US National Championshp
Longview, TX usa
2012
Sunday Morning
Three tasks were called on the final morning of competition at the US National Championship. They were a FIN, HWZ and a JDG.
The FIN, again was to the airport and many pilots launched from the same positions they did the morning before, but with less steerage. This flight path proved to be a slow one for many of the competitors. The pole competition, also at the field, featured a $5,000 cash pot and every pilot that won the "rang" pole would receive a share. The closest baggie on the Fly-In task was Nick Donner's with a .22m drop but he was penalized for an invalid gravity marker drop and 50 meters was added to his score, a 760 point penalty. Chris Smart won the task at .76m and won the pole for the second day in a row! The HWZ targets were set in the same positions as Saturday's targets, but unlike the previous day pilots were split on which goal to chose. The one further to the West would set them up better for the final task (JDG) but most opted for the target with faster, more steerable winds. John Petrhen won his third task of the week on the second task of the morning with a perfect 0.00 meter drop. The final task (JDG) was unobtainable because the winds simply were not there to fly back to the field where this target was set at the airport (same as task 13 and the FIN above) When the dust was settled John Petrehn was unable to overcome getting off to a slow start on the first task of the Championship to overtake Chase Donner for the win. Rhett Heartsill moved up to third followed by Bill Baker and Joe Zvada. The biggest loser of the day was Nick Donner who lost his protest to have the 50m penalty removed and a minor violation put in place for the gravity marker drop. Chase lead from beginning to end in Longview and got his second win in the city, and first National Championship. He last won in Longview in 2005 and bookend his brothers Great Texas Balloon Race wins. In winning the National Championship, Chase qualified to represent the USA in Brazil in 2014. Three more slots for Brazil will be awarded in August (Top three in the World Championship) and Team USA hopes to nab all three of those. The rest of the American hopefulls will have to duke it out next July in Longview. Bill Bussey and the Great Texas Balloon Race organization did a great job hosting the National Championship and presented the HACD with half of the sanction fee for the 2013 Nationals with intent to host next years national championship, although the contract is yet to be finalized. Jim Birk came out of retirement for the first of three nationals and directed challenging tasks and if it wasn't for the weather there would have been over 20 tasks for the week. We also cannot wrap up coverage withouout thanking Curves and Gary Heavin for sponsoring this years National Championship. We could not do a lot of this without you! We all look forward to returning to Longview the next two years and giving it our all to win the US National Championship! |
Saturday Morning
On Saturday morning the weather finally cleared and pilots were able to fly a five task flight consisting of a FIN, XDD, HWZ, HWZ, and a FON.
The FIN and XDD were located at the common airport target area and required three baggies to be thrown in a short distance. The key on the XDD was just making sure you got a score and didn't get greedy and the FIN was difficult because pilots were trying to ring the pole as they got close for some extra prize money. In all, five pilots put their ring on the pole Saturday morning. The FIN was won by Bill Baker with a 0.00m drop and Bruce Bussey risked it all for his max distance of 59.40m between his baggies on the XDD.
Task 10's HWZ targets were laid out in a very favorable direction for pilots to fly toward and there were 13 baggies within a meter at this target. No one was closer than Rhett Heartsill though, who had a perfect score at 0.00m.
Task 11 had two HWZ targets in oil mining areas and because this task was starting to get later in the day winds began to shift as the first balloons approached. Other pilots were able to see this and adjust their flight paths and Cory Bloom and Richard Sabin won this target with .05m drops. There were 11 baggies under a meter at this target.
Task 12 was a FON goal to any set of coordinates between 2k and 5k from where the baggies landed on task 11. Most pilots chose intersections to fly to so that they could have some kind of reference to look at but they still had to focus on flying to what their GPSs showed was the center and not what they saw on the ground. John Petrehn had the best score here with a 1m result.
The FIN and XDD were located at the common airport target area and required three baggies to be thrown in a short distance. The key on the XDD was just making sure you got a score and didn't get greedy and the FIN was difficult because pilots were trying to ring the pole as they got close for some extra prize money. In all, five pilots put their ring on the pole Saturday morning. The FIN was won by Bill Baker with a 0.00m drop and Bruce Bussey risked it all for his max distance of 59.40m between his baggies on the XDD.
Task 10's HWZ targets were laid out in a very favorable direction for pilots to fly toward and there were 13 baggies within a meter at this target. No one was closer than Rhett Heartsill though, who had a perfect score at 0.00m.
Task 11 had two HWZ targets in oil mining areas and because this task was starting to get later in the day winds began to shift as the first balloons approached. Other pilots were able to see this and adjust their flight paths and Cory Bloom and Richard Sabin won this target with .05m drops. There were 11 baggies under a meter at this target.
