Abe & Amy Oros and our skydiving link

Abe Oros (alias Chico, Guisseppe, jock, and geek, to name a few) was born in Mexico City, Mexico, but immigrated to the U.S. at the age of six. He lived in several cities, such as Guadalajara, Xalapa, and even Mexico City. At one point Abe split his education between Mexico and the U.S. In fact other than his immediate family (stepmother, sisters, son and wife) all his family still resides in Mexico. He continued to move around in the U.S. for a couple of years due to his dad's being in the U.S. Army. His family settled in Newton, Massachusetts. While in high school Abe worked at Cabots Ice Cream Parlor. This is where he became a connoisseur of fine Ice Cream (this would be handy in Mexico).

After graduating from high school, he joined the Air Force and traveled from Johnston Atoll, (720 miles west-southwest of Honolulu, Hawaii) - where he learned to scuba dive - to Germany where he had a chance to improve on his snow skiing abilities and many places in between. Abe had fantastic opportunities while being a zoomie (nickname for airmen). One of his jobs were to train student pilots on instruments procedures by using simulators. After having to explain that he didn't fly even though he was teaching student pilots for the Air Force, he decided to take flying lessons at the local aeroclub club. He was stationed near Fort Bragg, home of the 82d Airborne Division. Abe joined the All American Parachute Club and started his skydiving experience. But, this didn't last for long as he was transferred to Johnston Atoll. Instead of being able to go up in the sky, he had the opportunity to go down into the water. Never to pass up an opportunity, he learned to scuba dive in some of the most fantastic waters in the world. Being a military installation, the only people allowed on the Atoll are military and civilians stationed there. The sea life is awesome, the reef is in pristine condition, the weather is fantastic year-round, and the visibility is excellent.

Abe's next assignment took him to Germany. He was able to improve his snow skiing skills while visiting some of the most beautiful skiing resorts in Europe. St. Moritz, Innsbruck, St Johann, Davos, and many others gracefully accepted Abe's visits. He also took advantage of the sightseeing opportunities around Europe. Abe, being the jock he is, was a member of the Ramstein AFB soccer team that won the USAFE (US Air Force Europe) soccer championship. That team even beat several local German teams.

After nine years plus, Abe left the Air Force and enrolled at the University of Oregon's Architecture program. After a couple of years, the military blood took over his body again. After receiving a Bachelor's of Architecture degree he received his commission from the Army. Although originally slated to be an Air Defense officer, the Army decided to add to his electronics education at the University of Texas. After attending a couple of Signal Courses at Fort Gordon and Fort Sill, he graduated from the Army's Ranger course - an accomplishment of which he is extremely proud. This Huhaa attitude served him well when he was assigned to a Long Range Surveillance Unit (a direct descendant of Vietnam's Ranger LRP's units).

One of his final Army assignments was Fort Hood, Texas. His proudest moments came as a result of taking command of the Headquarters Company for the 57th Signal Battalion, 3rd Signal Brigade. He can truly say he loved his soldiers, even the worst of his troublemakers. It was also here that he became part of his skydiving family at Salado, Texas. Skydive Temple became his home on weekend as he made most of his nearly 1700 jumps there. Thanks Rich, Saeko and the rest of the gang!

His final assignment took him to Atlanta for the 1996 Summer Olympics as part of a task force. It was here where he met Amy (see her description of the meeting below). When Amy chased Abe back to Texas, he knew the only way to stop this stalking was to marry Amy. So on May 17, 1997 at Mustang Island, Texas, Abe made an honest woman of Amy.

Abe's background in management and computers gave Abe the opportunity to run Compaq's night operations for server support in Houston. After a couple of contracting jobs, he accompanied Amy on her move to San Francisco. There he continued honing his computer skills and became a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer. He taught and consulted in computer security issues. When the dotcom crash came he found the opportunity to work for West Marine. This job proved to be extremely beneficial in the preparation of their upcoming cruise on Eleytheria.

The quote that best describes Abe? "If you not living on the edge you're taking up too much space!"

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Amy Brandsborg (alias Buck-a-roo, Famous, Blondie and Aim to name a few) was but a small lass when her parents and two sisters moved from Borodino, NY (near Syracuse) to Maryville, TN. She grew up the youngest of three girls in a small southern town. She spent 14 years in Tennessee before moving to Rome, GA to attend Berry College, a small liberal arts school in north Georgia. After graduation with a degree in Psychology, she moved to the big city of Atlanta, a great place to live, play and work. Knowing that she wasn't going into the field of Psychology even as she was getting the degree, she searched for any job that would be challenging. Without even knowing what drawback was (not many people do), she ended up working for Fritz Companies in Atlanta doing drawback. The easy answer to "what is drawback" is that drawback is the refund of import duties upon the exportation of goods. There's a much longer answer, but your eyes would start to spin from boredom and confusion. This site is for fun, not work! Suffice it to say that the job was a fascinating and challenging. As part of her job, she chose to get her Customs Broker License in July 1995.

On December 16, 1995, she made the first of what has become today to be 650 skydives. She only planned to jump once, but fell in love with it immediately. Her father drove from Tennessee not long after the 16th to try his hand at it. Amy's Mom didn't really have all that much desire to jump from a perfectly good airplane. She was just as supportive, though, from the ground as her father was in the air. Skydiving was to bring more than just a love of jumping from airplanes. She met her husband-to-be one rainy day at the drop zone (we were both so in love with skydiving that we went to the drop zone even when it was raining in hopes of clear skies).

In October 1996, Amy accepted a job with Gulf Coast Drawback Services (GCDS) in Houston, TX. "They" say that a person has one great job in a lifetime. This was that job for Amy. It was a great company run by great people. And the move to Texas was beneficial for Amy & Abe because they could skydive at some great drop zones. Our favorite of all time was Skydive Temple which is actually located in Salado, TX. Our friends were our family. We drove most weekends three hours from Houston to Salado just to jump with great people. While in Texas, Amy learned to SCUBA dive and earned her private pilot's license.

In October 1998, an opportunity opened up with GCDS to move to San Francisco. The company had been sold to a large brokerage firm who had a small drawback division at the time. Amy transferred to San Francisco, with Abe following knowing that a job in computers would not be difficult to find in the Bay Area. They lived in Pacific Heights in the typical San Francisco row housing until moving aboard the boat in March 2001. Six years after moving to San Francisco, Abe & Amy left to sail around the world.

How did she get into sailing? As part of this trip, it was something that needed to be learned. Amy's extent of sailing prior to the circumnavigation decision had been as a passenger along her brother-in-law's father's boat more than 20 years prior. She had seen the boats on the San Francisco Bay, and though they were beautiful. But the decision to sail around the world wasn't as much about sailing for Amy as it was the opportunity to visit many countries and cultures. The sailing was seen as the means to accomplish that goal relatively inexpensively. Sailing is a very simple concept. Amy took lessons to get the basics and safety issues covered. She figures she has an entire world to pick up the art of fine sail trim.

The quote that best describes Amy? "Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting '...holy cow . . . what a ride!'" (If you happen to know to whom I can attribute this quote, please let me know!)

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Skydiving was our favorite sport before this circumnavigation. If only we could figure out a way to get to 15,000 feet from the deck of our boat... Click here to see our skydiving bios and skydiving page.