Tessa Clarkson
I enrolled in my first SIV course with Richard in Oludeniz Turkey and loved it so much I am going back for two more sessions this year. I was excited to do my first SIV in order to better understand my new wing and to feel confident in managing big air. I live in Colorado so big air is a daily occurrence. Richard spent time with me prior to getting started to explain gear care and kit checking, walk me through the site, explain and show "the box" where I will do the manoeuvres, discuss and show the landing area, and took the time to learn areas in which I wanted to focus my skill development. On radio, Richard is calm and comical and conveys clear instructions during manoeuvre-making SIV fun! As we started the course, I developed a love of acro and Richard picked up on my desire to push myself and allowed me to progress at my pace and add skills to the agenda to learn. Despite getting some bad weather and not flying as much as I intended, I learned more from Richard in the few flights under his instruction than I have in paragliding thus far. He does very thorough debriefs for every flight while reviewing footage, he puts in extra time to ensure you understand the manoeuvres while in a simulator, and he truly cares about seeing you progress and feel confident under your wing. The only downside to Richard is that he cannot be in my ear all the time when flying because he doesn't live in Colorado....but maybe this will convince him to at least take a trip out here!