Another kick ass mid-week reboot with Highlight Pro Skydiving Team's one and only Kaz Sheekey! Proper scared. Kaz Sheekey started out like I imagine a fair amount of us do in skydiving, but for her, just like most of us who decide to make a life out of it, that fear she felt on jump one became a positive driving force, not a deterrent. Immediately attracted to the lifestyle as well as her love of jumping, all it took was a "vacation" to the US to drive her into a 25 plus year love affair not jus...
Sep 26, 2023•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 270
Dani Roman. There's a lot of things that can be said, but by now that pretty much sums it up. It may have been from humble beginnings, but his career has been anything but ordinary and he has no intentions of going back. Through volcanos, check. Under bridges, check. In freefall below your landing altitude, check. Yes. You read that correctly, freefall below landing altitude! Dani Roman is a prime example of what "next level" really means, and as he prepares for new challenges both personally an...
Sep 24, 2023•53 min•Ep. 264
Another kick-ass re-boot with Espen Fadnes! Born and raised in a part of Norway where sport wasn't just another choice, but a way of life, Espen Fadnes grew up roped up and climbing or skiing almost before he was walking. Being on the rock and in the mountains was beyond second nature, as were all the other terrestrial adventures Norway had to offer. Yet with Espen, from a young age, reaching the tops of the peaks he climbed and either hiking or skiing down soon didn't satisfy, and he found hims...
Sep 19, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 267
Running outside every time he heard his neighbors airplane flying low over his family farm, there was no doubt that aviation sparked something inside Dan Kluge, and the opportunity to watch a demonstration skydive was exactly the kick he needed to head out to the dropzone and start his own adventure. Running through his beginnings like most "working" skydivers do, Dan found himself chucking drogues for an extremely busy mid-sized dropzone, and a chance opportunity for a scenic right seat ride ar...
Sep 17, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 262
Another mid-week reboot with the amazing Hannah Betts! If you're not the type to stay until the credits have all rolled, then you may just miss her name, but chances are, you know her work! From an active duty police officer to a UK National and then World 4-way champion turned professional skydiving instructor, Hannah Betts is not a woman scared of change; so when the opportunity knocked, she decided to answer her call to the world of professional stunt work in a major way! From AFF to the "MeT...
Sep 12, 2023•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 266
1959 may have been when she was able to successfully make her first jump, but Kim Emmons Knor had been trying to get out of planes for as long as she could remember. Never caring much about what society may or may not expect of her, it was somewhere around switching majors for her forth time her freshman year of college that luck and circumstance helped finally get her out on the strut. It may have also been a contributing factor in a set of downed power lines and a few cold nights for unsuspect...
Sep 10, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 261
Another kick ass reboot with the one and only Bill Booth! - Photo by James Macca Macdonald. William Booth. Bill Booth. Bill "Lord of the Three Rings" Motherfuckin' BOOTH! Astounding is all I have to say. When you stop to think about literally all of the game changing inventions this man has brought to our sport, any one of which would put him deep in the Hall of Fame, and then put them all together... WOW! You have a man who has almost single handedly shaped modern skydiving into what we know an...
Sep 05, 2023•1 hr 38 min•Ep. 263
A third generation skydiver with an origin story stemming all the way back to World War II, Luke Aikins was literally born to be a skydiver. Growing up surrounded by skydiving in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, he had always known that his future would undoubtedly take place in the sky, but even back then he could have never predicted the amazing career he would carve out for himself. Both behind the scenes and up front for some of the most iconic stunts of our skydiving generation, Luke, his f...
Sep 03, 2023•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 259
Another kick ass mid-week reboot with Ryan Graney! Teen climbing instructor and a bit of a lost soul, to a 200,000 a year oil and gas man, Ryan Graney made it pretty big pretty young, and exceeded expectations in more ways than one. A hard charging BASE jumper and professional party guy, you'd be surprised at just how much thought has gone into his crazy antics over the years. Articulating his desire not only to live a life less ordinary but one with real meaning, I think you'll be more than a l...
Aug 29, 2023•1 hr 44 min•Ep. 260
Another alumni from the epic (or infamous) Cross Keys, Mr. Simeon Lott got his start with a very last minute decision brought about by an almost chronic Point Break viewing habit. Skydiving courtesy of Her Majesty's military, his transition from regimented to out of control was pretty abrupt with his first week at CK seeing both awesome change and tragedy. Having now traveled the globe and having taken more than ten thousand tandem students, Simeon is a prime example of what the Lunatic Fringe c...
