[Music]
in the animated film Kung Fu Panda
the pandas Master Shifu correctly said
that yesterday is history tomorrow’s a
mystery today is a gift that’s why they
call it the present
I think we can all agree we’d be a lot
more content if we were better at
staying in the present but science has
proven were even worse than imagining
the future we know we’re gonna get old
we know we’re gonna die but few of us
have the capacity to understand what
that’s going to mean the English
philosopher Derek Parfit said we ignore
the future in part because of a failure
of imagination of belief we just can’t
imagine what the future is going to be
like but think back to when you were
kids I’m pretty convinced we all imagine
what the future was going to be like we
dreamt of being astronauts or
philosophers or teachers or doctors in
my own case my parents put me in some
moon boots strapped into some little
tiny plastic skis when I was 18 months
old 18 months I promised and taught me
how to ski a few years later when I had
a more robust vocabulary I voiced that I
wanted to be an Olympic ski racer maybe
I had a bit of an imagination but I
don’t think I was any different than any
other kid with dreams of what was
possible in the future things were going
pretty well until with that dream until
a very fateful day the day that the Gulf
War broke out in 1991 I was in a down
hill in Aspen Colorado the Norway
Olympics were on the horizon traveling
at 125 km/h I hit a jump wrong flew 70
meters upside down through the air when
I came back down to the ground my dreams
of being an Olympic ski racer evaporated
because my left knee evaporated all the
ligaments and cartilage totally
destroyed after the surgery in the
hospital one of the many books I read
was Joseph Campbell’s the art of living
in it he said something that was very
timely and has stuck with me to this day
we must be willing to give up the life
we planned in order to have the one that
is waiting for us a few years later in
my last semester of Business School at
the advice of one of my professors I
signed up for a single interview at a
job fair that the school was hosting
most of my friends in the business
school had already lined up exciting
careers in accounting it places that
still give me the shivers KPMG Deloitte
and Touche
ersten young so I went down to the
menswear house and I bought the one suit
tie and pair of loafers that to this day
I’ve ever worn and I went in and sat
down across from a 30-something guy
who’s very handsome slicked back hair
looked like he was straight out of the
movie Wall Street he explained that his
company leased airplanes and he
excitedly bragged that if I got the job
I’d be expected to work 80 to 100 hour
weeks further but for in a couple
decades by the time I was 40 years old
he could pretty much guarantee I’d be a
millionaire he was somewhat taken aback
when I looked shocked and horrified and
said why in the hell would I want a job
like that needless to say I didn’t get
the job so all my business school
friends and arms were heading off to
start their exciting careers in finance
I bought a one-way ticket to Bolivia
with money I’d saved up bussing tables
to climb in the Andes curiously when I
told those same friends of my plans they
all said the same thing god I wish I
could do that those words I wish I could
do that
I think Kung Fu Panda would disapprove
what if instead we just did by the time
I was in my late 20s I’d held almost 50
jobs the jobs themselves didn’t matter
too much commercial fished in Alaska ran
chainsaw for hotshot crew bartending
waiting tables and too many too many
restaurants to count built stages for
the ballet 1,500 dollars in savings
meant I could head off to Central
America and kayak first descents for six
months and in my mind live like a king
and then in my late 20s I got the job
that in some ways changed at all and it
was for the worst pay for 50 bucks a day
I got a job instructed for our town in
the Pacific Northwest running mountain
river courses where my job title was
basically take kids into the outdoors
and help them appreciate and understand
and explore the natural world frankly I
couldn’t believe I was getting paid
anything and at the end of those 30 day
courses I always left those kids with a
quote it was basically my attempt to
hell
then with the transition back into the
real world most of these kids had never
climbed a mountain
they’d never rafted a river many of them
had never seen snow and I wanted the
spark in their eyes to have a chance it
against the pole their flip phones this
was a pretty smart phone error I can’t
imagine what what instructors are
dealing with these tastes but the quote
was by an 80 year old woman named Nadine
stare you’ve probably heard it if I had
to live my life over I dare to make more
mistakes next time I’d relax
I’d limber up I’d be sillier than I’ve
been this trip I take more chances I
climb more mountains I swim more rivers
I’d eat more ice cream and less beans I
perhaps have more actual troubles but
fewer imaginary ones oh I’ve had my
moments but if I could live my life over
I dare to have nothing else just moments
one after another instead of living so
many years ahead of each day you see I’m
one of those people who never goes
anywhere without a hot water bottle a
thermometer a rain jacket and a
parachute if I had to live my life over
I’d go lighter next time if I had to
live my life over
I’d start barefoot earlier in the spring
and I’d stay that way later in the fall
I’d go to more dances I’d ride more
merry-go-rounds I’d pickmoredaisies
Helen Keller gave us the abridged