Task 12 was a FON goal to any set of coordinates between 2k and 5k from where the baggies landed on task 11. Most pilots chose intersections to fly to so that they could have some kind of reference to look at but they still had to focus on flying to what their GPSs showed was the center and not what they saw on the ground. John Petrehn had the best score here with a 1m result.
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US Nationals Party Style!
The Great Texas Balloon Race has provided lots of entertainment over the week to help keep the pilots occupied in the sweltering heat. Below are a bunch of pictures of the entertainment!
Sporty Winds, Four Tasks Highlight Wednesday Morning at the Nationals
Event Director, Jim Birk, called a four part task for the Nationals competitors Wednesday morning amid some quicker winds than pilots faced on Tuesday. The tasks were a Fly-In, Hesitation Waltz, 3-D Task, and finally another Hesitation Waltz. Pilots were generally flying from the Southwest to the Northeast across the competition area.
Task 4 of the Championship was a Hesitation Waltz. Pilots were required to take off 3 kilometers from the goal and most reasoned that with the speed 3km would be a short distance to cover before the target. Paul Petrehn won the task with a 0.22 meter drop - from tree top level. Concerns over power lines led Birk to require pilots maintain at least treetop altitude over the scoring area. This certainly influenced the results but there were still plenty of good results.
Task 5 was a Hesitation Waltz stationed between five and six kilometers from the task 4. Here pilots chose the best target in order to position themselves well for the 3-D task. Since the 3-D task was the same set center point for all competitors, choosing the Eastern or Western HWZ goal in task 5 influenced task 6. Again some good results were measured at Task 5 with Guy Gauthier winning (.91m).
Task 6, the 3-D Task, is tough to judge at this point. Pilots were required to use a shared center point for the middle of an upside down birthday cake shape. The radius of the lower cake was 3km, second layer 2km, and third layer 1km. Given the speed at with pilots were flying it was difficult to maneuver through the layers and "good scores" will likely be a relative term.
Task 7 was a Hesitation Waltz with three targets selected for competitors to choose from. It seemed as is most of the field was split between the middle target and the Eastern most target - with pilots who were in the air earlier tending to go for the middle target more so than the pilots air born later. Drew Egerton won the 7th task of the Championship with a .35m drop.
Pilots will again enjoy a fun evening party in Kilgore and be ready to go for Thursday morning bright and early. Scores will be posted as they become available.
Task 4 of the Championship was a Hesitation Waltz. Pilots were required to take off 3 kilometers from the goal and most reasoned that with the speed 3km would be a short distance to cover before the target. Paul Petrehn won the task with a 0.22 meter drop - from tree top level. Concerns over power lines led Birk to require pilots maintain at least treetop altitude over the scoring area. This certainly influenced the results but there were still plenty of good results.
Task 5 was a Hesitation Waltz stationed between five and six kilometers from the task 4. Here pilots chose the best target in order to position themselves well for the 3-D task. Since the 3-D task was the same set center point for all competitors, choosing the Eastern or Western HWZ goal in task 5 influenced task 6. Again some good results were measured at Task 5 with Guy Gauthier winning (.91m).
Task 6, the 3-D Task, is tough to judge at this point. Pilots were required to use a shared center point for the middle of an upside down birthday cake shape. The radius of the lower cake was 3km, second layer 2km, and third layer 1km. Given the speed at with pilots were flying it was difficult to maneuver through the layers and "good scores" will likely be a relative term.
Task 7 was a Hesitation Waltz with three targets selected for competitors to choose from. It seemed as is most of the field was split between the middle target and the Eastern most target - with pilots who were in the air earlier tending to go for the middle target more so than the pilots air born later. Drew Egerton won the 7th task of the Championship with a .35m drop.
Pilots will again enjoy a fun evening party in Kilgore and be ready to go for Thursday morning bright and early. Scores will be posted as they become available.
Master Briefing and Tuesday Morning Flight
Monday evening The Great Texas Balloon Race organization hosted a happy hour prior to the opening ceremony and master briefing. BalloonPong staff cannot even tell you how awesome the happy hour idea is in conjunction with the master briefing at events when possible. This allows competitors and officials to have time to unwind and relax before things really get going.
The Longview fire department presented the colors and had a bagpipe demonstration as part of the opening ceremony. Both the Mayor and the County Judge thanked the competitors for traveling to Texas and wished everyone luck for the event.
The Master Briefing was fairly routine. There were only a small number of questions asked and after about 30 minutes everyone was released to relax for the evening and be ready to fly on Tuesday morning, though the forecast was not looking good.
