05.30 h  and it's drizzling...

Met information : cloudy. In passage of the frontal zone intermittent rain. Behind it potential unstable air with light rain showers, dying out in the evening. Becoming cloudy in the evening.

Forecast for Saturday: potential unstable. Cloudy to partly cloudy, starting dry but at the end of the period rainshowers. No fog expected.

So this morning flight was cancelled.

Next briefing : tonight at 18.00 h.

The briefing started at 18.00 h with the meteo information : direction 140 °, 10 KT at the surface, but 15 KT at 2000 ft. Cloudy with high and medium cloudiness. Dry.

For tomorrow morning a weak frontal system will pass, with cloudy weather and some  light rain. In the evening breaks will occur and  the risk for a shower will disappear.

The competition director organised 2 tasks:

Task 6 is a 3D Shape task (3TD): in this task in a cake in 3 layers pilots wll try to achieve the greatest distance within a set airspace. The result is the accumulated horizontal distance in the lower layer + the distance in the second layer doubled + the distance in the upper layer tripled.

Task 7: Maximum distance.

The balloons will start from the CLP on the island in the Ourthe in Hotton.

 Tasksheet 17-05 PM

Hereby the (provisional) results of this morning flight:

Task 1 : SFL

1. Steven Vlegels- BEL
2. Luc Herdewyn-BEL
3. David Linek-CZE

Task 2 : JDG

1. Yves Berben-BEL
2. Henk Broeders- NED
3. Danny Spelmans-BEL

Task 3 : MDD

• All pilots: no result

Task 4 : JDG

1. Erik Pals-NED
2. Jan Timmers-BEL
3. Ann Herdewyn-BEL

Task 5 : LRN

1. Kim Larsen-DEN
2. David Bareford-GBR
3. Jan Oudenampsen-NED

Overall ranking:

1. David Bareford-GBR
2. Henk Broeders-NED
3. Marcus Green-GBR
4. David Linek-CZE
5. Ann Herdewyn-BE         

•  Results task 1
•  Results task 2
•  Results task 3
•  Results task 4
•  Results task 5

This morning’s flight started from the picturesque island in the river L’Ourthe in Hotton.

All pilots were tensed for this first flight with 5 tasks.

It was freezing cold, but sunny; newcomer Ann  Timmers-BEL divided her attention between here 3 babies (the youngster just 2 months old!) and the preparation of her balloon.

After take-off the balloons flew over the woods of Bois de Grandhan. Up north, in the Ourthe valley around Durbuy, there was a thick fog.

Task 1 was a Shortest Flight (SFL), measured by loggers, on task 2 (Judge Declared Goal-JDG) horizontal visibility was low and  4 pilots threw their markers.

Luckily the Minimum Distance Double Drop (MDD) and the Judge Declared Goal (JDG) target (Task 3 and 4) was on a sunny plateau: it was a pity only 2 pilots (Henk Broeders-NED and Jan Timmers-BEL)  threw their marker, but scored more than the MMA of 100 meters.

The morning flight ended with a Land Run (LRN).

More information after publishing of the results.

The weather forecast for tonight is still uncertain: anyway more wind and cloudy, we hope it will remain  dry and flyable!

4.45 h: it is still very dark and cold outside, start of the morning briefing on the first day of the Belgian Balloon Trophy...

After a short night all pilots and crew are all waiting for the tasks the competition director has prepared for them.

Weather Forecast: clear sky and dry, probably misty, winds from the south, 4  knots

The first task is a Shortest Flight (SFL), followed by a Judge Declared Goal (JDG) , a Minimum Distance Double Drop (MDDD) , a Judge Declared Goal (JDG) and a Land Run LRN).

Have a safe flight!

 Tasksheet 17-05 AM