Volume 1 of a 30 year autobiographical history of Australian Skydiving by Gary Myors

In July 1970 within days of turning 21 years of age (the legal age in those days) I did some very basic parachute training. This story covers the adventures of my mates and I during the '70's leading me on a forty-year journey in the Australian Parachuting and Skydiving fraternity.

This is a journey that stretches from the early days of jumping on very basic ex-military equipment, some times highly modified to make it lighter or perform better, through the growth of “the space age sport” and fledgling Australian skydiving industry. It took me inside the inner sanctum of the Australian Parachute Federation Board of Directors Meetings where there were hidden agendas behind every friendly face.

Changes in technology and manufacturing added new dimensions to freefall practices and created new types of competition to test the participants and their equipment. Imagine the thrill of test jumping newly designed equipment and being amongst the first to adopt new techniques and methods.

Along the way meeting brave and fearless rebels with a lust for life and a bond that has at times been compared with the outlaw motorbike clubs or freedom-seeking surfers. The journey takes in drop zones in Australia, New Zealand and Asia in search of another adrenalin fix.

Love, lust, wild parties, murder and fatal accidents are all part of this true adventure story that too quickly culminates in a career acknowledgement that few sportsmen or women will achieve but many covet. After the final party all that is left is to move on to what life offers around the next corner – but that is another story and another adventure!

Well so I thought 10 years on I'm back having accepted a job as the manager of training for the Australian Parachute Federation it appears that I may have shapen my pencil and start again.