Saga City, Japan hosted the 13th
World Hot Air Balloon Championship in late November. This was the second
time for Saga to stage this important international competition. The first
was in 1989.by Tom Hamilton
Saga City, Japan hosted the 13th
World Hot Air Balloon Championship in late November. This was the second
time for Saga to stage this important international competition. The first
was in 1989.
This year as in '89 the American competitors did very well placing all five of this year's U.S. team in the top ten. And like the previous championship held here, an American did not win the title.
That honor went to David Bareford of the United Kingdom. David who has competed in many international events scored an impressive 18,057 points for the 21 tasks flown, an average of 860 points per task.
The competition was off to a fast start on the first competitive flight. High winds made for tricky flying in the three task flight. Landings were a real challenge. Two balloons came to their final resting spot without pilot or passengersone of which was destroyed when stopped by powerlines. There were a few broken bones, putting one pilot in the hospital for three days, and lots of banged up bodies, but no major injuries. One pilot's GPS clocked the winds at 25 knots.
Changing wind patterns were fickle
throughout the championship, canceling some flights but wonderful for others.
Morning winds would change to light and variable late in a flight. Many
competitors who did not take off early enough would find themselves short
of their goal.
Stronger winds generally resulted in markers being far from their targets. When high pressure dominated the weather, it affording good steerage and baggies covered the X.
From a terrain aspect the championship is held in a unique area. About six kilometers north from the main field are mountains 5,000 feet tall. Four kilometers in the opposite direction is the sea. Everything in-between is relatively flat, dotted with small rice fields. Stan Wereschuk of Canada reported a 250 meter drag on one landing. Asked how he did that when the fields are not that big he reported, "I landed in one field dragging all the way through it, up the berm, across the road and into the next field."
Given that the weather did not
always cooperate, a pilot asked the event director at one briefing how far
away they had to be from clouds. The director, Masashi Kakuda, misunderstood
the word cloud for crowd. His reply was that since balloons, in Japan anyway,
were not aircraft there was no minimum distance required. When informed
that the question regarded "clouds" he said, "Crowds and
clouds, same thing." It caused some laughter and confusion at the briefing.
Late in the competition the fly-in portion of a four part task was named the Alan Fraenckel Memorial Flight. The first part of the task, a Judge Declared Goal, carried an added prize of 100,000 yen, a little less than $900. The cash prize was won by an Austrian pilot with a drop of eight-tenths of a meter.
Competitors found the flying challenging and the maps even more so. Bubba Cliver reported that the competition maps "have incredible detail." How detailed? He reported that one thousand meter grid on the map had 29 intersections! It has to be placed on the map in a very small scale. Try figuring out which intersection is your target, either on the map or from the air. Joe Heartsill had a dead center drop on one intersection. The target intersection, however, was 358 meters away.
Competition is only part of the
joy in attending an event of this magnitude. The hospitality, food, and
different culture play a very important part in the overall experience.
Driving on the wrong side of the road, which in much of the competition
area is only six meters wide, can be a real challenge.
Small hotel rooms with only two small drawers, restaurants where shoes are removed before entering, restaurants where menu items cannot be substituted or even worse, only one menu choice, not being able to speak or read the language are just some of the handicaps that had to be overcome.
However, what you will not find in Saga City is road-rage and hand gestures or crime as we know it. Computers unattended overnight in the train station were not touched. Personal equipment accidentally left in public places was still there hours later. Little children on their way home from late classes walk the streets with no worries about being bothered. Consideration and patience of the foreigner and each other is common. There is little doubt as to why those who have attended numerous times love this event, the town and the people.
That's not to say everything in Japan is wonderful. Need a morning cup of coffee? You might be able to find it in a can from a vending machine. Coke, $1.25 a can. A six pack of Asahi beer is $10.65. It's cheaper here in the States imported. Propane? How about $65 or so to fill-up after a flight. And, you have to take the tanks out of the basket for the attendant to fill them.
When the week of flying ended, the championship trophy passed from defending champion Joe Heartsill, who finished third, to David Bareford of the United Kingdom. Janne Balkedal, Sweden, who has flown in every world championship, finished second. Before the competition started, he told Balloon Life photographer Dick Stamberg that he was going to win. He came close.
By the way, Dick, Janne, and Jim Winker, who attended the beginning of the event, are the only three known people in ballooning today to have attended every world hot air balloon championship since its inception in 1973.
Rounding out the top ten were
Bill Arras (USA), Uwe Schneider (Germany), Bubba Cliver (USA), Thomas Fink
(Germany), Pat Cannon (USA), Brian Beazly (USA), and Jouni Ruotsalainen
(Finland).
Joyce Bundgaard, Stephen Blucher, Patty Lewis, Doug Grimes, Brian Beazly, and Bubba Cliver contributed to this story. Photos by Dick Stamberg. Editor.
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