Skysurfing is definitely what I do best. I did my first
skydive in 1991 in New York. I did not want to go on the jump. I was honestly
scared. But my friends talked me into it, and after that first jump, I was
addicted. It is a feeling like no other in the world. When I came down from
the jump, my instructor could tell how excited I was and I think he knew that
I would be pursuing the sport. That is when he said "You think that was
awesome, I've got something REALLY bitchin' to show you!" He took me back
to the video room and popped in a tape. What I saw then and there blew me
away. It was a Reebok commercial featuring a dude named Patrick de Gayardon
skydiving over the French Alps with a snowboard on his feet. He was rippin'
out moves left and right to "Suicide Blond" by INXS . It was insane!
I got the chills because I knew that I had found the ultimate pursuit.
My life changed at that point. I did everything in my
power to learn to skydive. It is a fairly expensive venture, so I saved every
dime. But that wasn't enough. I had to take out my first loan. At age 18, that
is very scary. But I just knew I was doing the right thing. I didn't
know why. I just did. It was a gut instinct. I was in college at the time, so
I could only jump on the weekends. I worked for Pizza Hut delivering more
pizzas than
anybody else to collect as much jump money as possible. I
accumulated jumps pretty quickly, and once I had about 100, I threw together a
board out of plywood and took it to the drop zone. Nobody was skysurfing at my
drop zone (hell, there were only two other Americans even attempting the sport
at the time), and the other jumpers did not like the idea of skysurfing. It
was prohibited at the drop zone. So I snuck my board on the plane and exited
last. The jump scared the crap out of me as I got thrown around like a rag
doll, 
but that just made me want it more. I survived the jump and landed with
the board. Other jumpers freaked on me, but I didn't care. I kept coming back
for more. I continued with the sport for many years, and I describe the second
phase of my journey in the X-GAMES section.
