to be teaching even some like, let's say baby stuff or more hike and fly stuff to be able to focus with some small group or one by one, but it's always a problem of the money just to teach someone how to fly better, how to find for what look. And as I, I say now I'm focusing on my, some term link courses and stuff like that. And I'm really trying to approach it different way, like to spend with the people, to be with them. And I'm super happy.
The problem for me in this is when I start teaching something like that, I am full in and I cannot stop myself and I'm giving, I would say even a little too much to the people because then I'm starting to feel okay for the day of the course. And I'm quite luck on my energy already. Hmm. But I cannot help myself. If I see that I can help them to fly better, I do it because I enjoy it.
Well, we'll have in the show notes, we'll have links to your school and the Moravian, uh, I can fly race in June. So we'll, we'll put all that in the show notes up. But before I let you go, one last question, if you could, you've maybe already answered this, I'm assuming you'd say maybe go slower or something, but maybe come up with something new here. Uh, on the spot. But if you could rewind to your 50 hour self and you can, whatever that could be skydiving, that could be speed flying. You pick the 50 hour with whatever sport or iteration of this sport you want. But if you could go back to that person 10 years ago or so, what would you tell them? Would you, what would today's Jacob tell that days, Jacob?
I would say definitely a young man, um,
be focused, more on a small thing. Don't push that much because I was pushing quite hard and it probably helped me to get to the place where I am. And I was pushing on the hike and fly competition and all of these stuff at and everything. It helped me to get where I am. Definitely. But now when I look back, um, okay, if you wouldn't push that much, maybe you will enjoy it a little bit more. You definitely wouldn't be at the place where you are now. You would be probably missing one year or something, but you would enjoy a little bit more and try to be more relaxed about everything.
And that's what I'm aiming for. Now. I'm just aiming to enjoy the paragliding and why I'm joining the competition and not for reason to want to win something or whatever. I'm just joining to enjoy and that's the beauty for the paragliding. Hmm. And I would say it's my goal. And I would say the same to my 10 years old. Sounds like great advice.
It sounds like great advice.
And I would say the same for all the pilots, because I would say pilots are pushing too much and playing a lot with the egos and everything. Guys just enjoy, enjoy.
Yeah. I mean, I think this is universal. Good advice. It's just, it's hard to do in the moment, isn't it? Yeah. I'm the same way. I mean, I luckily maybe sounds like more than you. I had, I had people around me who were much better, who were, you know, definitely trying to reign me in slow down, slow down, not, you know, not so fast. You're going to kill yourself. And, but it's hard to, it's hard to live that when you're hearing it, you know, you're just so excited and you want it so bad and you want to get good. So, so fast. And you know, I also wouldn't be where I am if I didn't press so hard. But yeah, I mean, you didn't have to rely on luck, which isn't very reliable.
That's it. That's
it. You said,
yeah, Jacob, your pleasure, man. I appreciate it. I appreciate your friend reaching out and recommending. I talked to you. This was a lot of fun. I appreciate it. And good luck in the race in June if you do it. And yeah, man, stay in touch.
Thank you so much for having me. And given it was my pleasure to see you in the air, guys.
If
you find them cloud-based may have valuable, you can support it in a lot of different ways. All of them incredibly important to keep this show going. You can give us a rating on whatever platform you listen to. You can blog about it on your website or share it on social media. You can talk about it on the way up to launch with your friends. I know a lot of good conversations have happened that way. And of course you can support the show financially. The show does take a lot of time, a lot of editing, storage, music behind the scenes cost. And all we've ever asked for is a buck a show. We put out a show every two weeks. So if you gave us a buck show, that's 25 bucks a year, quite a bit less than a magazine subscription and way less than a latte a month. You'll notice we don't have 10 minutes of advertising at the top of the show, which we get asked to do all the time. Believe me, I believe advertising is a pretty toxic business model.
And I want you, the listener to know that these conversations are just authentic people giving their opinions and we aren't being swayed by brands. But that means we rely on you, our listener. If, and only if you can support the show and it doesn't hurt your pocketbook, we really appreciate it. Go to the website to find various ways to support the show through Patreon or other platforms where we've gone through great lengths to minimize fees. So your money gets directly to us. Becoming a subscriber gives you access to all kinds of bonus information, little nuggets that don't make it into the podcast, extra content or ask me anything shows then a lot more. We don't put anything behind a paywall and never will. If you can't afford to support the show, just send me an email and I'll set you up with an account. No questions asked. Hopefully someday you'll be in a position where you can.
Thank you so much for listening. Thank you for your support. We'll see you at cloudbase.