Balloon Fiesta
ofKyushu,isacityofvital-itywhere
man, nature andthecityflourishinhar-
mony.Duringthe first weekofNovem-
ber, internationalballoonists becamecom-
patible with the city, countryside and the
wonderfulpeoplewholivethere.The
citizensof SagaPrefecturelove the bal-
loons so much that this year over 870,000
of themcametowatchtheevent. Since
1980, theSaga Fiesta hasgrowninsize
and developed into a world class event. In
1984, pilots from aroundthe world were
invitedandin1989 and 1997, the World
Hot Air Balloon Championships were held
in Saga. Few cities, none outside the U.S.
have ever beenaskedtostagethisevent
more thanonce.Saga andits3,000plus
volunteer staff are proud of the 21 events
theyhave organized.Thiswasmy11th
timeasanObserverinSagaandevery
visit has beenextraordinary.
Japanesepilot, Masahiko Fujita,won
thisyear’s eventandtookhome the tro-
hehascompetedinSagamanytimes,
always finishing in the topstandings, but
2000 washisyear to win. Mr. Fujita also
won the Motegi Balloon event in northern
Japanthe endof November.Hisskillin
thecombinedeventswonhima totalof
$100,000prizemoney.Notbad,huh?
Masahiko has a very dedicated long-time
crewandatalented,devotedwifewho
helphiminhiscompetitiveefforts.In
accepting the awards, he didn’t spare any
words of thanks andrecognition to them.
U.S. pilots Bill Arras, Cheryl White, Jim
Birk,OwenKeownandDerekHancock
placed 15th,18th, 19th, 26th and 64th (out
of 80 teams), respectively.
Typhoon Xangsane delayed the start
ofthe2000SagaInternationalBalloon
Fiesta.Withthree daysof rainandthen
strong winds, it was evident toeveryone
there wasno waythe balloons wouldbe
abletofly .EventDirector,Tetsuya
Mizo guchi,can celledtheflightsvia
roll over and goback to sleeprather than
brave the elements and meet at the launch
field. One day the winds were forecast to
be sostrong, the briefingtent wastaken
down at the field. Thankfully,the typhoon
didn’t make a direct hit on Saga and there
wasnoseriousd amage.Theweather
cleared for a Japanese holiday on Novem-
ber 3rd and held throughout the following
weekend.
The first flight was on November 1st
andthelastflightwasNovember5th.
Nine taskswereflown,eventhoughthe
weather wasnot good. Calling tasksthat
wouldkeeptheballoons,vehiclesand
participants from getting stuck in the mud
wasquitechallenging.Thericepaddies
didexactlywhattheyweredesignedto
do—holdwater!Whenwedidfly,the
winds were light enough thatmost pilots
couldlandonaroad.Thelaunchsite at
Kase River side was a soggy mess. School
childrenwere brought outtothefieldto
literally sop up the waterwith rags, squeeze
the water into a bucket and then dump the
full buckets into the river. Whata labor-
intensiveprojectitwas,butitssuccess
allowed the balloons to later launch from
the field. Workers were rebuildingroads
in and out of the launch site as well. They
broughtinextra sandandgravelto sup-
porttheweightofthevehiclesasthe
balloonistsmaneuveredtotheirlaunch
sites.
Eightypilots from Australia, Brazil,
U.K., U.S.,Hungary, Netherlands, China,
Slovak,Poland,Korea,NewZealand,
Canada and Japan participated in this 21st
annual event. Officials and observers came
from U.S., U.K., Canada, Belgium, Czech,
Hu n gary ,Germ any ,Italy ,Slo v ak,
Ukraine, and Australia giving this event a
truly wonderful international atmosphere.
