Behind the Goggles: Humboldt710

Shane Traweek is DSA’s reigning World Champion in Freestyle. Shane scooped up that sweet title last October in Hawaii, a place he never in a million years thought he’d get to fly in when he picked up the hobby a few years ago.

“I bought a DJI Phantom 2 and started flying that around FPV but there wasn’t any races yet. This was a couple years ago. Then I started watching videos online because I wanted to see other people doing it and that’s when I found Charpu’s videos and all the other guys and that made me wanna go all out with the racing thing. And yeah, at the time there was no ready to flies, there was nothing like that available. So I got a Q28050 I basically got the Charpu spec, you know everything he had. Flew that for awhile, started breaking frames, and going through different stuff and it just became a big journey after that.”

Shane lives in Northern California which is 4 hours from the FPV hub of Silicon Valley. He often makes the trek down to fly with some of the world’s top pilots. However, Shane's neck of the woods isn't bad either!

“I like to fly in the scenic areas. Where I’m from there’s a lot of rivers, big trees, tons of big giant Redwood trees that are hundreds of feet tall. I always love to fly around those big trees.”

“I mean you can’t really beat that. I mean honestly, who gets that kind of a course just naturally? It’s a great setup.”

“Yeah, we have a lot of abandoned parks right now that are kind of at our disposal. There’s a lot of beautiful places to fly where I’m from.”

“Not everyone gets to go to Hawaii and fly. Did you ever think, a year or two years ago watching Charpu videos (he goes to some really cool places), that you’d get a chance to fly somewhere like that?”

“No I don’t think that was ever something I thought I’d be able to do. This last year was a whirlwind of travel and amazing adventures and just meeting new people all the time. It was amazing. And getting to go to Hawaii and fly in one of the most beautiful locations in the world was just the cherry on top.”

“Why don’t you take me through that flight, that #1 World Champion flight. What were you thinking?”

“I basically had one thing on my mind and that was the first thing I was going to do. Just a little move I had thought of and then everything after that just came naturally. It was just working with the terrain, working with the features of the cliff and just trying to make it look as cinematic and beautiful as possible for the other people watching so they really enjoyed it.

“How much time did you really spend researching the area? A couple days? A few hours?”

“There was hardly any time. I actually went there for racing actually so I was focused on. When I got DQ’d from the racing that’s when I started thinking about the freestyle – that was for the Aloha Cup, which was the first thing I went there for. So I was actually there for that. But studying the mountain and stuff, I actually only got to fly it a couple of times. Not too much practice, it just kinda came out. Freestyle is something from inside everyone, when you get out there it just flows.”

“What do you do for a 9-5?”

“I actually own a small glass blowing business, where I make art in the day time and I get to do all kinds of other stuff with it.”

“Left field. You just went totally left field on me ok we need to talk about this. A small glass blowing business…”

“Yeah I blow glass out of my garage I design all kinds of stuff and that’s just another kind of artistic outlet for me.”

“That completely explains why you are good at freestyle and see it as something that just comes from within you.”
“Definitely.”

“I’ve always been artistic and I’ve always enjoyed art. I found glass blowing a number of years ago and I moved in that direction and started working out of my garage. Working for yourself is wonderful because you get to do what you want. It allows me to do stuff like this and take up most of my time flying drones.”

We spoke with Shane at a MultiGP Race in Sebring, Florida. An event that was just racing, no freestyle involved, which Shane said was ok with him.

“It’s definitely nice to come to an event and just have one thing to worry about. When you’re focusing on Freestyle it’s a totally different aspect of flying. With racing you’re focused, you’re remembering the lines, remembering the track, it’s memorization a lot. With freestyle it’s just flow, it’s just open. I like to come to an event and just do one event if I could.”

“Focus. Do you think you’re going to eventually have to focus on just one?”

“I think that to move forward in the sport then you definitely have to focus on 1 genre, really doing a lot of stuff you spread yourself thin, you don’t practice as much in certain areas, you definitely can sharpen your skills if you focus.”

“Where would you go, what direction?”

“That’s so hard right now.”

“You have to have thought about this though.”

“I have, I’ve thought about it a lot, and I’ve always thought of myself as a racing pilot. That’s what I enjoy doing…”

“All the freestyle pilots be like ‘yea, go that way.’”