version which is quite a bit easier to
remember life is either a daring
adventure or nothing at all this morning
I’d like to take you all on a few
adventures that I’ve been lucky enough
to have first we’re gonna go sailing
after the stints without word bound I
decided I really wanted to sail around
the world but I had no idea how to do it
and I certainly didn’t have enough money
for a boat
so I created a business to take people
to the most remote places on earth the
kite surf surf paraglide and explore I
spent 13 years almost almost straight
years at sea visited in some case lived
in 90 countries and circumnavigated
twice this footage was shot in 2010 2011
and Madagascar Mozambique South Africa
and the Cape faraday’s as we were
sailing into the bazaruto archipelago
Jodi and I kind of at the same
time looked at each other when you’ve
got to be kidding me we can fly that
pleased to meet you you opened
what since
[Music]
[Music]
expeditions aren’t about five-star
hotels and pampered cruises you know
expeditions are about hardship and
difficulty but when you get through it
and find a place like we did in
Mozambique and you’re the first
paraglider spot that never has before
it makes it all worth it
[Music]
when we set off the sail around the
world what we hope to find were
untouched coral gardens and lots of
marine life and deserted beaches and
deserted places while that does exist
you do find that well you also find a
lot of and more than you can possibly
imagine as trash and plastic and waste
runoff and destroyed coral and seas that
have been completely fished out it’s
really set in twelve years we’ve been
out here we’ve also seen a big change
from the beginning in the end I can’t
imagine a world where these things no
longer exist we left the Indian Ocean
and round and keep a good hope and the
southern tip of Africa we sells 4,500
miles to here and Cape Verde and we’re
just in search of wind and waves you
must be willing to give up the life you
plan in order to have the one that is
waiting for you in 2011 when I got off
the boat as you saw in the footage there
I was starting to get into paragliding
and I learned that with a lot of
practice and some skill you could use
thermals to sometimes travel hundreds of
miles in a single day and then things
got pretty interesting it’s just you and
the elements
you’re trying to realize your own
potential in a place where no one sees
and no one cares there’s a purity in
that got a little saying you’ve got to
be dumb enough to want to do this and
smart enough to get it back to the
ground safe
[Music]
[Music]
in 2014 I teamed up with the Canadian
mountain legend will GAD to attempt a
line across the Canadian Rockies to the
US border that had never been flown
imagine flying thousands and thousands
of peak feet above the Earth’s surface
with no idea where you’re gonna end up
we got the opportunity the first day of
the expedition just hours after I’d met
well for the first time to fly over a
mountain many of you will recognize
mount robson the highest mountain in the
range
Robson’s the tallest peak in the
Canadian Rockies twelve thousand nine
hundred and seventy two feet just under
13,000 feet and maybe a hundred times
I’ve driven by mount robson I’ve
probably seen it ten times so ten
percent you can actually see the
mountain and then out of those days
mostly it’d be way to Indian there to
fly a paraglider it’s so big and it
dominates the landscape around it so
much that it kind of creates its own
weather and super powerful wind systems
and the valleys
right now and we get there is 4000
meters flying straight toward mount
robson this is the tree plane it just
doesn’t get any better than this at all
like light it up every Mountaineer wants
to climb that peak it’s such a classic
mouth
[Music]
[Music]
that’s a once-in-a-lifetime event for
hangover Robson you just don’t get to do
that
[Music]
I wonder what the guy who leased
airplanes would think about my job in
2016 after six years of dreaming and
scheming and convincing myself that
everybody was wrong and it was possible
to cross the entire length of the
Alaskan range unsupported by a foot and
paraglider I set off to see if it was
possible it took 37 days to find out
that it could
I expected this to be really hard I
maybe even expected this to be the
hardest thing I’ve ever done just
because it’s Alaska it has that bigness
that you can’t really describe or
understand until you’re here I can’t
really put it into words this place is
just massive
Gavin Gavin we pop you a cavity of a
copy of pop on the river
so fluid this cloud
last 20 so minutes
you can see it’s pretty cold
[Music]
just coming out of it I gotta keep my
wig flying because it’s a search the
belt it’s gonna want to collapse
you must be willing to give up the life
you planned in order to have the one
that is waiting for you we began this
talk with a known fact that we’re all
pretty bad at imagining the future to me
even worse is imagining a future that
doesn’t happen and that you don’t get to
live but I believe if we steer our lives
down a safe path it’s inevitably the
wrong path and if it’s the wrong path
that leads to regret and if at least I
regret then what do you think kung fu
kung fu panda would think about that a
few weeks ago I started my my greatest
adventure when this little angel is old
enough to understand I’m gonna leave her
with one little saying that just another
little saying that Joseph Campbell left
us is you go the way of life you will
come across a great chasm jump it’s not
as far as you think thank you
[Applause]
in the animated film Kung Fu Panda
