Jan 1998
Held At : Saga, Japan
From : November 17 - 24, 1997
Jan 1998 | Held At : Saga, Japan From : November 17 - 24, 1997 | |
By : Alex Nagorski
| The Worlds! A couple words that are intimidating, challenging and signify a lot of work to achieve. Whether you are a competitor, official or organizer it takes a lot of work and time to get to the Worlds, because this is the top. These are the best. This is as good as it gets. The years of anticipation turn to months which quickly become days and before you know it, you are off on a trip half way around the world. To be there. To do your part. To do your best. The Worlds are also fun. It is a time to explore new cultures, meet new people and enjoy their company. The 1997 World Hot Air Balloon Championship in Saga, Japan were such an opportunity for pilots, officials and crews from all parts of the globe. One hundred and twelve competitors from thirty eight countries made this the largest ever field to compete for the title of World Champion. Saga - Japan  Saga is located on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu which is blessed with a mild climate and fertile plains. It is an agricultural area which in November provides many cleared rice fields for balloons to takeoff and land. The people welcome the sight of balloons and are very friendly when they land in their fields. This was the second time the community has hosted the World Hot Air Balloon Championship. The first time was 1989 when they held an excellent event. The Saga winds are generally light and variable and will often change directions during a flight. The secret here is to have patience with the winds and work them gently. It is common to be standing on the target and watching balloons go in all directions within a thousand feet of the ground. Masashi Kakuda, the Competition Director, is wise to the Saga winds and has been calling tasks for many national and international competitions in that area. His tasks are all achievable provided the pilots fly smartly. The Championship  The first two days of competition were tough on pilots, especially those from countries that were at their first World Championship. The first morning of competitive flying started under cloudy and at times skis threatening showers. In Saga it was still reasonable conditions to fly under so Masashi called a three part task (a Fly-In followed by a Pilot Declared and followed by a Fly on Task). It was a tough way to start, but all got up and many scored well. The trick was to land before the winds picked up later in the morning. The second day saw a four task flight in the morning (Pilot Declared, Judge Declared, Judge Declared and finally a Pilot declared). The winds were favourable with some excellent results. Evening saw a very slow single Fly In task into the main launch field holding tens of thousands of fans. It was definitely a crowd pleaser. During the week three consecutive flights were weathered out due to monsoon like rains. This break gave the officials some time to catch up on the scoring while the pilots and crews had some time for rest and sight seeing in the area. May adventures and stories emerged from excursions to the numerous and different types of Japanese restaurants. 
Championship TasksThe generally good Saga weather allowed the Competition Director to call twenty one tasks over the week of flying which resulted in spectacular and interesting flights. There were may flights and tasks that each pilot will remember for a long time, whether just flying in the area in a sky filled with 112 balloons, working the winds closer to the target or slowly approaching the target hoping the winds don’t shift in the next few minutes. The spectators at the launch field, which also was on many occasions the target area, had different perspectives and their own memorable moments. Crowds which varied from several thousand for a 0700 launch to more than 150,000 for weekend afternoon flights had their favourites. A minimum distance task is one where the competitors must fly for a specific time and the object is to go the shortest distance from a target on the launch field. They first must clear the field or ascend to at least 500 feet AGL. This is always a crowd pleaser in Saga, as the light and variable winds result in some remarkable scores. On Thursday evening, Nov 20th a minimum distance task was called and due to light and variable winds, it was expected that many markers would be dropped on the launch field targets. As the balloons took flight, the winds shifted ever so slowly and took them to the south away from the field. The sky was crowded as the balloons stayed at about 800 feet to take advantage of the calmer winds. Then after the minimum time of 30 minutes some pilots were frustrated and descended to lower winds which took them to the north east but not to the launch field. After watching a few competitors get closer most (about 100) of the pack followed to get at least a reasonable score. Most balloons threw their marker and landed (about a kilometer from the target) but then the German team went looking for wind aloft. After getting to around 5,000 feet, Dominik Haggeney (Germany) found the right wind to take him directly to the target. Two other Germans and 7 other Europeans followed. Dominik did an excellent job of judging his decent. Flying past the target he descended rapidly and used the lower winds to move directly over the target. He dropped his marker from about 100 feet to the crowd yelling BANZAI, BANZAI, BANZAI. The marker landed 3 meters from the center of the target. Talk about an excited pilot, he was jumping up and down in his basket and flashing a smile that could be seen from 100 meters away. This was definitely one of those memorable flights where others had decided to for an average score, while some daring pilots took a big gamble and won.  As the competition wound down, there were two more notable flights. On a minimum distance task Mary Anne Stevens of Canada, placed her marker dead center on the target giving her a perfect score of 1,000 points for the task. The other flight seemed to be a comedy of errors. A pilot was nicely approaching a target at the main field with about 200,000 spectators watching. Coming in nicely at a height of 20 feet he suddenly starts wrestling with his marker when he realizes there is a knot in it. He fixes that and winds up to throw. OOPS wrong side of the basket. He switches and starts twirling the marker to throw it. Oh oh, it gets tangled in his vent line. Gets it quickly untangled and winds up again. Not again, it gets tangled a second time. Gets it untangled again but by now a balloon has gotten between him and the target so he climbs. Throwing the marker at the top of the other balloon, where it sliding it off the other side gaining him another 10 meters on the toss. So after this interesting exhibition, filmed by almost everyone at the field, he scores better then he would have done originally. Incredible!!!So the event comes to an end and a champion is declared. Another very successful championship is hosted by Saga, Japan and Masashi Kakuda, Competition Director. As in the case of many events the last days are party time but also sad times. People start packing up to leave, saying good bye to friends, pilots, officials, and local crews. The vehicles head home. Flights are caught to head back home to countries all around the world. The wish is that everyone will be at the 1999 Worlds in Bad Waldersdorf, Austria to again renew friendships and to determine who is the best hot air balloon pilot in the world. The complete results can be found at the Saga Web site (via the FAI web site) and some results are: RESULTS OF THE 13th WORLD HOT AIR BALLOON CHAMPIONSHIP SAGA - JAPAN17-24 NOVEMBER 1997
The complete results, more pictures and information can be found on the Saga International Balloon Festival Web page accessible through the FAI Ballooning Commission web page |
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OTHER ARTICLES OF ASI JANUARY'98 ISSUE | News In Brief | Letters To The Editor | World Records | | 13th World Hot Air Championship, Saga | | Parachuting and Skydiving at the World Games : Lahti 1997 | | World Air Games 1997 - Turkey | | 20th Australian Free Flight Society Championship | | Long Range Air Race |  More articles on Ballooning
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