It was 54 degrees when I left the house but cool air flowing down from the hills reduced the temp at Titan to 41 degrees! I left the cold weather gear at the house thinking the temp was the temp...wrong. Lesson learned. The launch was great, it sure helps to have a nice smooth surface and plenty of room. I inflated and taxied for a long way before I powered up and committed to launch. At 1000 feet it warmed up considerably so I flew over to the marina and took pictures. Not much going on over there.
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| My friend here is landing on just a spit of land with water on three sides ... Good Job ! |
The "Ol Balloon Man" was launching 30 minutes into the flight, I was thinking about landing but the opportunity to fly with balloons comes far to seldom so I turned back and played tag for awhile. I circled him a few times and then passed over the top to catch his thermal. What a rolercoaster that is! On the last pass he opened the vents to decend and I shot up like a bubble of champane in a long stem glass. It's a very small but intence thermal and wanted to see if I could hold a power on climbing spiral and stay in but ...no joy. What a rush. Looking back I should have taken some pictures but flying around those massive things spooks me and I stayed "hands on" the whole time we were together" He had a hell of a day and was still flying after I had packed up and drove back into the park. I caught up with his wife and asked if they needed any help packing up, she said that they had a ton of crew, but thanks. We stood around and watched while he thrilled his passengers by landing on a little tongue of land sticking out of the SCUBA pond.
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| Chatfield |
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| Low Water |
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| calm day |
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| near the end of the season |
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