the pandas Master Shifu correctly said
that yesterday is history tomorrow’s a
mystery today is a gift that’s why they
call it the present
I think we can all agree we’d be a lot
more content if we were better at
staying in the present but science has
proven were even worse than imagining
the future we know we’re gonna get old
we know we’re gonna die but few of us
have the capacity to understand what
that’s going to mean the English
philosopher Derek Parfit said we ignore
the future in part because of a failure
of imagination of belief we just can’t
imagine what the future is going to be
like but think back to when you were
kids I’m pretty convinced we all imagine
what the future was going to be like we
dreamt of being astronauts or
philosophers or teachers or doctors in
my own case my parents put me in some
moon boots strapped into some little
tiny plastic skis when I was 18 months
old 18 months I promised and taught me
how to ski a few years later when I had
a more robust vocabulary I voiced that I
wanted to be an Olympic ski racer maybe
I had a bit of an imagination but I
don’t think I was any different than any
other kid with dreams of what was
possible in the future things were going
pretty well until with that dream until
a very fateful day the day that the Gulf
War broke out in 1991 I was in a down
hill in Aspen Colorado the Norway
Olympics were on the horizon traveling
at 125 km/h I hit a jump wrong flew 70
meters upside down through the air when
I came back down to the ground my dreams
of being an Olympic ski racer evaporated
because my left knee evaporated all the
ligaments and cartilage totally
destroyed after the surgery in the
hospital one of the many books I read
was Joseph Campbell’s the art of living
in it he said something that was very
timely and has stuck with me to this day
we must be willing to give up the life
we planned in order to have the one that
is waiting for us a few years later in
my last semester of Business School at
the advice of one of my professors I
signed up for a single interview at a
job fair that the school was hosting
most of my friends in the business
school had already lined up exciting
careers in accounting it places that
still give me the shivers KPMG Deloitte
and Touche
ersten young so I went down to the
menswear house and I bought the one suit
tie and pair of loafers that to this day
I’ve ever worn and I went in and sat
down across from a 30-something guy
who’s very handsome slicked back hair
looked like he was straight out of the
movie Wall Street he explained that his
company leased airplanes and he
excitedly bragged that if I got the job
I’d be expected to work 80 to 100 hour
weeks further but for in a couple
decades by the time I was 40 years old
he could pretty much guarantee I’d be a
millionaire he was somewhat taken aback
when I looked shocked and horrified and
said why in the hell would I want a job
like that needless to say I didn’t get
the job so all my business school
friends and arms were heading off to
start their exciting careers in finance
I bought a one-way ticket to Bolivia
with money I’d saved up bussing tables
to climb in the Andes curiously when I
told those same friends of my plans they
all said the same thing god I wish I
could do that those words I wish I could
do that
I think Kung Fu Panda would disapprove
what if instead we just did by the time
I was in my late 20s I’d held almost 50
jobs the jobs themselves didn’t matter
too much commercial fished in Alaska ran
chainsaw for hotshot crew bartending
waiting tables and too many too many
restaurants to count built stages for
the ballet 1,500 dollars in savings
meant I could head off to Central
America and kayak first descents for six
months and in my mind live like a king
and then in my late 20s I got the job
that in some ways changed at all and it
was for the worst pay for 50 bucks a day
I got a job instructed for our town in
the Pacific Northwest running mountain
river courses where my job title was
basically take kids into the outdoors
and help them appreciate and understand
and explore the natural world frankly I
couldn’t believe I was getting paid
anything and at the end of those 30 day
courses I always left those kids with a
quote it was basically my attempt to
hell
then with the transition back into the
real world most of these kids had never
climbed a mountain
they’d never rafted a river many of them
had never seen snow and I wanted the
spark in their eyes to have a chance it
against the pole their flip phones this
was a pretty smart phone error I can’t
imagine what what instructors are
dealing with these tastes but the quote
was by an 80 year old woman named Nadine
stare you’ve probably heard it if I had
to live my life over I dare to make more
mistakes next time I’d relax
I’d limber up I’d be sillier than I’ve
been this trip I take more chances I
climb more mountains I swim more rivers
I’d eat more ice cream and less beans I
perhaps have more actual troubles but
fewer imaginary ones oh I’ve had my
moments but if I could live my life over
I dare to have nothing else just moments
one after another instead of living so
many years ahead of each day you see I’m
one of those people who never goes
anywhere without a hot water bottle a
thermometer a rain jacket and a
parachute if I had to live my life over
I’d go lighter next time if I had to
live my life over
I’d start barefoot earlier in the spring
and I’d stay that way later in the fall
I’d go to more dances I’d ride more
merry-go-rounds I’d pickmoredaisies
Helen Keller gave us the abridged
version which is quite a bit easier to
