Red Bull.com

Clint Clawson made his first skydive in paradise – the North Shore of Oahu – at only nine years old, and he’s been living the dream ever since. Drawn to just about any high-speed sport powered by air or gravity, he’s an adept surfer and windsurfer, but his favorite moments are in the air. On his way to logging more than 16,000 skydives and over 500 BASE jumps, Clint has earned number one rankings on the Pro Swooping Tour, represented the United States in the International Olympic Committee’s World Games, claimed two world records, invented astounding new maneuvers, pioneered the blade-running discipline called extreme ground launching, and collected so many titles that he can’t remember them all. Any given day can find him coaching sport canopy parachutists, training elite military forces from the U.S. and Canada, organizing adventure skydiving expeditions, capturing radical team flying on video, or, of course, doing demos with the Red Bull Air Force. “Jumping out of an airplane is a life-changing experience, and everyone should try it at least once,” the athlete states. “But no matter how many times you jump, you’re always a student, always learning from others, always exploring new adventures in flight.”

Clint grew up in a skydiving family. His father Merle Clawson, a pilot and skydiver renowned for sport parachuting, took Clint for his first skydive. “Because of my father’s status, I used to be known as the son of Merle Clawson,” Clint notes, “but now my dad is known worldwide as the father of Clint Clawson.” When Clint reached 16 he started skydiving full time. Although Clint set world records for group freeflying and distance canopy swooping, he’s legendary for helping to take blade-running – skydiving from a plane for a swoop down a mountain – to a new extreme by launching down a precipitous course right from the ground, skillfully managing to get the canopy aloft in a heartbeat. And it’s that same bold talent that has helped him win titles like the PST Triple Crown of Freestyle Swooping. Combine those skills with an easygoing personality, and it’s not hard to see why Clint makes such a good teacher and organizer of the popular Fluid Sky adventure skydiving events – or why he’s such a key performer in Red Bull Air Force demos. “The skydiving community is filled with a ton of fun-loving people who enjoy life to the fullest and love sharing experiences with each other,” says Clint, who now makes tandem jumps with his own daughter. “It’s a very positive group that I’m stoked to be a part of.”