Volume 2014 – Issue 1 July Editor’s bit It’s been a very active ballooning season once again with lots of good quality ballooning enjoyed by all. The 19th Australian National Balloon Championship delivered outstanding results and was a joy to follow on social media. Well done to Matt Scaiffe for taking the win in fine style. BAV hosted its first training week at Benalla and despite the weather not favouring a flight every day, the week is considered a success and is likely to be repeated annually. Vicky, our club balloon has logged almost 30 hours of flying and could be seen at a number of events on the calendar. As you read this, we’re all looking forward to the next Cave Hill Creek weekend on 8-10 August 2014. If you haven’t been to one yet, you have a gap in your ballooning education. Enjoy the read Francois In this Issue : Balloonists update Canberra Spectacular Balloons Over Waikato 19th Nationals The Adventures of Peter Dutneall Safety BAV Facebook page Bits n Pieces The BAV Hut BAV Calender Credit to Lu Michell, Martin Tregale, Greg Maunder, Peter Dutneall and others for photos borrowed from Facebook and other internet pages. Balloonists update Congratulations Congratulations to Glen Walton who won our raffle, a flight for 2 over the Yarra Valley with Global Ballooning Pty Ltd. Thanks to Erin for drawing our winner and a BIG thank you to Kiff Saunders / Global Ballooning for providing the prize. The Raffle was drawn at Global Ballooning’s Richmond Office on Wednesday 14 May. The winning ticket was sold by David Wills. Other news The BAV website was recently updated and moved to a new host. Thanks to Greg Maunder and others who made this happen. A special word of thanks to Owen Beckwith who looked after our previous site for many years and dutifully kept it up to date. We have a new fridge at the hut ! Thanks again to Chris Brown for making us aware of the fridge and for Ronald who delivered the fridge to the BAV Hut. THE ABF has a new logo and a new website is underway. Queen’s Birthday weekend flying in Benalla included flying a student and mentor from the Tomorrow Today (Connect 9) Foundation. The student (14 YO) expressed an interest in becoming more actively involved. Martin wrote to the Tomorrow Today Foundation (organiser of the Connect 9 program) on general ballooning information and what it takes to become a hot air balloon pilot. Our inaugural training camp in Benalla is complete! Despite wet paddocks, wind and fog we managed 7 hours of flight training (5 free, 2 tether) and 5 exams completed. Thanks to the organisers, instructors & students who attended. Canberra Balloon Spectacular 2014. Report by Greg Maunder The annual Canberra Balloon Spectacular which ran from Saturday 8 – Sunday 16 March on the lawns of Old Parliament House was another great event and with a mix of weather conditions across the nine days, there were six days of flying and one day of tethering. I was in Canberra from Tuesday 11 to Saturday 15 March to capture some action. Joining the usual 20+ commercial and fiesta balloons were several special shape balloons including the US-based Peg Leg Pete The Pirate Parrot, Airball, a soccer ball promoting Canberra’s involvement in the 2015 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup, the infamous Centenary present to all Canberrans, Skywhale and Nudie. I can’t say the Skywhale is my favourite balloon to photograph, however I have a few shots in the bag and don’t see the need to be chasing it for any further photos. Also joining this year’s Spectacular was New Zealand pilot Andrew Parker with the UNICEF balloon, as part of his three year project covering 100 countries. Andrew’s Flying High for Kids World Balloon Project, aims to raise awareness and funds for the international aid organisation. He has a truck in which he transports the balloon throughout the countries he visits. Mixing it up with the fiesta and commercial balloons on several days were two Paramotors (hang gliders with motors attached), weaving in and out of the balloons and providing a great spectacle. There is no such thing as a bad view in Canberra with the daily flights taking in the picturesque Lake Burly Griffin. Some pilots tried their hand at skimming across the water and interestingly for some, it was their first time and it showed, with water still pouring out of one of the special shape balloons 3-4 metres above the water. A mixture of cloud patterns and sun made for some spectacular sights as the balloons floated against the backdrop of the Lake past the many