When competitors awoke there were clear skies and moderate winds on the surface. The forecasted low level clouds never developed and the first tasks of the 2012 US National Championships were called!
The first task was a FIN (Fly-in task) on the southwest part of the map. Competitors would have to take off at least 3km away and that meant that the launch site would be in or near Kilgore, TX. There was about 30 degrees of steerage and most balloons launched on a 10-18 degree line to the FIN. This target was also a gravity marker drop. This means that the baggie cannot not be thrown but rather has to be dropped straight down using the point almost exactly over where the basket flew as the closest point. On this type of task any score within the legs of the X is usually pretty good. Today proved no different as six pilots were inside the legs of the X with each getting almost 900 points or better and Jeff Pestun bested the field here with a .74 meter drop.
Task two was a HWZ (hesitation walz) where the competitors could pick from two targets to fly toward. Most of the field chose the eastern goal but there was a fair number that went to the west target. With throwing of the baggies allowed the scores tightened way up on this target. There were 25 pilots within the legs of the X and all were schooled by Jeff Sweet who swung his balloon way out to the right and took the low approach for a .17m drop.
The third task was a FON (Fly-on task) where competitors are allowed to pick the goal that they fly to and this morning there were three goals available for them to pick from. Early indications are that John or Paul Petrehn may have won this target and with the ever changing winds anything inside the legs of the X will be a very god score here.
Tonight Danville Farms is hosting a beer and bbq reception for the pilots. The next briefing is Wednesday morning and the flight should take place over Kilgore.
We would also like to welcome guest photographer for the week Shilah Heavin. She will be taking pics at targets and we appreciate her contributions!
The scores below are Official now! For faster results on the score please visit the BFA website.
The Longview fire department presented the colors and had a bagpipe demonstration as part of the opening ceremony. Both the Mayor and the County Judge thanked the competitors for traveling to Texas and wished everyone luck for the event.
The Master Briefing was fairly routine. There were only a small number of questions asked and after about 30 minutes everyone was released to relax for the evening and be ready to fly on Tuesday morning, though the forecast was not looking good.
When competitors awoke there were clear skies and moderate winds on the surface. The forecasted low level clouds never developed and the first tasks of the 2012 US National Championships were called!
The first task was a FIN (Fly-in task) on the southwest part of the map. Competitors would have to take off at least 3km away and that meant that the launch site would be in or near Kilgore, TX. There was about 30 degrees of steerage and most balloons launched on a 10-18 degree line to the FIN. This target was also a gravity marker drop. This means that the baggie cannot not be thrown but rather has to be dropped straight down using the point almost exactly over where the basket flew as the closest point. On this type of task any score within the legs of the X is usually pretty good. Today proved no different as six pilots were inside the legs of the X with each getting almost 900 points or better and Jeff Pestun bested the field here with a .74 meter drop.
Task two was a HWZ (hesitation walz) where the competitors could pick from two targets to fly toward. Most of the field chose the eastern goal but there was a fair number that went to the west target. With throwing of the baggies allowed the scores tightened way up on this target. There were 25 pilots within the legs of the X and all were schooled by Jeff Sweet who swung his balloon way out to the right and took the low approach for a .17m drop.
The third task was a FON (Fly-on task) where competitors are allowed to pick the goal that they fly to and this morning there were three goals available for them to pick from. Early indications are that John or Paul Petrehn may have won this target and with the ever changing winds anything inside the legs of the X will be a very god score here.
Tonight Danville Farms is hosting a beer and bbq reception for the pilots. The next briefing is Wednesday morning and the flight should take place over Kilgore.
We would also like to welcome guest photographer for the week Shilah Heavin. She will be taking pics at targets and we appreciate her contributions!
The scores below are Official now! For faster results on the score please visit the BFA website.
Task Sheet Tuesday
Gearing up!
Updates from next week's US National Championship in Longview, TX can be found on our website as well as www.bfa.net, the official notice board of the Championship. We will have scores and updates posted after every flight as well as videos from competitors and on the ground.
We expect it to be hot, humid and competitive! High temps in the 90s and lows in the 70s will mean that you can expect to find pilots and crews in or near the lake soon after flights end every day.
Below is the official pilot list as it stands today as well as the schedule of events. We look forward to a fun nationals in Texas!
We expect it to be hot, humid and competitive! High temps in the 90s and lows in the 70s will mean that you can expect to find pilots and crews in or near the lake soon after flights end every day.
Below is the official pilot list as it stands today as well as the schedule of events. We look forward to a fun nationals in Texas!
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