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Since the age of 14 I have been involved at a high level in solo sports. Sydney’s body boarding community was highly competitive, but I secured a free surfing sponsorship with Hot Buttered based on my big wave surfing. I was with them for 3 years and in a couple of videos. In 1994 I started skydiving, rapidly finding my way into a new division of the sport ‘Freeflying’. Within a couple of years I had gear sponsorship and was flying to international events to compete and build large formations.
About this time I tried BASE jumping for the first time. It was a sport in its infancy, and the gear was modified skydiving equipment. I decided to leave it alone; the mortality rate was very high. I moved back to NZ in 1998 to pursue a career in skydiving. Over the next few years I accumulated 7500+ skydives teaching people to skydive, videoing and taking tourists for tandems. My sport skydiving was a bit more sporadic, but in 2002 my friends formed scratch teams for half the events at the NZ national championships as an excuse to jump with each other again. We won every event we entered, coming home with 3 gold medals each.
About this time I ordered my first set of BASE gear and wingsuit. The sport and the equipment had progressed incredibly in the decade since I had last tried it. Immediately I knew I had found my niche, being in the outdoors with my close friends in jaw dropping surroundings. It was just like surfing, but with the best parts of skydiving thrown in.
To follow this new direction properly I decided to move to Europe, earn some real money and live close to the big walls I wanted to jump. In 2003 I moved to Scotland, becoming a geeky inspection engineer, and used this nerdy image to secure me a slot with a Norwegian company in 2009 so I could move to the heart of big wall territory. The time off and decent pay that comes with shift work has allowed me to travel extensively pursuing my dreams. I have accumulated a modest 440+ BASE jumps in this time, but from many different locations and mostly big walls that require hours of hiking to get to the exit points.I love my life intensely. My friends and the cool things we can do together make me the luckiest man alive.
HOBBIES AND OTHER INTERESTS.
Frisbee Golf, BASE Jumping, Body Boarding, Rock Climbing, Hair Art, Skydiving, Hiking. I love mixing it up, trying new things and never taking myself seriously.
BASE
- 440+ jumps over 14 years in 12 different countries
- Big wall tracking and wingsuit enthusiast
- 2009 World Record big-way jump
- 2009 VKB mystery tour of Stryn
- 2008 Troll Wall record big-way jump
- 2006 Euro-mast Go Fast! event
- 2005 Alor Setar tower event
- 2005 Kuala Lumpur tower event
Skydiving
- 7500+ jumps over 15 years in 10 different countries
- 1998-2003 Professional jumper
- 2002 NZ freefly, sky surf, speed star and freestyle champions
Surfing
- 25 years in the water surfing in 8 different countries
- 1992-1998 semi professional body boarder
- Annual pilgrimages to sucky, dredging barrels
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