Aug 27, 2023•56 min•Ep. 258
Another kick ass mid-week reboot with DJ Marvin! DJ Marvin, host of the successful Gravity Lab Radio Podcast, founder and owner of the Ratings Center, long time skydiver and professional shit shooter sits down to talk to me about his beginnings in the sport, the podcasting world and where it's all led him. A love not only of skydiving itself but the community in which its based have been the driving force behind his desire to educate and expand the wonderful Lunatic Fringe in which we live, and ...
Aug 22, 2023•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 257
A second-generation skydiver born to a father who’d managed to make hundreds of jumps back when “sex was safe and skydiving was dangerous”, Ellen Pulford had grown up with the lure skydiving even though both her jumping parents had hung it up before she was around. Late to the game by some standards, it had been the corporate game she’d been playing and playing well without much distraction, right up until that first tandem in her 30thyear. For a time she had both business and skydiving in her l...
Aug 20, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 254
It's another mid-week reboot With Olga and Cornelia! On this episode of The Lunatic Fringe I get the opportunity to sit down with World Champion canopy pilot Cornelia Mihai and up and comer Olga Naumova about what its like to work, play and compete in what up until recently has been a male dominated corner of the skydiving world. Funny and insightful, these two are happy and hardcore!
Aug 15, 2023•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 256
I mean, what can you say… Back in the can for another chat about all things nylon and Jyro, it's the man with an incredibly long job title who manages to have a great time pretty much every step of the way. The Athlete coordinating, social media creating, canopy swooping, rebranding man of the hour, Chris Stewart and The Lunatic Fringe.
Aug 13, 2023•47 min•Ep. 255
Another Mid-Week Reboot with Mike Wittenburg! Semi Professional snowboarder turned professional competitive skydiver, Mr. Mike Wittenburg has a whole lot to brag about with more medals and championship teams than most; yet if you were to ask him what his greatest accomplishment was, he's more likely to start telling you about his kids accomplishments than his own. Listen in to find out just how a world champion dad not only put himself on track toward air-sports greatness, but helped guide his c...
Aug 09, 2023•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 253
In need of direction. Like a lot of us, Connor Meyer didn't come out of school with any real plan or fire in his belly. His father, a proud US veteran who worked hard to provide his son opportunities made it clear that Connor was expected to put in the work, so put in the work he did. Graduating from military academy and serving in the United States Army as a commissioned officer, Connor learned exactly what hard work and team spirit could achieve. Just in time to sit and do nothing while Covid ...
Aug 06, 2023•58 min•Ep. 252
Another Mid-Week Reboot with Andy Ford! Having covered skydiving from almost every angle, Andrew "Fordy" Ford had the opportunity to compete at a world class level in Skysurfing in its heyday courtesy of a proper military grooming, watch the creation of wingsuits from the beginning, and earn and exercise instructional ratings all over the world. As the story goes, "It all started with a beer. It always starts with a beer!"
Aug 02, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 251
One was becoming a big fish in a small pond, with beginnings on round canopies in the Israeli Military. The other was one of a rare few actually born and raised in DeLand, Florida who'd been watching canopies and meeting skydivers from the very beginning. Both not only fell in love with the sport that would become an incredibly important facet in their lives, but with each other as they pursued their mutual passions. Traveling around the United States and the world, Yonatan and Ella Ran have cha...
Jul 30, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 248
Another Mid-Week Reboot with Pat and Shavon! In this super fun and insightful episode I get the chance to sit down for a heart to heart chat with husband and wife Pat and Shavon about their shared love for skydiving and its community, the pitfalls and snags that come with being a couple in an "extreme" lifestyle, the parties, the close calls and what might come next.
Jul 25, 2023•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 250
She knew from a pretty young age that she was in a rather unique position. She also knew from a pretty young age that her dad was, well… cool! Luci Martyn has all the normal childhood memories that most kids do, but those memories are also forever intertwined with her earliest memories of skydiving, it's community around the world and her fathers prominent position in it. It wasn't a question that skydiving would someday be a part of her life, only how much of her life it might occupy. Now one o...
