From November 19 to the 23, 56 Japanese teams
and 22 teams from the U.S., Hungary, Hong Kong, Korea, Slovak, China, Italy,
Australia, and Sweden competed in the combined 14th Pacific Cup, the 15th
Japanese National Championship, and the 1998 Honda Grand Prix-final round
in Saga, Japan.
Yoshihiro Masumoto, a 24 year old with 170 hours in four years, won the Pacific Cup just 25 points ahead of Mamoru Endo with 530 hours in ten years of flying. Mr. Endo won the Japanese National Championship and Masahiko Fujita, a 20 year pilot with 1173 hours won the Honda Grand Prix-final round. The highest ranking foreign pilot was Csaba Molnar from Hungary taking seventh overall. The young, less experienced Mr. Masumoto was so emotional when he accepted his award, that only a few words were uttered before a strong flow of tears streamed from his eyes. It was a touching moment for his rivals as well as the entire audience.
U.S. pilots Harold "Bubba" Cliver, Jim Birk, Owen Keown and Derek Hancock captured 29th, 33rd, 44th, and 76th respectively. Usually, the U.S. pilots fare better in Saga, but the pilots themselves were muttering that it had something to do with "age" this year.
Strong winds did play a big part
in this year's event. The first flight with tasks 1 and 2 was marred by
three powerline strikes and many hard landings resulting in one serious
back injury. Fifteen pilots, including Owen Keown (a Saga veteran) did not
fly, thus getting a 0 on both tasks. There some were very interesting inflations
and launches, including several chase vehicles being pulled off the road
into the adjoining ditch with the tie down lines. Most flights were less
than 20 minutes for the two tasks. It was fast.
Event Director, Masashi Kakuda, called 12 tasks in five flights. Despite the marginal weather and restrictions imposed by having to share airspace with the new Saga airport, the event went well and Masashi did a great job. The airport, which opened in July, had many people concerned just how the balloons and airplanes would share the sky. A specially designed transponder was issued to each pilot that would sound an alert if the balloon was approaching the limits of the new airport control zone.
Saga City, with a population of
180,000 is the capital of the Saga Prefecture and is located in the northwestern
part of the southern Kyushu Island. Saga started in 1984 with 49 balloons
and has since hosted two World Hot Air Balloon Championships (1989 and 1997).
In recognition of these efforts, the Mayor of Saga accepted the "Honorary
Group Diploma" from the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI).
Also, the 10 millionth spectator to visit the balloon site was honored with
two round trip airfares from Saga to Tokyo, a ride in a helicopter, a commemorative
certificate, a pilot's jacket, and a bouquet of flowers. Wonder if anyone
thought of throwing in a balloon ride?
From the opening parade to the many parties, Saga was, as always, an exceptional event. We were excited to complete our 10th consecutive year as Observers in Japan, and are already looking forward to going back next year.
