By : Timo Koskensalo

Three young members from Raisio Model Flying Club were representing Finland in an international youth camp of "Ballonsportjugend" in Fulda, Germany. For every flight the youngster were divided into teams. One part of the team was flying and another part was following the balloon by car. The team could cosiest of eighth nationalities. People are different, but the greatest passion was flying which made the team to join as a functioning group.

Cloudy weather and rain make one’s mind excited when we arrive in the camp area. Hopefully our tent is watertight! We get company from the Polish team consisting of two boys and three girls. Strong feeling of togetherness will be created by playing football match in rain. We have not come here to sit in the tent the whole week ­ to just join the others! Tomas Hora and Astrid Gerhardt the leader of the camp, are informing us about principal rules: you can drink and do as you like but the most important thing is to keep yourselves fit for flying. We will eat when we have time for it. ­ There really was much to do. There were special groups for kitchen and bathroom cleaning, and the groups were changed every day. Wet hot-air-balloons had to be dried and the gas bottles to be filled.

It’s 4 o’clock a.m. and time to wake up. It has rained in the night and water from open window of the tent has made the floor wet. A thick jacket which I have taken with me is really needed now. As breakfast we have two chocolate bars and a gulp of cola. Cold air outside makes us move quickly. The hot-air-balloon will be pulled out from the carriage. The basket will be ready quickly while other people preparing the balloon.

A small combustion engine blower has a little morning cough, but the warm air begins to flow into the balloon. The blower rushes and lovely warmed broadens to the wet clothing. It takes about 15 minutes to get the balloon ready for flying. The first flying group creeps into the basket and goes up to the misty sky admiring the rising sun. Other people start their voyage by driving their car along the German countryside following the balloon.

The flight will be divided into the two parts so that as many possible could get the opportunity to fly for 40 minutes. The balloon goes down in a meadow. The door of a "Kleinbus" will be opened quickly and everyone is running towards the balloon. Wet grass makes my clothes also totally wet. The shoes are seeking wet. It does not make any special harm ­ my mind is filled with the thought that now I’m getting to the balloon and to the sky. Soon I will see beneath me the former border of the two Germanys. Watch towers remind from the past time. The fields are much larger in the eastern part of Germany. Earlier it happened that the border divided a village so that one house has been eastern side and the other in the west. The mist is filling the valleys beneath us so that the sun is reflecting it seams like from a big sea. Everything is unbelievable silent. Only the jet of the balloon stirs now and then. We are landing east from the former border. Because of the rather strong wind our gondola falls down when landing. We slide about 20 meters along the field.

Anyhow, we managed it okay beside the basket because we are holding tightly the ropes equipped just for this kind of weather. Furthermore we have made several exercises keeping these situations in mind. We sincerely hope that we could avoid the garbage left by the cows.

The most wonderful thing during the camp was flying with an gas balloon. Flying a hot-air-balloon is great, but something is lacking from it. New ballooneers will be "baptised" only when a flight with a gas balloon is over. When baptising, a tuft of hair will be put into fire and then put out with champagne. Every new ballooneer will get a new noble name to be used among ballooneers.

For flying the gas balloons a trackful of hydrogen will be supplied to the camp. Smoking and lighting is absolutely forbidden. The balloon will be filled at night when the wind has sealed. A car from the local fire brigade comes to show the light. It is a marvellous view to see the three big hydrogen-filled balloons. We use sand sacks for anchoring the balloons. The baskets will be covered for night-time. The longest hydrogen balloon flight may last until 48 hours. Therefore, there is a small bed in the gondola. We wouldn’t, however, fly that long.

Our flight begins in a small valley. It’s nearly calm. We fall the sand sacks away and the balloon gets up to the sky fully silently. We meet the clouds at 1800 m. We getting still higher by letting out some hydrogen. After some minutes flight we meet a hole through which we can fly above the clouds. It feels unbelievable when the basket still is inside a cloud and we as human beings above the cloudy mass. We are still going upper until 2500 m. There is a round rainbow in a cloud, and we can see the shadow of our balloon in the middle of the rainbow. And furthermore, high up above us, two Tornadoes from the German Air Force are whizzing by. We pinch each other. This cannot be true. This must be a dream. We would like to sail above the clouds for ever. We have to give a possibility to other people, too. After the flight we state uniformly that this was the finest thing one can experience in this life.

This camp gave many marvellous experiences and a lot of friends. We make an agreement to see each other again and to fly together again.