33

Balloon Life,June 2000

Kia Ora. The Maori wordfor welcome.
Welcometoalandhalfwayaroundthe
world—both in latitude and longitude. A
land green and lush where youare never
more than 60 miles from an ocean. A land
inhabited by 70 million sheep, 3.5 million
people anda couple of dozen balloons.
Kupe,a Polynesian who discovered
New Zealandmore than1000 yearsago,
nameditAotearoa,the landof thelong
wh it ecl ou d,be-
cau seasyo uap-
pro achNew
Zealandbycanoe,
shiporaircrafta
long whitecloud lies
over the country.
Kupereturned
tot heleg end ary
Hawaiki. Guided by
thestarsacrossthe
sky, a fleet of seven
canoesbroughtthe
Maoriwherethey
settledinthenew
landseveralh un-
dred years before the
arrivalofthefirst
Eu ro pean s.Each
canoenowconsti-
tutes the basis of the
seven main tribes of
Maori.
This past April,
bal lo on is tsfro m
New Zealand, Australia, England, and the
UnitedStatesventuredtoHamilton, the
countries largest inland cityand balloon-
ingmecca,forBalloonsOverWaikato
2000. Hamilton has an eleven year history
of hostinga premier balloonevent. This
year’s regional event hadballoons flying
inthreedifferentpartsoftheWaikato

Valley. The region is covered by lush land
of rich and fertile farms. High production
dairy herds, horticultural enterprises,deer
farms, and, of course, sheep thrive side by
side. The Waikatoriver, New Zealand’s
longest,meandersthrougheachofthe
hostcitiesofHamilton, Cambridgeand
Huntly.
Wednesday morning the pilots gath-
eredatthe HamiltonYachtClubfor the

media day flight briefing. A light drizzle
greeted them and the flight was put on
hold. The sky cleared partially and it was
decided to inflate the balloons in Innes
Common,offering tether rides to the com-
munity for a donation to Hospice, the
charity benefiting from the event. This
would be the only flight not to take place

during the event.
Thursdaywas community dayin the
Waikato region. The balloonists split into
three groups partakingin morningflight
fromHuntly, Cambridge, and Hamilton.
Cambridge went all out to offer day long
hospitality to its pilots. After the morning
flight a formal breakfast was served in an
historichomeforballooncrews. Every-
onethenhadtimetovisitthevillage
merch an tsbefore
lun ch .Th eafter-
no ono ffereda
choicebetween golf,
horse farm tours, jet
boatridesinthe
riv er,an dm ore.
Thatevenin gthe
towns ofHuntly and
Camb rid gewere
treatedt on ig h t
glows.
Friday morning
balloonmeisterKoh
Murai,fromReno,
Nevad a,calleda
HareandHound s
task. Flight direction
onlaun chwo uld
taketheballoon s
over Lake Rotoroa.
Almosteverybal-
loon ignored the“no
ground contact”rule
and set down on the
surfaceofthewatertosailboatacross
before flying after the Hare. The 12 miles
chaseacrossthelushWaikatoValley
endedwithGeorgeRichardsonscoring
the closest drop.
Mark Prothro, flyingHopper T. Frog,
accomplishedmore of asplash’ndunk,
nearly submerging the basket to the top of

Balloons Over
Waikato 2000

by Tom Hamilton

Waikato region is a lush valley surrounded by many natural wonders.

