The Lunatic Fringe Podcast

Back to talk about everything from the closing of the ORIGINAL Flyaway Las Vegas Indoor Skydiving facility, to the EPIC races in Abu Dhabi, Ray "Ninja" Kubiak shows just how strongly his bodyflight passions run.

Total Fuckin' Ninja. In fact, I'd personally go as far as to call him not only one of the first true tunnel ninja's, but one of the prime players who has shaped modern body flight as much if not more than anyone else. Coming from humble beginnings in one of the first public tunnels in the world, Ray Kubiak went from being one of the most difficult students in the Las Vegas Flyaway tunnel to being a pioneer in teaching true human flight. Overcoming adversity and turning it not only into opportunity but in fact a blessing, Ray is the embodiment of heart and spirit in our sport, and a proper all around lunatic.

Although she didn’t know it at the time, her father’s Judo style antics throwing her around in the sand may have been exactly what started her down her extreme sports path. That being said, one could argue that Chloe Svolakos’s first foray into the world of extremes may have been working as a therapist and social worker in New York City. Through a chance encounter with a skydiver while participating in her first love jujutsu, the idea of making a skydive came up. Just as 2 follows 1, her first tandem led to AFF, and that was pretty much all she wrote. These days, her true passion lies in combining her many different worlds through Alta Psychotherapy, which she founded primarily to help extreme sports athletes deal with everything from overcoming basic fear, to coping with traumatic injury. A truly passionate member of the Lunatic Fringe community looking to help all those along their own journey.

Back in the can to talk about a pretty spectacular 2024, and what is shaping up to be an epic 2025 is JYRO's man for all things FLOCKING, Zack Rosser.

At an age when most kids are still learning to tie their shoelaces unassisted, Zack Rosser was tossing on his kid sized climbing harness so his father could take him up on a tandem paraglide session; and before he was old enough to know he had choices available to him, he'd already made his. With paragliding not as accessible in his area in Australia, his father took him out to the local DZ when he was twenty, and set him up on a tandem skydive to see if that might be a good fit. In no time at all, Zack became the DZ's "anything you need" guy, pushing hard to find his angle into the sport. It didn't take him long at all to realize the canopy side of things was exactly his fit. Working now as a tandem instructor, video guy, and primarily a canopy coach, Zack's passion for nylon has led him to everything from competition Canopy Piloting to organizing flocking dives all over Down Under, with plans to branch out to New Zealand and beyond as soon as travel allows. Bringing a youth and exuberance to everything he does, you'll understand when you listen that Zack Rosser has only just begun his path along the Lunatic Fringe.

Even though he's been gone for four years, the legend that is Moe Viletto and his brand Tailored For Survival is just as strong as ever. With epic stories for days, if you weren't lucky enough to have known or met Moe, you can still share in a small taste of what an incredible guy he was. Please enjoy one of the most amazing chats we've ever had on The Lunatic Fringe.

With one of the most unique stories of how skydiving entered his life, Moe Viletto had just survived an impromptu zero gravity aerobatic flight by the skin of his teeth when he and his pilot buddy spotted canopies off in the distance. Knowing the instant he landed from his first jump that this was what life had been aiming him toward, he embarked on what this year would have been five decades of skydiving, rigging and BASE jumping. Living life on his terms as a rigging gypsy king, scoring a bit of luck here and there and having an incredible time, he did it all without any real plan. From drougeless tandems and AFF before it was a thing, to living in a VW Beetle while trying to find a home for his sewing machines, to BASE jumping with a tent and then on to Hollywood, Moe Viletto and I only scratch the surface of his fifty years of Lunatic Fringe adventures. From his antics to his rigging, Moe Viletto was a trailblazer in every sense of the word and we aren't likely to ever find another quite like him. On what was suppose to be the first of many installments of "Story Time With Moe", he shared with us just a little of what made him such an incredibly loved icon in our sport.  Recorded not much before his passing, I feel nothing but lucky I had the chance to meet the man behind the Lunatic Fringe legend.

