So yeah... A charmed if not short career in skydiving is exactly what Mandy Curry had. Stumbling into amazing situations and lucking her way into rubbing elbows with skydiving royalty, she can't help but look back at her time in the sport with rose colored glasses! A mother of two on a vastly different trajectory, Mandy takes the time to sit and reminisce with me about trips to Eloy, landing on glaciers, guns and death threats in Mexico and dollar bills at the strip club cause she met me while I was sans pants in a thong looking for a "champagne room" customer, she's most certainly got a few stories to tell! Wait, this one might not have been the best idea! Please join me on this episode of Lunatic Fringe with one of my dearest friends (who knows way too fucking much about me), Mandy Curry.    

From the top of his game with multiple US National and World championship titles under his belt, to wondering if walking would ever again be an option, the journey Nick Batsch has been on over the last three years is a tough one to imagine. Years of training and top level athletic reflexes turned a landing that could have just as easily taken his life into the challenge of a lifetime, pushing Nick to work not only toward the physical demands a rebab of his type takes, but the often un thought of mental hurtles he had to overcome, not simply to live a normal life and perhaps even skydive again, but to once again stand on the top of the podium at the US Nationals. Join in on this edition with the US National CP Champion Nick Batsch and hear in surprising detail all about his continuing journey with the Lunatic Fringe.

Multiple lives all rolling after and on top of the other.  Mitch Steere, software engineer, father of 2 teenage daughters.  Mitch Steere, sliding off a motorcycle at triple digits, dirty downwind on his first jump, downsize demon. Mitch Steere, building a full database on how to perform beautiful flock dives with as much safety and precision as possible. Having come through his truly "sketch" times with the help of a great mentor, Mitch and his crew are looking toward the future of XRW and canopy flocks with great anticipation! Check it out on this edition of Lunatic Fringe!

Matt Gerdes and Mike Steen of Squirrel Wingsuits may not have set out to reshape the face of BASE jumping and skydiving, but it seems they may have gone about 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 cutting edge wingsuits and BASE specific equipment designed to enhance performance, increase safety and push the boundaries of human flight. 

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 friends in the sport, she's now no longer a podcast virgin. Take the time to listen in as she shares part of her story into the Lunatic Fringe!

Join us for the second episode in our Spiked series with Alta Psychotherapy as Chloe helps us start diving deeper into the mindset of the extreme sports athlete, from novice to world champion, and how at every level your mental health plays the most vital of roles.

Only in the sport for 4 years, Dario Basile's time in both skydiving and BASE has made quite an impact in his life, and those that he meets. From A license to D, this base jumping, bull running, world traveling Tandem Instructor from Sussex NJ is absolutely going to let you, the guy sitting next to you and pretty much everyone else in earshot know that he is a skydiving, chili pepper eating high energy member of the Lunatic Fringe. Join in with Brian Casserly on this amped up chat.

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.

On this special edition of Lunatic Fringe, we are joined once again by Chloe of Alta Psychotherapy to begin our multi-part series called Spiked, where we begin what will be a deep dive into sports psychology in general, and more specifically in regard to skydiving and BASE—touching on everything from the mental side of personal gear checks to working through catastrophic injury, and even the day to day grind that can be a very real part of our Lunatic Fringe experiences. 

Hannah Parker PHD.  Fuck skydivers are amazing at themes (life changing course corrections), and this is one of my favorite ones by far!  Well on her way to becoming a full blown Doctor and researcher (did I mention the fuckin’ PHD?), Hannah and her friend decided to make a skydive to jazz things up a bit, at jazz it up it certainly did! Managing to finish off that PHD while fucking around at the dropzone, she gave her family the impression that she just needed some "down time" after all the hard work,  which is why she was pissing off to Portugal to go skydiving... Seven years later, she's still on that vacation from her original path! Join us for a fun look into the life and style of a hard working skydiver on this episode of Lunatic Fringe!

DK Live! The one and only Mr. Danny Koon has got to be one of the most upbeat, positive-vibe skydivers on the planet, and this after having spent more than half his life in the sport, 25 years to be exact. Starting out in what could only be considered one of the most challenging places to learn, the high desert of Las Vegas, Danny got his start almost completely by accident. From scrubbing toilets and packing, to video, freeflying and swooping, he's traveled all around the country working and playing hard in the sport that's been his passion for the last quarter century. As a lifelong member of the Lunatic Fringe, Mr. Danny Koon has more than a few stories, and a whole lot of experience to share.