“When I fly though, so many people have told me that they enjoy my videos and everything like that. And most of my videos I make aren’t racing videos. So, the majority of my subscribers and people that enjoy watching me enjoy my freestyle. I feel like that’s what I do for fun and then I race for, the rest of it.”
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: Kendall Mark: Drone racing and FPV freestyle are some of the fastest-growing sports in the world. Meet the men and women behind the goggles who are changing the way we see our planet. Shane Traweek is DSA's [00:00:30] reigning world champion in freestyle. He scooped up that sweet title last October in Hawaii, a place he never in a million years thought he'd get to fly when he picked up the hobby a few years ago. Shane Traweek: I bought a Dji Phantom 2, and I started flying that around with FPV, but there wasn't any races yet. This was a couple years ago. I started watching videos online, trying to search for more things like ... I really enjoyed it, so I wanted to see other people doing it. Then I found Charpu's videos and [inaudible 00:00:59]'s videos and a bunch [00:01:00] of the other guys', and that really just made me wanna go all out with the racing. Yeah, at the time there was no ready-to-flies. There was nothing like that available. So I got a QAV250. I pretty much got the Charpu spec, everything he had, and I started flying that for a while and just kept breaking fames and going through different stuff, and just became a big journey after that. Kendall Mark: Shane lives in northern California, which is four hours from the FPV hub of Silicon Valley. He often makes the trek down there to be able to fly with some of the world's top pilots. But [00:01:30] his neck of the woods ain't too shabby. Shane Traweek: I like to fly in the scenic areas. Where I'm from, there's a lot of rivers, big trees. We have tons of big, giant redwood trees that are hundreds of feet tall. I always love to fly around those big trees. Kendall Mark: You can't really beat that, honestly. Who gets to have that kind of a course- Shane Traweek: It's definitely nice. Kendall Mark: Just naturally set up? Shane Traweek: Yeah, we have a couple parks that are closed down right now, so we can go use those, pretty much right at our disposal. There's just a lot of beautiful laces up there where I'm from. Kendall Mark: Speaking [00:02:00] of beautiful places where you can tread, not everyone gets to go to Hawaii and fly. Do you think a year or two years ago watching Charpu videos -- he goes some really cool places -- that you would get a chance to fly somewhere like that? Shane Traweek: No, I don't think that was ever something I thought I would do. This last year was a whirlwind of travel and amazing adventures and just meeting new pl all the time. It was amazing. Getting to go to Hawaii and fly in one of the most beautiful locations [00:02:30] in the world was just like the cherry on top. Kendall Mark: Why don't you take me through that flight, that number one world champion flight? What were you thinking? Shane Traweek: I basically had one thing on my mind, and that was the first thing I was gonna do, just a little move that I had thought of. Then after that, everything just came naturally. It was just working with he terrain and working with the features of the cliff, and just trying to make it look as cinematic and beautiful as possible for the other people watching so [00:03:00] that they really enjoyed it. Kendall Mark: How much time did you really spend researching the area? Was it a week, a few days? Shane Traweek: There was hardly any time. I actually went there for racing mainly, so I was focused on racing. When I got disqualified from the racing, that's when I started thinking about the freestyle. That was for the Aloha Cup, is the first thing I went there for, so I was there a couple days before. But actually, studying the mountain and stuff, I really only got to fly it a couple times. There wasn't too much practice. It just came [00:03:30] out of ... freestyle is kind of something from inside everyone. When you get out there and you're just doing stuff, it just flows. Kendall Mark: Artistry comes pretty naturally for Shane. What do you do for a nine-to-five? Shane Traweek: I actually own a small glass blowing business, where I make art in the daytime. I get to do all kinds of different stuff with it. Kendall Mark: Left field. You just went totally left field on me. Okay, okay, we need to talk about this. A small glass blowing business. Shane Traweek: Yeah, I blow glass out of my garage. I design [00:04:00] art. I make all kinds of different stuff. That's kind of another artistic outlet for me. Kendall Mark: That completely explains why you are good at freestyle and you see it as something that just comes from within you. Shane Traweek: Definitely. I've always been artistic, and I've always enjoyed art. I found glass blowing a number of years ago, and I really ... yeah, I started moving in that direction and working out of my garage. Working for yourself is wonderful. You [00:04:30] get all the freedom that you want, and it allows me to be able to do stuff like this and take up most of my time flying drones. Kendall Mark: We spoke with Shane at a multi-GP race in Sebring, Florida. That event was just racing, no freestyle involved, which Shane said was A-okay with him. Shane Traweek: It's definitely nicer to come to an event and just have one thing to worry about. When you're focusing on freestyle, it's a totally different aspect to flying. With racing, you're focused. [00:05:00] You're remembering the lines. You're remembering the track. It's memorization a lot. With freestyle, it's just flow and it's just open. I like to come to an event and just do one thing if I could. Kendall Mark: Focus, focus, focus. Shane Traweek: Yes. Kendall Mark: Do you think you're eventually gonna have to focus on one, period? Shane Traweek: I think that to move forward in the sport, I think you definitely have to focus on one genre. Really getting in and doing a lot of stuff, you spread yourself thin and you don't practice as much in certain areas. You can definitely [00:05:30] sharpen your skills more if you're really focused. Kendall Mark: Where would you go, what direction? Shane Traweek: Gosh, that's so hard right now. Kendall Mark: You have to have thought about this though. Shane Traweek: I have. I've thought about it a lot. I've always thought of myself as a racing pilot. That's what I enjoy doing. And then- Kendall Mark: All the freestyle pilots be like, "Yeah, go that way." Shane Traweek: Then when I fly though, so many people have told me that they enjoy my videos and everything that I do like that. Most of the videos I make are not racing videos, so [00:06:00] the majority of my subscribers and people that watch me enjoy my freestyle. I feel like that's what I do for fun, and then I race for the rest of it.