Jul 23, 2023•53 min•Ep. 247
Another Mid-Week Reboot with Rook Nelson! A third generation of jumpers that started with the 82nd Airborne, Rook Nelson comes from one of the most well known legacy families in skydiving. Having embraced the sport from an extremely young age, he's had the opportunity to try his hand at, compete and succeed in most every discipline the sport has to offer. Having been handed the reins of one of the largest operations in skydiving history after a tragic accident, he's taken what was already a forc...
Jul 18, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 249
Back in the can for another chat about all things nylon, Zach Rosser brings us up to speed on his and the sports progression in canopy flocking and just how incredibly fast it's all evolving. It's a great look into the very beginnings of a new discipline in our sport as it just gets going, and all of the amazing potential it has, straight from the mouth of one of the Lunatics helping to chart a new course.
Jul 16, 2023•50 min•Ep. 246
It's another mid-week reboot with the one and only Ellis! Ellis Danho Bourbonnais is the quintessence of a renaissance man to say the least, but most certainly not in the way most people would think. From surfing in the Gulf and then Hawaii, to MMA, skydiving, BASE jumping and climbing, Ellis is more at home pushing his personal limits than most people are on a sofa. Attacking new passions whole heartedly is where he's at his best, and he takes this time to give us a few of the reasons why....
Jul 11, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 245
It's yet another story of it all starting out as a family affair, with roots in competition starting as young as 11 or 12 years old. Yes, you would be right, that's way too young to start a skydiving career, but its the perfect age to begin what has now been a more than 20 year career as a professional watersports athlete in activities ranging from Wakeskating to Foil Boarding. All Sports that helped vault Brian Grubb toward the top of his game and landing him an incredible career with RedBull. ...
Jul 09, 2023•49 min•Ep. 242
It's another mid week reboot with Squirrel! Matt Gerdes and Mike Steen of Squirrel Wingsuits may not have set out to reshape the face of BASE jumping, but it seems they are quickly on their way to doing exactly that. With a ton of paragliding experience under their belts, their single minded goal soon became BASE jumping and wingsuit BASE; and in pursuing their lofty and dangerous dream ended up designing their own line of BASE specific equipment designed to enhance performance, increase safety ...
Jul 05, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 244
Hook, line and sinker. With the help of a really savvy DZO, what started out as a few fellas deciding to make a one time jump turned into an almost instant obsession. As a young and close to broke skydiver like so many of us were, Jason Cooke did what he had to do to get through his beginnings in the sport, and just in time. The revolution that was set in motion by the film Point Break sent waves of fresh blood toward the industry just in time for a now relatively experienced Jason to start maki...
Jul 02, 2023•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 241
It's another mid-week reboot with the one and only Regan Tetlow! Talk about a wildly varied life... Mr. Regan Tetlow has made the rounds to say the least! From bar tender and pub owner, to the meet and greet face man at Skydive Emporia Brava. From randomly being asked to announcing a swoop event on the beach to becoming the voice behind some of the largest skydiving events in the world (and if you can believe it, balloon races...). DJ and MC turned pro skydiver and actor Mr. Regan Tetlow has sto...
Jun 27, 2023•1 hr 38 min•Ep. 243
Tenacious. That's really the only way to put it when a 12-year-old sets her sights on jumping from an airplane and still wants it just as much three years later. There was little to no doubt in Domi Kiger's mind that she would do at least two things. One was blow bubbles scuba diving, and the other was make a skydive. By 16 years old she'd managed to work a part time job long enough to put herself through AFF, and the rest... well, the rest was history at Sorbonne Université and a Masters degree...
Jun 25, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 240
A mid-week reboot with one of the greatest to ever hit the sky, Mr. Craig Girard! With more than thirty eight years and over thirty-thousand skydives under his belt, you'd be hard set to find anyone on earth with more overall experience than Mr. Craig Girard. Multiple World Title and World Record holder, Craig was a member of not only the United States Army's Golden Knights, but Arizona Airspeed, one of the most highly decorated relative work teams in the sports history; a key member of the 400-...
Jun 21, 2023•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 236
When it comes to skydiving, most modern skydivers know the basics about our sports history. The average jumper can most likely tell you who created the 3-ring system and perhaps even who holds the record for the highest skydive, but you'd be hard pressed to find anyone that knows more about the history of skydiving and parachuting than Bob Lewis. As an ambassador for the skydiving Museum and Hall of Fame and tasked to help create some of its exhibits, Bob Lewis has a true passion for our history...
Jun 18, 2023•59 min•Ep. 235