It's become apparent that "extreme" simply means something different in Australia, and Vince Jarvis is yet another example of that fact. A skateboarder from a young age, he simply wasn't aware that you could take part in a sport that didn't require getting bloody. Wasn't aware until a chance opportunity led him to make his first jump. One of the lucky ones that figured out from the beginning how to manage a real world job with his new skydiving addiction, it wasn't long before he was eyeing working weekends in the sport to supplement his required level of stoke.  As A follows B, it became coaching, AFF, tandems, freeflying, wingsuiting and BASE; and as a self proclaimed Jack of all trades master of none, Vince is exactly the type of example to look to for chasing your passions. Second only to Matt Munting in his Aussie "Frothing" level, Vince Jarvis has the whole Lunatic thing well in hand.

Because... Happy Fuckin' New Year!

Let's just call this one what it is. We all sat down in a very small room with some microphones and got as drunk as we possibly could while trying to talk about skydiving. Chances are you've probably done some version of it yourself, but If you haven't, we highly recommend you try it sometime. Until then, please enjoy this little Lunatic Fringe bunch of idiots having a wonderful time…

Back in the can to bring us up to speed as we enter 2025, it's JYRO's one and only, Mr. Chris Stewart.

He'd let his student down in a major way.  Quite literally the last thing she wanted to hear when asking her attractive, worldly instructor what had driven him to become a professional skydiver was "Google".  From a skydiving school with a "work placement" program, you wouldn't necessarily think big things were on the horizon, but Chris Stewart is flying proof that once that passion takes hold...  Champion competitive canopy pilot, instructor, world traveler, cutting edge test pilot for JYRO canopies, and the Dude to call if you're an athlete waiting to be discovered. An all around good guy, and exactly who to ring in the new year with.     Fuck.     Yeah.

The real world can sometimes be a tough one for passionate skydivers to navagate, because lets face it, being a full throttle jumper can be demanding; but if you're like Grant Bowen, then it's pretty simple. You work hard at your daily so you can play even harder on the weekends. When a few hours sleep on the DZ couch after a long weeks work is like a solid 8 hours in a 'normal' persons fluffy bed, you know you're in it for the long haul. From a demanding 9 to 5, to AFF, to tandems, to representing Peregrine Manufacturing as an athlete and ambassador, Grant might not have a whole lot of free time on your hands, but he's always got his place deep in the Lunatic Fringe. 

Finding a good balance between the life of a professional nurse and a hard charging, skydiving, wingsuit camp organizing BASE jumper might sound like a lot to take on, but if you're Anna Muller, you manage to do that and have extra energy to spare! an Aussie with as much grit as you might expect, Anna takes on the challenges both the 'real' world and the world of airsports throw at her with a deep desire to not only help advance and guide those around her, but to push the line that defines her own personal Lunatic Fringe.

A tribute re-release of Katelyn ‘Compton’ Escott and her story of incredible drive and determination. Blue Skies…

It was an easy choice. $300 for a tandem skydive, or $200 for a first jump course and a 3,500 foot instructor assisted jump. Not really a hard decision for a then 19 year old trying to pay for it all. Growing up in a small town in Western Canada, getting started in skydiving wasn't nearly as easy for Katelyn Escott as it has been for others, but from even before that first jump it was something she was drawn toward. From jumping in Canada to shooting video in Australia, it was a series of fortunate encounters that led her to both BASE, and wingsuits, and eventually the challenge of bringing those two together; but Katelyn is busy dealing with her largest challenge yet, and she's not shy about sharing the struggle. The struggle of recovering from an accident that very easily could have taken her life, and probably should have taken the use of her legs. Driven by the desire to once again get back in the air, there is simply nothing that will keep her on the ground even one minute longer than she must, solidifying both her amazing will and her place deep within the Lunatic Fringe.