In memory of one of skydivings most generous and the anniversary of his passing. He was one of the sports most avid cheerleaders, motivators, teachers and first and foremost, passionate jumpers. Please, take a step back in time to relive with us here at Lunatic Fringe a little of the positivity and joy for our sport brought to us each and every day by Mr. Tom Noonan. "It's never goodbye. It's only until next time." -T.N The desire to skydive seems to grab each of us in a different way it seems, and Mr. Tom Noonan is no different. His passion? From the very start it was of all things, tandems! Where most of us are dragged kicking and screaming at first, he was drawn to instantly, and went about making it his lifelong passion to not only share our world with people as a tandem instructor, but to go much deeper and help train those of us who chose to throw drogues; and along with the true tandem pioneers in the sport, also to go about making it as safe as humanly possible. And on top of all this... he decided to hit the actual top of the world with Everest Skydive! Join in for an extremely informative and entertaining path along the Lunatic Fringe.

Only in the sport for 4 years, Dario Basile's time in both skydiving and BASE has made quite an impact in his life, and those that he meets. From A license to D, this base jumping, bull running, world traveling Tandem Instructor from Sussex NJ is absolutely going to let you, the guy sitting next to you and pretty much everyone else in earshot know that he is a skydiving, chili pepper eating high energy member of the Lunatic Fringe. Join in with Pussfoot's Brian Casserly on this amped up chat.

An OG jumper that started his static line course in the early 90's, Mr. Paul Wetzel, aka "Weasle" would go from rocking out of college where he had substantially more motivation for beer and skydiving that his courses, to Army Ranger school where he'd earn his jump wings; From trailer life in Louisiana to tandems in Las Vegas, and from helicopter flight ops in Iraq and Afghanistan to a food truck in North Carolina. Along the way he's made a Japanese man vomit with his ass (And my assist), taken thousands of tandems, hiked the Appalachian trail from end to middle and back and figured out just like a whole lot of us, how lucky he is to be part of the Lunatic Fringe.

For Tim Jones, the decision to become a skydiver wasn't a difficult one. A half planned road trip from the UK into France and a tandem skydive was about all it took. As sometimes seems to be the case, skydiving and Tim fit together pretty easily, and through a fortuitous friendship formed with Andrew Ford, who he would later find out was "somebody" in skydiving, he found himself working ground control at a very busy multi-aircraft turbine dropzone. With quite a few challenges, but also a number of valuable learning experiences, Tim managed to work and jump his way into the world of camera flying, and then eventually to tandems, finding pleasure not just in the work and the community, but in the potential for travel and experience in the small but extensive world of the Lunatic Fringe. Join in on this episode for an upbeat chat about all things jump.

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 themselves and others as they hike and talk their way across America on a motivational speaking tour that hits the real issues of our time. Listen in now as they share their path along the Lunatic Fringe.

He may not say so, but I certainly will.  A pioneer and role model in the sport, Dan Brodsky-Chenfeld (or Dan B.C.) has to say the least done more than most to push skydiving forward, starting from his very beginnings in the sport. With drive and determination he set out to compete and dominate, and ended up helping form one of the most successful teams in our sports history. Surviving one of the most horrific aircraft crashes in skydiving history, he went on to not only further his own career as a competitor, pilot and instructor, but become a true ambassador, teacher and mentor. Published author and motivational speaker, Dan B.C. is more than worthy of his stellar reputation.

Next generation skydiver and author of "Perfectly Good Airplane", meet Ali Rumbaugh, currently dipping her toes into the Lunatic Fringe.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Cody McMains may not have known he was destined for an "extreme" lifestyle, but apparently he mother did.  Having followed the L.A. dream with a fair amount of success, but without the happiness that he expected to come with it, a well timed chance comment by a close friend set him on a completely different path.  Finding himself in the strangest of living situations in one of the least known areas of the state, the sky and the tunnel soon took over, leading him not only to find his love of the sport, but of teaching others about his passion. Now tossing drogues, instructing and aiming toward competing, Cody McMains has without a doubt purchased his lifetime membership in the Lunatic Fringe. 

Sammy Vassilev may just have himself an unofficial world record. One of the most unique at that... managing to rack up well over 200 jumps, if you can believe it, in the womb. Son of a world champion Style and Accuracy mom, Sammy was literally born with skydiving in his blood, so there's no doubt in his mind its the path he was always meant to be on. Having found a creative way out of communist Europe, he managed to plant roots (wandering roots) in the Midwest of the United States, and eventually in Sin City, where his skydiving career really took off.  From camera to skysurfing, wingsuits to Skydive TV, Sammy has hit all angles of our sport, eventually leading this lifelong jumper to open up his own shop, catering to all those in the Lunatic Fringe.