An online skydiving logbook

August 29, 2009

Breda Ballon Fiesta

I had a great day saturday.

First a few jumps in the morning, and in the afternoon we left for the hot air balloon festival in Breda. It took our Caravan about half an hour to fly to Breda. We had to spot 'manually' because the coordinates in our GPS didn't match what we saw (= were wrong). There was quiet a bit of wind (some 10 to 15 knots, my estimate) but some oldtimers on the load worked it out perfectly: 3 runs, everybody landed in.

Late afternoon, the wind calmed down, and te balloons could go up. And we could make a balloon jump. A few balloonists started calculating with windspeeds, altitudes and directions. Checking google maps on their i-phones, and off we went. To some field about 15 km upwind. We unloaded our balloon, and 15 minutes later, we were airborne: 4 skydivers, 6 'regular' passengers and 2 crew. Imagine our surprise (and admiration) when their calculations proofed spot on: we were heading straight towards the festival terrain. We were going to jump 2 by 2. I was in the first 'run'. Altitude around 4000 ft, the balloonist gives the go, we climb on the basket. Ready set go. What an incredible feeling. The quiet, silence, and then the speed (and the wind) starting, getting louder. The forward speed building up (the track gaining effect). Whooaw. I never made a basejump, but I can sure see that this is addictive.

There were still a few balloons taking off or getting ready to take off when I came in to land. You really can not judge the vertical or horizontal speed of a balloon underneath you, so that was a bit tricky. But hey, a balloon fly-by with all the passengers waving at you, that's great, no? I gave a bit of show on landing, and I got quiet a big applause for it.

Free food and drinks for the rest of the evening. Thx everybody for a great experience!

This (plus many other) pictures were made by Lars Scheve, official photographer of the event.







15 comments:

Jeroen van den Brakel/ Perfect Images Fotografie said...

Hi, I don't know whether you're the sky-diver in one of my pictures, but it sure looks like it. You can visit my blog and see some pictures of the sky-diving (and a lot of the balloons). breda ballon fiesta 2009 at Perfect Images Fotografie (in dutch language)

Shenandoah bed and breakfast said...

These area all the great ski-diving pictures and all the balloons are too colorful and the festival is too great and it is a real fun and a daring sports as well.

Luray va accommodations said...

This is a great kind of feast and fiesta and it looks very gorgeous, with multiple colors of balloons flying unanimously , which makes the ambiance more adorable and fantastic as well.

vxplor said...

wow!! these pics are awesome.i like adventures whether it is skydiving , river rafting,camping etc..i was looking for some adventure festive and i found this one ..

gorgeous gellie said...

wow, nice pictures.
looks fun. And that was a great experience for you,
Hope that I can try that someday :D

_______________

http://www.skydiverinsurance.com

Bertie Westcoat said...

This event is so cool! After reading this blog, I suddenly miss attending the hot air balloon event. My wife loves attending this kind of festival too. I hope this year we can find time to attend some events like this. By the way, you know last year we spent our summer vacations at Whitsunday. You know, this island is a good destination for scuba diving activities because coral reefs are preserved, and the environment is so clean. Anyone will visit this island will be free from stress.

Wild Triathlon said...

What a nice sport. It's nice to be on top sometimes.

subodh said...

verry nice pic
i like it
thanks for a searing

Christopher said...

I love the Skydiving story, it makes you feel that you are there and feeling every moment that is expressed by the writer.
I want to experience this in the future, 5 stars.
I am going to use this as one of my blogs that i have to have an opinion on.

chris006

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Unknown said...

I have always wanted to go skydiving. I still want to go. I just can't find someone to come with me.

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Anonymous said...

I just recently went skydiving for the first time over the summer. It was incredible and I would do it 1000 more times if given the opportunity. I'm upset I didn't get as good of pictures as you did though being that it was such a beautiful day. This has inspired me to write my own skydiving blog! Made me feel like I was doing it all over again.

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