We came up early on Friday morning for a media flight.  The winds were very brisk, so I didn't think that we'd fly, but just in case we made the trip.  I was very lucky  to have several of my crew come up to help out on Friday morning.  Mark Russell, Justin (Jeremy) Piccolo, Eric Rabe and Brit Trione came along to help out.

 

There were only 8 balloons for the media flight.  Ironically, I didn't see many media. No TV stations and a photographer from the local paper.  The winds were brisk, as I said, but forecast to drop off as the day wore on.  The winds at 500' were 30 mph.  We had a high wind launch and were the first off the ground.  It was a pretty intense launch.  Only 3 other balloons decide to fly and we were on our own.  We ended up trying several landing attempts, but couldn't find anything suitable to land in.  We flew for almost an hour and half before landing in the Kettle Moraine State Forest north of Palmyra.  I took Eric and Justin for the flight with me.

 

Last night we took a fun flight... no competition task called.  We met some nice folks from up here who were learning to crew and they flew with me.  We had Dean, his wife and his son Justin with us.  We flew for a short flight... maybe 45 minutes.  We landed in a cul-de-sac in a subdivision.  Around 40 people greeted us as we landed.  We decided to keep the balloon standing, hooked up a tether line and tethered for around 30 minutes or so.  We ended up taking up around 30 kids during that time.  After signing autographs and packing up we headed back to the launch field and watched the other balloons glow for the crowd.  We arrived back at the hotel around 10:30P, ate some pizza and went to sleep.

 

This morning we woke up about 4A and attended the 5:30A pilot's briefing.  It was a good forecast with light winds out of the north.  Ken Walter called a "fly-in" task with a Watership Down to follow.

 

 

We came in right over the target, but my throw was not a good one.  First time throwing a marker since last September.  Anyway, I placed the marker 14.5 meters from the center of the "X" which was good enough for 9th place out of 21 balloons.

 

For the second task, we were to track two balloons that launched from the fairgrounds at about the same time we lifted off upwind of the fairgrounds.  The two balloons that launched were both special shape balloons.  Rubber Ducky and Garfield the Cat were the "hare" balloons.  We were to follow their progress until they found a field to land in.  Once the hare balloons land, they put an "X" in the field where they land and it is the goal of the "hound" balloons to fly to that field and put their marker as close to the center of the "X" as possible.

 

We decided to try our luck with the Duck.  As we arrived at the Duck's location there was a crowd of 7-8 balloons at the target.  Pete Fay from Gurnee, IL crossed over the target about 4" from the ground and placed his marker right on the center for a perfect score.  I was about 20' above Pete and he was blocking my drop to the target, so I had to throw from 50' above him while making sure not to crash into him below me.  To make matters tougher, Rod VanWyngeeren from Waukesha was about 20' above me.  I had to make sure not to make any sudden moves up or down.

 

I threw my marker as soon as Pete cleared the target below me and was able to place it at 2.47 meters from the center of the "X".  My throw was good enough for 6th place.

 

At this point I'm not sure what the overall standings are, but we are definitely in the top 10 of 21 balloons.  My goal was to finish in the top 10, since I haven't flying competitively much.

 

The picture at the top of today’s entry is from Waukesha resident Lyn C.  Lyn and her daughter Rachel came out and helped with our flight this morning.  I think Lyn and Rachel are hooked on ballooning now!

 

Tonight's flight appears to be in jeopardy due to rain an t-storms in the area.

 

Tomorrow morning's weather appears very favorable for a flight, so we'll count on tomorrow's flight determining the race.  I'll send an update when I know more.

 

Hope your all having a great weekend.  We are!

 

jct