The Lunatic Fringe Podcast

Gorazd Lah, AKA Nitka (and fellow Fuckinasshole) took a very European, and more specifically an Eastern European path in skydiving. Starting out on round parachutes then moving quickly into the world of Style and Accuracy, Gorazd managed to put his tough as nails upbringing and exterior to work for him as he became a champion in his chosen disciplines. Yet...  There's a lot more behind this born a...

Taking to the skies as a way to deal with personal tragedy, Mr. Nicholas Batsch knew almost right from the start that fast nylon was in his future. After having seen some of the worlds best canopy pilots firsthand, he began pushing towards a career that would eventually see multiple world championships and close to a dozen world records, yet along the way he's had to come to grips with the dangers...

At 13, she's the youngest tunnel coach out there; and although she's not much on bragging about her skills and doesn't really share what she does with her classmates at school, she's got her eyes on being a world champion one day and has a pretty good handle on just how good she really is. Soccer Mom and Dad to be sure, but on a whole new level are Sydney's parents Michelle and Andrew. As a retire...

Right out the gate she was breaking the rules in skydiving!  Drawn into the sport with family, jumping instantly took over her drive and motivation, and it's led her to multiple records, world travels and skills both in the sky and in the tunnel that most will aspire to but rarely achieve. Naomi Kotzee is a highly sought after instructor, coach and organizer, and because she's one of my closest fr...

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 w...

With beginnings in the sport rooted in tragedy, Nicole Ludvik turned to skydiving as a way to escape a crazy corporate life and personal hardship by hitting every one of the fifty states from above.  An accomplished AFF and Tandem instructor, she's traveled the world with her husband and significant other, professional swooper and instructor extraordinaire Mr. David "Junior" Ludvik, and you can da...

After a more than close encounter with a tree at high speed, Jimmy McCarthy decided to take on something a little bit safer. Skydiving. Starting out at a high energy, high party factor dropzone in Western Australia,he moved into the life quite easily, and then slid right back out of the "normal" approach to working in the sport. A dedicated tunnel instructor and coach as well as a skydiving coach...

Embry-Riddle. Not exactly what you would naturally think of as the training grounds for a world class canopy pilot. Perhaps a world class airline jock, or in his case even an air traffic controller, but not the founding member of one of the sports longest lived and most accomplished canopy pilot teams in the sport of skydiving.  Curt Bartholomew began his career just like the rest of us; with that...

Seriously, a man after my own heart.  From tunnel flying, cart racing and his cursing (appropriately) kids, to random dropzone nudity, tutu's and a healthy ability to enjoy the inappropriate, Brian Casserly has embraced skydiving fully, as has his family.  The owner of pussfoot.com, Brian with and 'I' and sometimes with a 'y' goes out of his way to embrace the extreme lifestyle, all while successf...

It's heading toward the end of the summer season, and I thought I'd take a little time to catch up with our old friend David "Junior" Ludvik and see what kind of shit my globe trotting swoop champion has gotten up to over the warmer months. Turns out the answer is quite a fucking lot!

Master Rigger, Tunnel Instructor, AFF Instructor, Tandem Instructor...  Fucking over achiever is more like it! Mr Rory Corrigan Started his jumping career at one of the craziest dropzone's on the planet at its peak, and has the stories to tell!  Tattoos, suspension (whoa) and body modification may have been his first stroll down the Lunatic Fringe, but Skydiving has become his life.

Just a babe in the woods some would say. An ordained minister and a bridesmaid for all occasions others might. Even a potential regional man someday in the not too distant future! Zej Moczydlowski (M'ski to the rest of us normal people) started his career in the sport the old fashion way. He was ordered to jump!  From a start in the military to a really rough first hundred jumps as a civilian, he'...

Starting out at Skydive Crosskeys in the early 2000's was a fucking trip! Just ask Mr. Will Lajeunesse...  From the dropzone fix-it-all man so he could jump his ass off, to a fully sponsored athlete, Will had the chance to see skydiving from every angle, both good and bad. From crazy highs to deep lows, he's had the opportunity to taste a bit of it all. Having become infamous for some seriously sk...

Haulin' Meat and delivering flags for nearly a fuckin' quarter century! Mr. Jim Dolan found a way to not just balance a bit of a skydiving habit with the normal (or so he says) life of a school teacher, but he managed to do it as a member of one of the most unique demonstration teams in the world. Featured in their own IMAX film, the Flying Elvi have had one hell of an amazing run! A good laugh an...

From a horrible first experience, to what should have been life altering, career ending injuries and surgeries, you would have thought Derick Massey would have either never become a skydiver in the first place, or hung up his harness years ago; but between an iron will to continue on his path with the Lunatic Fringe, along with a true passion and love for our sport, there's just no keeping him dow...

I think it's safe to say he may have pissed off a few people in his day. I also think it's safe to say that he gave more assholes like me with a little potential a chance to shine than most ever would. From a true country boy with a real desire to fly to the owner and operator of one of the longest running mid-sized dropzone's in the US, Mr. Ray Ferrell has his footprints all over the world of sky...

From his beginnings in Venezuela and then on to New Zealand, it turned out to be a pretty substantial injury to his shoulder that initially aimed him toward skydiving, but it wasn't until years later that his full on love affair with nylon began.  As a master rigger and skydiving instructor, he's had the opportunity to work on some pretty substantial projects all over the world, and his journey in...

DJ Marvin, host of Gravity Lab, 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...

Revisiting exactly what a modern version of the American Dream really is, Sydney and Barry Williams "gave the middle finger" to an antiquated idea of happiness that just didn't fit, and hit the road in a van with no regrets and no looking back. Both retired professional skydivers, they've taken the lessons they learned in and out of the sport, both happy and tragic and used them to help both thems...

The Father of Freefly.  Was he the first person to be on his head in the air? of course not, but he was most certainly the first to go out of his way to stay there! Dancing around the clouds like Peter Pan for the last 30+ years, Olav Zipser has been "freeflying his mind" and traveling the world encouraging others to learn to do the same with not just technical ability, but with heart and passion....

Personally I'm a hell of a fan of a good cliché, and I'm willing to bet Tracy Bohm is too. She met, jumped with, stalked, moved away with and eventually got married to her very first tandem instructor, Mr. Tom Bohm. He quickly instilled in her the same passion for skydiving that he had, and they went about making a hell of a life together both in the sky and on the ground. And then everything chan...

Billy and Ange Sharman have each come full circle to say the least! Having both worked as "Safari Guides" to one degree or another, both are second generation skydivers that have traveled the world chasing their passions, enjoying life, and managing to get in and out of a little trouble along the way. Now that they find themselves the owners and operators of the oldest skydiving facility in South...

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 tra...

With a degree in accounting and a solid job in the real world, Albert Berchtold had the standard American Dream laid out right in front of him; and then he went and made a skydive! A professional in the sport for more than 20 years, he's covered all the bases. Gear sales and support, representative for one of the biggest manufacturers in skydiving, canopy pilot competitor and competition organizer...

Great moments in Skydiving history.  Seminole moments in our sport and in our lives. Deep, meaningful conversations on the events that helped to shape our sport, our careers and our futures, and like so very many of these conversations that have taken place, its all done while shitty ass drunk! As Lunatic Fringe Into the Void surpasses twenty episodes, we have the return of professional skydivers...