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In
1965, The
Royal Hobart Yacht Club engaged Southern Cross Skydivers to participate at the
Hobart Regatta in February. The 200,000 plus spectators were lining the
north bank of the Derwent River and the aircraft carrier HMAS Sydney was anchored in
the river in front of the spectators. The target was a yellow air
bed attached to a marker buoy between the aircraft carrier and the
crowd.
Hobart
is on the southern coast of Tasmania and the water very cold, so the team
brought their wet suits along for the jump, instead of their jumpsuits with powder
trail pockets. In discussion with the Yacht Club the Commodore requested the team to show the latest skydiving techniques in the display and
as skydivers at that time put their freefall time above all else, they did not
explain that they may not be seen in free fall. Fortunately
the weather was perfect for the jump, there was cloud cover above 8,000ft so the aircraft on jump run and the jumpers in free fall were clearly visible
because the dark aircraft and the jumpers black wet suits were contrasted
against the white cloud cover.
At
that time, very few of the crowd would have witnessed parachuting and relative
work was in its infancy in Australia.
Claude
Gillard, Lennie Hunter and Jimmie Davis made up the team and they jumped from
7,500ft intending to build a 3-Man Star. None of them had jumped
in wet suits before and they found that the smooth tight fitting surface of
the wet suits gave them much higher terminal velocity and that only very small
movement was necessary to alter their rate of descent and horizontal movement.
As was common in those days, they left the aircraft one or two seconds apart
and so as Lennie and Claude turned to chase Jimmie, they found themselves
further apart than was usual. Normally, Lennie would hook-up
with Jimmie and Claude would come down to them to complete the formation but
the extra speed occasioned by the wetsuits took Lennie past Jimmie and so now
Claude had to hook up with Lennie because he was the lower man (it is much
more difficult for the low man to slow his fall than it is for the high
man to increase his fall rate). Jimmie didn't quite make it into the 3-Man but this was to
make him the darling of Hobart.
With
the parachutes open at 2,200ft, the wind cone took the three jumpers over the
flight deck of HMAS Sydney and they tracked up and down the length of the ship
having a good look at this pretty awesome sight. Claude was
tempted to land on the flight deck but remembered that he had forbidden the
others to do that and so he turned to drive down wind and had to lift his feet
to clear the railing on the edge of the deck. Lennie later
confided that he also had an urge to land on the deck but also turned off at
the last second. The ride under canopy in the lee of the Sydney
took a lot longer than they expected. It is a very tall ship when
lightly loaded.
On
board the pick-up boat, they excitedly discussed the jump and as they neared
the jetty, there was a team of marching girls giving a display and the crowd
was going wild. One of the jumpers commented "They must be
bloody good marching girls". Then as they stepped onto the jetty they
realized the crowd's enthusiasm was for them. There were more than
200,000 people on the bank of the river and they gave the jumpers an ovation
all the way from the jetty to the broadcasting box at the top of the spectator
area.
At
the broadcast box, the commentator asked the jumpers about the jump and
eventually made reference to the fact that only two of them got together,
Claude answered "You'll have to ask Jimmie about that", Jimmie stepped
forward and said "Well, there I was at 7,000 feet looking down on the City
of Hobart, it was such a wonderful sight, it attracted my attention more than
the job at hand". The river bank exploded with cheers and as it
was broadcast live over the radio, Jimmie was still getting pats on the back
at the banquet that night and all of next day.
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