remember life is either a daring
adventure or nothing at all this morning
I’d like to take you all on a few
adventures that I’ve been lucky enough
to have first we’re gonna go sailing
after the stints without word bound I
decided I really wanted to sail around
the world but I had no idea how to do it
and I certainly didn’t have enough money
for a boat
so I created a business to take people
to the most remote places on earth the
kite surf surf paraglide and explore I
spent 13 years almost almost straight
years at sea visited in some case lived
in 90 countries and circumnavigated
twice this footage was shot in 2010 2011
and Madagascar Mozambique South Africa
and the Cape faraday’s as we were
sailing into the bazaruto archipelago
Jodi and I kind of at the same
time looked at each other when you’ve
got to be kidding me we can fly that
pleased to meet you you opened
what since
[Music]
[Music]
expeditions aren’t about five-star
hotels and pampered cruises you know
expeditions are about hardship and
difficulty but when you get through it
and find a place like we did in
Mozambique and you’re the first
paraglider spot that never has before
it makes it all worth it
[Music]
when we set off the sail around the
world what we hope to find were
untouched coral gardens and lots of
marine life and deserted beaches and
deserted places while that does exist
you do find that well you also find a
lot of and more than you can possibly
imagine as trash and plastic and waste
runoff and destroyed coral and seas that
have been completely fished out it’s
really set in twelve years we’ve been
out here we’ve also seen a big change
from the beginning in the end I can’t
imagine a world where these things no
longer exist we left the Indian Ocean
and round and keep a good hope and the
southern tip of Africa we sells 4,500
miles to here and Cape Verde and we’re
just in search of wind and waves you
must be willing to give up the life you
plan in order to have the one that is
waiting for you in 2011 when I got off
the boat as you saw in the footage there
I was starting to get into paragliding
and I learned that with a lot of
practice and some skill you could use
thermals to sometimes travel hundreds of
miles in a single day and then things
got pretty interesting it’s just you and
the elements
you’re trying to realize your own
potential in a place where no one sees
and no one cares there’s a purity in
that got a little saying you’ve got to
be dumb enough to want to do this and
smart enough to get it back to the
ground safe
[Music]
[Music]
in 2014 I teamed up with the Canadian
mountain legend will GAD to attempt a
line across the Canadian Rockies to the
US border that had never been flown
imagine flying thousands and thousands
of peak feet above the Earth’s surface
with no idea where you’re gonna end up
we got the opportunity the first day of
the expedition just hours after I’d met
well for the first time to fly over a
mountain many of you will recognize
mount robson the highest mountain in the
range
Robson’s the tallest peak in the
Canadian Rockies twelve thousand nine
hundred and seventy two feet just under
13,000 feet and maybe a hundred times
I’ve driven by mount robson I’ve
probably seen it ten times so ten
percent you can actually see the
mountain and then out of those days
mostly it’d be way to Indian there to
fly a paraglider it’s so big and it
dominates the landscape around it so
much that it kind of creates its own
weather and super powerful wind systems
and the valleys
right now and we get there is 4000
meters flying straight toward mount
robson this is the tree plane it just
doesn’t get any better than this at all
like light it up every Mountaineer wants
to climb that peak it’s such a classic
mouth
[Music]
[Music]
that’s a once-in-a-lifetime event for
hangover Robson you just don’t get to do
that
[Music]
I wonder what the guy who leased
airplanes would think about my job in
2016 after six years of dreaming and
scheming and convincing myself that
everybody was wrong and it was possible
to cross the entire length of the
Alaskan range unsupported by a foot and
paraglider I set off to see if it was
possible it took 37 days to find out
that it could
I expected this to be really hard I
maybe even expected this to be the
hardest thing I’ve ever done just
because it’s Alaska it has that bigness
that you can’t really describe or
understand until you’re here I can’t
really put it into words this place is
just massive
Gavin Gavin we pop you a cavity of a
copy of pop on the river
so fluid this cloud
last 20 so minutes
you can see it’s pretty cold
[Music]
just coming out of it I gotta keep my
wig flying because it’s a search the
belt it’s gonna want to collapse
you must be willing to give up the life
you planned in order to have the one
that is waiting for you we began this
talk with a known fact that we’re all
pretty bad at imagining the future to me
even worse is imagining a future that
doesn’t happen and that you don’t get to
live but I believe if we steer our lives
down a safe path it’s inevitably the
wrong path and if it’s the wrong path
that leads to regret and if at least I
regret then what do you think kung fu
kung fu panda would think about that a
few weeks ago I started my my greatest
adventure when this little angel is old
enough to understand I’m gonna leave her
with one little saying that just another
little saying that Joseph Campbell left
us is you go the way of life you will
come across a great chasm jump it’s not
as far as you think thank you
[Applause]
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