Before the story; Best wishes and hope for a rapid recovery to our dear friend Ursula Kaminsky who is recovering from respiratory distress which visited her during a a recent air flight.
Today’s adventure started at 5:15 at the huge tent where our fellow crew members have coffee + as supplied by yet another crew of dedicated volunteers. Remember: In this activity about 2000 volunteers support 500 Balloons!
At 5:30 the Pilots have a meeting where they are given their flight plan for the day. We are in a contest of skill, with is saturated with luck I am soon to find out. We are to go off site at least a mile and launch with the aim to cross the field and drop a bean bag on a target. We did the same deal on Tuesday with a measure of success.
‘Dawn Patrol’ is launched at 6:15 which as a spectator I very much enjoy. Today however we are faced with the realization that there is virtually no wind. Is is calm right up to 3000 feet.
Off we go in search of a magical launch area that will allow us to return to the field. We have about 300 other teams in the same search. We drive in circles while we watch ‘Dawn Patrol’ and other non-combatants launch and stay virtually still, most will land within a mile of launch.
Most teams we talk to are frustrated, this is like running a race with a blind horse! We are not frustrated, we are determined! That will soon morph into the realization that making no decision is more unproductive than making the wrong one.
With Great Skill, our Supremo Commander locates us on the front lawn of a beautiful estate where we are given permission (and assistance) by the land owners. Our take-off is smooth and without incident as we have enjoyed all week.
Soon we are at about 1,000’ altitude, finding ourselves virtually becalmed and unable to control even our very slow movement of about 2mph.
Here I am at 1,000’, surrounded by several hundred balloons and my lovely and most skillful pilot. Obviously she is lovely and her skill is proven by the fact that I am writing this. Before you get any dark thoughts, this is her Daddy. I'm too old to tangle with him!
We had a beautiful landing in a baseball field. Several folks rushed to help us store the balloon. The shadow in this picture is from our balloon. If possible we leave it inflated to assist the ‘chase crew’.
In the map below, you can see we made a somewhat straight flight passing about 1/4 mile from our target. Most of the pilot came nowhere near as close as they knew at the start of the contest that they would be unable to manuver. They did launch to ‘Show Their Colors’.
Anne-Maries flight was able to Zig-Zag as the wind blew in opposing directions at 1,000 feet of the ground. Notice that she went north to south when close to surface, at altitude she went South to S-West. This characteristic is referred to as the famous Albuquerque Box.
Tomorrow, we will launch in early morning, Sunday is to be our last flight day.
To our daughter Kelly: This a week we will put in our box of Men’s Toes!
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