By: Glen Moyer
Balloon Life, August 1987
There's no dramatic cry of "Gentlemen, start your engines!" There's no frantic waving of the green flag. There's no shot from the starter's pistol. There's no “On your mark, get set, Go!” There's no LeMans dash with balloons on one side and pilots on the other ready to run for their aircraft at the proper signal. No, there's not even the drop of a handkerchief to signal the start of most balloon races. But race they do!
We’ll probably never know the winner of the first balloon race, indeed we're just as likely never to even know the participants. For as ballooning grew in the 18th and 19th centuries, who's to say when first two aeronauts stood together at launch and decided to see who could fly the highest of the farthest?
We do know that the first organized attempt to turn ballooning into a spectator sport can be credited to the newspaper millionaire James Gordon Bennett. Himself a sportsman and sports promoter, it was Bennett who inaugurated a series of international long distance balloon races on September 30, 1906 with the first race for the Gordon Bennett Aeronautic Cup. Gas balloons were the aircraft of the day, so success was measured in either distance or duration. For the Gordon Bennett, series, the winner would be the pilot who flew the farthest, measured in a straight line from the starting point.
Sixteen entrants from seven countries took off from Paris on the historic day. Among them was American Frank P. Lahm who would win this first Coupe Gordon Bennett after a flight of 395 miles lasting 22 hours and 28 minutes.
The event proved an unquestioned success! Some 250,000 spectators turned out to watch the ascensions and millions read about the race in the press, including Gordon Bennett’s New York Herald.
For 26 years the Coupe Gordon Bennett was flown, with the winning pilot’s country of origin hosting the next year’s event. Thus Poland was to host the 1939 race after Antoni Yanusz’ victory in 1938. The race was scheduled for September, but on the first day of that month Hitler invaded Poland marking the end of the gas balloon era and postponing the next Coupe Gordon Bennett for 45 years.
Today balloon rallies are commonplace throughout the world. With the advent and popularity of the hot air balloon, and their inherent shorter duration flights of approximately one hour, balloon racing is as popular as ever...but its focus has changed. No longer is success measured just in terms of distance or duration. Accuracy is today’s buzzword in balloon racing.
Actually the term “race” is something of a misnomer. Since balloons are virtually unsteerable, all traveling in the same airstream at about the same speed, the winner is not always the first one to cross a finish line. In it’s purest form, a balloon “race” involves choosing a target downwind of the launch site and then launching the balloons, whereupon it is the pilot’s skill in detecting the right altitude and wind direction that will produce a win. In a balloon race, or competition, it is the pilot who comes closest to the target, either by landing on it or by dropping a marker, who wins.
Of course anyone who knows a balloonist, knows they can be as eccentric as the atmosphere they fly in. So it should come as no surprise that they have devised a number of contests of flying skills rather than stamina. While the rules of these “races” are mostly universal, some locales do invent their own competitions, or at least their own variations on the rules...
Hare and Hounds
One of the more popular ballooning events for pilots as well as
for the spectators, because it’s easy to explain and the
spectators can at least see the start of the race.
In this race the designated hare balloon launches first and alone. The hare’s responsibility is to fly the most difficult pattern possible, land and lay out a target. The hounds, after a 10-15 minute delay, launch and go in chase of the hare. The winner is the hound who lands or drops a marker closest to the hare’s target.
Controlled Navigational Trajectory Event or CNTE
This race is also more commonly called a “Fly In” and is perhaps
the most spectacular competitive event for spectators. Here the
usual launch field becomes the foal and competitors are dispatched
to launch from a pre-set distance, usually a mile or so, from the
goal. An individual pilot's advantage is determined by his skill
in calculating his launch site and flight path back to the goal.
Meanwhile at the target area, spectators can easily see the
effects of wind and altitude as balloons approach the target from
all angles. Often spectators are allowed to ring the target area
close enough to see the results of each pilot’s marker drop. Of
course one has to be prepared to dodge the occasional wayward
marker.
There are dozens of variations of this event flown, with the variations most often involving either the target or the marker. Generally a target is a large "X" marked on the field and the marker is a bean bag with a long colored streamer attached. The pilot’s number is noted on the streamer or baggie for accurate scoring.
Judge Declared Goal
Here the competition director will pre-determine a goal downwind
from the launch site. Prior to launch a target or X will be laid
out and the pilots will be told the goal’s location. The pilots
then fly to the goal and drop their markers with the closest to
the goal the winner. A more popular version of this is the
Multiple Judge Declared Goal, where a second, third or more goals
are chosen and announced by the director. The pilots then attempt
to fly from goal to goal dropping a marker on each. The winner is
the pilot with the best cumulative score.
Very similar is the Pilot Declared Goal. The key difference here is that each pilot selects his or her own target and notifies the director or scoring officer of its location. Once declared, the goal may not be changed. Thus the pilot is on his own even should the wind change. And using other competing balloons as a guide is usually fruitless since each may have chosen his own different goal.
Another alternative to these events is to combine the Judge Declared Goal and Pilot Declared Goal into a Fly In Fly On or FIFO. While flying to the Judge declared goal, the pilot chooses a second goal and notes it’s location on the marker he drops on the first target. He then flies on to his second goal and drops another marker to score.
As we noted at the beginning, none of these events require that essential “racing” element of speed. However, there is an exception to the rule and it is called the Race to a Line.
For this event, speed is essential as the balloons are timed to a finishing line. The winner is simply the fastest from start to finish. The problem for the pilot is to find his fastest course. Generally winds at higher altitude are faster, so it’s possible to gain speed while climbing... but along with speed, altitude often brings a directional change, thus the fastest wind layer may not be the fastest way to the finish line.
Finally, like the Coupe Gordon Bennett for gas balloons, hot air balloons also compete in distance or duration flights. Each balloon generally must meet a series of pre-set conditions regarding balloon size, amount of fuel on board, number of passengers, etc. These conditions are an attempt to make the balloons as equal and alike as possible at the beginning of the race. The winner is the pilot who flies the farthest distance measured in a straight line from the launch site.
Of course balloonists are nothing if not ingenious. From the names of their aircraft to the style of their chase vehicles, balloonists have a knack for imagination and flair for showing it. It should come as no surprise that this “imagination” has found its way into balloon competition. No doubt wherever balloonists gather there may be some sort of competition that has not been covered here. For each country has its own peculiar combinations of balloonists, terrain and weather.
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