spectators and photographers spread across the multitude of flight paths. With the weather continuing to deteriorate throughout the later part of the Festival, Saturday was the final day of action, with Sunday, officially the last day, cancelled due to inclement weather. While conditions for the Saturday were unsuitable for flying due to higher surface winds and direction likely to have resulted in landings close to the airport, the large crowd were treated to a spectacular tether by the three special shapes, Peg Leg Pete the Pirate Parrot, Soccer Ball & the Skywhale and other fiesta balloons including Andrew Parker’s UNICEF, Capital Chemist and Cathay Pacific. So if you haven’t attended the Canberra Balloon Spectacular, do yourself a favour and book in for next event from 7-15 March 2015. Balloons Over Waikato Another great event in Hamilton, NZ. Weather restricted flying a little and there were reports of a nasty bug that got almost everyone in the event but the night glow at Waikato Uni featuring Angry Bird, Rocket Man & the Humming Bird was a huge attraction as before and the climax of the festival. This is a must do event and if you haven’t attended one yet, make a point. You won’t regret it. 19th National Balloon Championship The 19th Australian National Balloon Championships were held in Canowindra, NSW from 22 to 27 April 2014. The event ran concurrently with the Canowindra International Balloon challenge. The incredible flying and results of this event has been well reported elsewhere but, for posterity, I’ll include the results here. It is worth noting that the top 5 results are covered by just over 3000 points. The Adventures of Peter Dutneall By the man himself Part one, Malaysia My trip started at the end of March with the 6th. Putrajaya International Hot Air Balloon Festival in Malaysia. Putrajaya is 17 kilometres from the capital, Manila and is a bit like Canberra for the Public Servants. It’s a very modern, neat city with fantastic architecture. Eighteen balloonists were invited from all over the world with crew, vehicle, fuel, accommodation and meals supplied. The launch site had a new bitumen surface to keep the balloons off the dirt and was right in the heart of the city next to a lake. As this was a major attraction, many stalls, rides, displays and tether rides were set up which was a feat in itself. The flying was really lovely but short. Each day the wind took us over the lake to a housing estate that proved to be the ideal landing site as a few ventured further out only to land in a wet sticky clay area. The roads were a good choice or a vacant block with a short walk onto the road to deflate. After packing up the balloon with my four crew, yes four, we drove out with two other teams and a three Police motorcycle escort. They went onto a freeway and actually stopped the oncoming traffic so as we wouldn’t be delayed. Amazing! The Hotel where we were all staying was the media headquarters for any news of the ill- fated Flight 370. What can I say? Interesting the way the media works. After seven days away I returned home, then four days later off again for Part two, the Philippines. As it was now school holidays, Florence, Matthew and I went off, first stopping for a day in Brunei. Then Manila for a couple of days before heading off to Lubao, (not Clarke) Pampanga, a few hours’ drive. We arrived there and were escorted to our brand new villa, still not quite finished, but workers frantically rolling out grass into the night. It was a gated community of some thirty-two international balloon teams and all very close to our launch site. Over the next five days we were spoilt rotten with four crew, jacked up F150 retrieve vehicle, 1200 police assigned to look after us, food, fabulous flying area with picture perfect rice paddies, really friendly people (huge crowds) evening entertainment, water skiing all in all a lovely holiday for us, thirteen days in all. After being home for a week, Florence left for her annual five week trip to Holland to visit her parents. A day before her return I ventured off for ; Part three, Taiwan This was my third year running and now so much easier and relaxed. The first year was daunting because there was nowhere to land. Every square metre of flat land is taken up by rice, bananas, pineapples or tea. For the rest of the countryside it’s all jungle and mountains. Out of the twenty-one flights, I think sixteen were road landings. I just love flying there. Every morning for three weeks, I was up at 3.30am to catch the bus at 4am.