With the recent action by the board of directors of the Balloon Federation of America we can expect to see some changes in U.S. balloon contests. These changes may present an opportunity for the world wide ballooning community to move forward.
The traditional excuse for horse racing is that it is "For the improvement of the breed." Notwithstanding the fact that there are no horses in my sight that could compare to the heart and legs of Dan Patch, it is an altruistic motive. It certainly has proven true for automobiles, yachts and balloons in the past.
Pilots and builders alike will "Improve the breed" faster if national competition focuses on real life ballooning. Playing "Drop the Hanky" (to plagiarize Ed Yost) is not real life ballooning. Every day flying deals with real landings, not fly bys at altitude. Every day ballooning deals with safe, easy and rapid inflations. It even often deals with getting somewhere. Part of the U.S. FAA's requirements for qualification deals with substantial altitude capability for good reason.
Over thirty-five years ago when the first hot air balloon races were designed, our balloons had severe limitations in load, altitude and duration capabilities. Today, hot air balloons cross oceans and Rozies round the world, (not yet all the way round at this writing) but our routine sanctioned races dwell more on intricate, complicated, rule-heavy schemes of comparatively short duration.
When Le Mans Start balloon races were first presented, the complaint was that they favored certain easy to inflate systems and that they were far too damaging to the equipment (Designed to build the manufacturers' and repair stations' bottom line?). In the last twenty years without such events there has been little or no advancement in the state of the art of inflations, not to speak of inflation and launching under adverse conditions. Could not our present day balloon companies create a damage free simplified erection system?
Spectator sports reap large rewards for the show they put on. A Le Mans Start race to a ribbon cutting finish line one thousand meters down the field (half an airplane's normal runway), all right on the field is a safe event even in moderately high wind. And if done a few times will be even safer, with less damage to balloon mouth and skirt, and with even greater crowd appeal as the breed improves.
If one can not have a great number of balloons all landing at the same target, you still don't need to degrade the skill required by dropping, throwing, or bomb sighting baggies. Why not make the balloons actually land in a touch and go profile, marking the spot with an implanted easy to measure and judge ski pole that would require manually sticking it in the turf? No more picking a favorable altitude, but real life landing conditions.
Some competitive events should entail distance and goals more like the Long Jump events. That would spread the landing zones out across the state. A few hours at 10,000 feet would entail some real navigation. An absolute distance race in a given time with launch at will would return some spectacular performances. The event which includes inflation, launch and landing in an hour or less would test the mettle of pilot, crew and balloon. The same event with a longer limit would demonstrate the capability of these balloons in various wind conditions at the surface and aloft. (That event could be run with optional take off times throughout the day - for several days, creating an ongoing "Gate" for admission fees and concessionaire business.)
Unlimited time events in each of the popular sizes would also bring out some advancement in man and machine. Thirty years ago there weren't enough balloons to have competition by the FAI volume code. Now we should have separate events in a number of different classes from AX-1 up. Can't you just see the excitement in the crowd when the midgets launch? And the amazement when the next is a bevy of Juggernauts. (Would you want a Bob Sled team of "Tubbies" to enable a solid plant down landingif long drags had a point penalty?)
We can do it now and really show off the fun we can have.
The BFA will now have a new events committee which I hope will draw on some of our very experienced organizers of the old Competition Division, but I hope it will also draw on new blood and new ideas. I hope that the new regime will simplify the events and the rules. The less the rules, the less the scheming to defeat the rules. Keep it simple, hard and FUN.
Good fortune to the new committee in the new year and new century.