SAFA Skysailor Magazine

58 SKY SAILOR September-October-November | SPRING 2025 collapse and got a bit spooked. I’d been watching Jockey Sanderson videos and felt like I’d seen enough that I could try doing a stall on my own, so I went out and stalled my wing. It came out fine, and I was pretty excited about it! But later I told my mentor and he basically said: “That’s great, Kirsten, but you really need to do an SIV.” So I did, and it didn’t go well. It scared the shit out of me and it took me six to nine months to work through that fear. That’s not how it goes for all pilots of course, but it took me a while to work myself out of that funk. I eventually realised that you can’t just bulldoze fear. For me, the key was taking it slowly, chipping away, and trusting that I’d get through it. That realisation carried over into life outside of flying too. Working through fear in flying taught me a lot about how I handle fear in general: Go slow, don’t rush, have confidence you’ll get there. What made you step away from the sport, and what are you focusing on now? A few reasons came together. After I broke my ankle in 2018 (while carrying extra ballast to compete), I realised I wasn’t willing to risk my health for the sport. The Women in Flight: Kirsten Seeto Tandem fun, and flying Boulder, USA Photos: Kirsten Seeto