Balloon Life,June 2000

34

the side rails. A witness to thisdisplay of
flyingskillcommissionedasuitable
award, based on last year’sDip Stick of
the Day award. More on this later.
FridayafternoonKohMuraipre-
sented a four hour balloon safety seminar
which included meteorology, pilot deci-
sionmaking, and other flying topics.Murai
assembled an International team of speak-
ers including Balloons Over Waikato spe-
cial guest Don Piccard.
Saturday’s competitionis called the
Dip and Dunk. Anchoredin the middleof
Lake Rotoroa is a line of tires. Each pilot
isgiven two tennisballs. The objective is
try and toss the balls inside a tire. The
center tire is the smallest and scores the
highest. Setting down in the water is al-
lowed before and after scoring, however,
the bottom of the basket is required to be
at least five metersabove the water when
throwingthe“markers.”Minimum launch
distance is 3,000 meters away.
Flyingintoa scoringarea inthemiddle
of a large lake has advantages and disad-
vantages. On the plus side, the target area
can be easier to identify from the air since
there are no visual obstructions. Also, the
lake surface is an excellent wind indica-
tor. On the downside,depth perception
over water isn’t very good.
Steerage was excellent and balloons
flew into the lake from the south around to
the east. Trying to toss a tennis ball into
the center of a tire wasn’t as easy as it
looked. Only one pilot even hit a tire.
Thateveningthe Waikatoregionwas
treatedto anightglow.Anestimated
50,000 people came out to watch. I made
an afternoon flightout of Innes Common
and had difficulty driving back into the
park for the vast throng of people coming
for the show. At the 7 p.m. conclusionof
the one hour glow—love those early sun-
sets—pilots,crew andsponsorsenjoyeda
dinner party in a large hospitalitytent on
field. A great wayto wait for the crowd to
leave.
Sunday morning’s flight was a key
grab and baggie drop. Grab the keys and
win $7,500in photographic equipment
anda$7,500trip voucherso youcan
travel to takeinteresting pictures.The
previouscompetitions weremorefun
events and the mood during briefingswas
lighthearted.Notthisday,everyone
showed up with their game face on. Sev-
eral questions were asked, clarifying the

rules. Eventually Murai cut off the ques-
tionsand sent the pilotson their way.
Steeragewaseven better thanthe day
before.With theX ondryland pilots
seemed to find their way to the scoring
area withbetter accuracy. I was in the air
sometwomilesawayasIwatcheda
balloonflythroughthetargetarea.It
didn’t appear that the balloon was that
close to the pole, but a very loud cheer
went up from the crowd.I commented
that the pilot must have had a good toss.
Seconds later, the officials were running
over to take the pole down. OK, it was a
long wayto tryandobserve.Acrew
member, alongfor theflightwithme, was
extremely excited.Her husband was in
the balloonthathad grabbed the keys and
they were going on a vacation.
After the flight I discovered that my
eyes weren’t quite so bad after all. The
balloonmeisterhadsaidthatbothfeet
must be on the floor of the basket. Some-
one wanted toaska clarificationon using
a deviceto grab the keys,but couldn’t
when questioning was cut off.
Thewinningteamusedapoleto
hook the ring. After much discussion be-
hindclosed doorsthe grabwasallowed to
stand.The rulesonlysaid, “apropergrab.”
The rule didnot define whata proper grab
was.
A number of awardswere presented.

Some in good fun, some for good flying,
and the key grab prize.Hopper T. Frog’s
splash’ndunkonFridaywonMarkProthro
theWater Suckers Award, a ceramic lily
pad with a large rubber fly and engraved
plate. Whentheawardwascommissioned
ithadnotbeen anticipatedthatthere would
be competition for it. Several pilots dur-
ing the weekend rounded out well below
the water line, soaking their passengers
wellabovethe knees. Lovingcuptrophies
werepresentedfor the besttargetdrops on
Saturday,Sunday,andfortheoverallevent
winner. DonPiccard, assistingKohMurai,
said that it was tradition that the cups be
filled with champagne and the recipient
must down the contentsin one drink. For
the key grab winners Piccard produced a
very large bucket for them todrink from.
BalloonsOverWaikato isanew
event, one that has risen from the ashesof
an oldevent, withstrong communitysup-
port. Excellent flyingconditionsin a lush
valley surrounded by autumn colors, nu-
merous social functions, grand hospital-
ity, and situated in aregion of natural
wonders to explore combine to make an
event that balloonists love. Next year’s
dates have been set for April 4-8, 2001.
With an event planned for Carterton, a
few hoursdrive southin late March, New
Zealand would make a great ballooning
holiday.

Balloons navigating over Innes Common to the line of tires placed in Lake Rotoroa.