The Lunatic Fringe Podcast

Although Dawson and Olivier started their journey in skydiving at the same time, it was the tunnel that first sunk its hooks deep in both of them. Growing up in Canada, all the usual sports were on tap for each of them, from snowboarding to rock climbing, but it was the tunnel that showed them something exciting and new. As with most, finding both the time and money to maintain turned out to be the biggest challenge, and although C...

Anyone in skydiving for any length of time hears amazing stories, both in the air and on the ground. For those outside the sport, some of them are truly hard to wrap your head around... and Rhino Jon? Well, he has more of those stories than almost anyone. From wealthy beginnings Jon decided to go a different way. His path led him toward the military, then special forces, then covert style operations, drug smuggling, art theft, and ...

The first time Lee Crudgington thought about jumping out of an airplane he was just in search of a plan for the future. He wasn't prepared for the military recruiter telling him paratrooper training was the way to go. Being fit and young, his training went well, all except for being deployed first to his paratrooper regiment in Iraq without having gone through jump school; yet once he did finally earn his wings, it was the fast tra...

Another kick ass reboot with Marat Leiras! Originally aired Aug 2020

At 17 he knew. Well, he knew after he talked his mother into signing the release anyway. Marat Leiras showed his dedication to the sport of skydiving almost right away with a 400 kilometer drive one way to the dropzone just to get through AFF. With some serious skill, some wonderful luck and a whole lot of great timing, Marat managed to travel the world, train and...

From a pretty standard 'that one time I had some money and free time' start to skydiving, to it becoming an almost singular pursuit, Jimmy McCarthy discover in himself not only a desire to pursue his dream of flight, and his passion for teaching, but also an almost core desire to be his own boss. Now a successful load organizer, tunnel coach, and partner with his wife in a budding real estate empire, he's bouncing around from count...

Like anything, being raised within a sport or activity can either draw you in or push you away, and skydiving is no exception; and although skydiving didn't push Anna Moxnes away from the idea of jumping, it didn't exactly call to her. At least not like music did. At a very young age, Anna found herself on the road as a backup singer in a working band, and it wouldn't be until a random opportunity to make a tandem skydive for chari...

Another kick ass mid week reboot with Timmi Thomsen!

Growing up seeing canopies in the air pretty much his entire life, the idea of going to make a skydive when he turned eighteen seemed like a pretty easy decision. Like more than a few jumpers, it didn't take very long until Timmi spotted the direction he wanted to take his journey in the sport. Seeing what at the time he thought was a fatality in action, but was in reality just a...

Growing up in a kitchen helped toughen up Tom Gunes. Working his way from a sink full of dishes to a chef's knife, there's no doubt in his mind that the fiery environment a chef has to operate in helped prepare him for the stresses of skydiving, and he took to our sport from jump number one. With his beginnings at one of the most prestigious drop zones in the world, he's been able to soak up inspiration from icons in the sport, but...

Another kick ass mid week reboot with Jeff Weatherall!

As a young Kiwi, starting out with sport was a pretty natural thing, and Jeff Weatherall excelled. Surfing seemed to be a natural fit for him, and competition became the standard at a young age; but as is known to happen when you push for the top, Jeff found himself burned out on the waves, and instead put all of his focus into a sport he'd never considered before, wakeboarding...

He never could have imagine when at the ripe old age of seventeen and enlisting in the Army that he'd eventually be nudged into pursuing skydiving by open water and a big fish, but that's exactly what happened. Greg Windmiller knew pretty quickly that skydiving was for him. With what he admittedly calls a 'blessed' career, Greg found himself not just jumping with some of the best in the business, but leading the pack. With a passio...

Another kick ass mid week reboot with The Darmon Brothers!

Third generation skydivers, brothers Marcos and Franco were literally born for aviation. Through luck, both good and bad, their grandfather and father built the family airfield and operation literally from the ground up, and these two brothers took to it like ducks to water, although not as quickly as one might think. With Business and Medicine the original goals, it was co...

An absolute trailblazer in the world of freefall photography and the man who can almost single-handedly be credited with blueprint for modern tandem video production, Mike Mcgowan joins us once again to talk not only about his incredible career in our sport, but about a subject that holds just as much importance to him. Addiction. Having faced his own demons in the form of alcohol and drug addiction, Mike speaks frankly about his n...

Another kick ass mid week reboot with Will Lajeunesse!

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 f...

Drawn to skydiving when higher education failed to engage him and it's social scene held no interest, Nicolas Armstrong couldn't help but feel when he went out to make his first jump on a weekend that also happened to be during the biggest boogie of the year that it simply must be his destiny. With more than 20 years in the sport, working as everything from a camera flyer to tandem instructor to AFF and competitor, he has more than...

Another kick ass mid week reboot with Shannon and Louise!

Living mirrored lives on different sides of the planet, Louise Kristensen and Shannon Seyb had a passion and drive for most all the same things. From Horseback riding and yoga, to tunnel flying and a love of the sky and our community, forming a team to spread the love and a positive vibes was the only natural thing to do. Biding their time until they can train for dynamic tw...

EPISODE #300!

Fourteen years old isn't terribly early to be exposed to the wonderful world of skydiving if you're a second or even third generation jumper, but for someone with no connection to it... James Heck was that kid. Through random circumstance, James found himself packing parachutes almost right away, and even though he'd be required to wait what must have seemed like a lifetime to manage that first jump, he knew it was ...

Another kick ass mid week reboot with the one and only Mark Norman!

In this episode I get the chance to sit down with one of skydivings true ambassadors.  Having come up in the sport during times of great change and innovation, Mark recalls what it was like to be there "when". Through struggles with burnout and addiction, he's persevered to cultivate a love for skydiving, its community and all the lessons he's learned, and freely s...