The End

2006 World Hot Air Balloon Championships
Tochigi, Japan

Shawn Raya, Jeff Pestun, Paul Petrehn, Erica Hahn, Joe Zvada

Home at last

We arrived back in Michigan yesterday afternoon. The flight home was great - it was only about 90 minutes shorter than the flight there, but it seemed much quicker. We had great seats with a lots of legroom (row 25 on a Northwest 747-400) and with the plane only about 50% full, there was tons of room to stretch out. We also got to watch the sun rise from 39,000+ feet in the air, which was quite a sight.

Now we'll spend a couple days catching up and doing laundry before we all head to the Holiday Balloon Fest in Battle Creek. Oh, and we'll also try to get over the jet lag as well.

Thanks again to everyone for reading my posts the last couple weeks. There will be 1 more after this one, then my balloon blog days are done for awhile (perhaps until Austria in 2008?).

FOLLOWUP: "How good" post from 11/26/06

This is a follow-up to to my post about various pilot's finishes at their 1st World's.

My intent was not to indicate that Paul's was the best ever 1st try by an American pilot. There are several pilots who placed higher in their initial attempts, including some who won the event. My goal with that informal listing was simply to show family and friends that Paul did a fantastic job last week and will continue to have a very bright competitive future ahead of him. I apologize if I mislead or confused anyone in the process.

I invite you to see for yourself how many pilots have had superior finishes at their 1st Worlds. Here is a direct FTP link to the Microsoft Excel file from the FAI's website with all the raw data:
ftp://www.fai.org/ballooning/competitions/results/all-ax-world.xls

Getting closer to home...

Today we left Motegi early and drove to Narita. The first stop was to pack the balloons systems up and drop them off at the shipper:


Joe flew out this afternoon, so we then dropped him off at the airport. We turned in one of our 2 rental vans, then we checked into our hotel (Holiday Inn Tobu Narita), which is the same one that Erica, Paul, and I stayed at when we first arrived.

With a half day to kill, we went back into Tokyo. We returned to Asakusa and Akihabara for some shopping and sightseeing. With Shawn's leadership, we aced the subway system, hitting the last train out of town for the night (including 3 transfers). Then we got the last airport shuttle to our hotel.

Tomorrow we'll return the other van, then hang out in and around the hotel until our flight leaves at 3:45pm. After a mere 12 hours in the air, we'll land in Detroit at 1:20pm on Tuesday.

The champion

John Petrehn - 2006 World Hot Air Balloon Champion


2006 US World Championship Hot Air Balloon Team - Nick Donner, Joe Heartsill, John Petrehn, Paul Petrehn, Al Nels

The Awards Ceremony for the 2006 World Hot Air Balloon Championship took place on Sunday evening. It started out with Honda's Asimo robot walking out and giving the toast:


Then the awards for the 2006 World Honda Grand Prix were handed out. It was a podium sweep for the Americans, with Nick Donner's team taking 3rd, John Petrehn's team in 2nd, and Joe Heartsill's team winning:


Then, awards for the World Championship were presented. In addition to their FAI medals and certificates, each of the top 3 received lots of trophies and other prizes. Here's Joe Heartsill (2nd place) posing with his:

That's 3rd place Uwe Schneider of Germany to the right.

John then gave a very nice speech where he acknowledged Masashi Kakuda's impact on the event and ballooning as a whole. He indicated that the opportunity to fly with and against his brother Paul was the reason that he decided to compete in this event. He thanked his teammates, including Al Nels. And finally, he thanked his crew: Jen, Maury, Cheri, Mike, and Jason

Random cool things about Japan

Here in Japan, they have a lot of things figured out:

Car washes - The car stays in place, and the washer moves around it:


Vending machines - First, they're everywhere. In front of stores, on the side of the road, and in the middle of fields. And they come in groups; sometimes 2, sometimes 10. And finally, they all serve both cold AND hot drinks. Out of the same machine. Our favorite discovery was hot coffee in a can:

We're pretty sure that's hot creamed corn in a can next to the can labeled "American Coffee".

Bathrooms - The Japanese bathroom is the ultimate dichotomy. There's the "traditional-style" stall, which is basically a hole in the ground. In America, such a thing is relegated to outhouses, but here they're common in public facilities, and often found right next to more modern stalls. However if it isn't a hole in the ground, it's incredibly technology-enhanced. Even public restrooms have remote controlled toilets (including functions for water pressure, flushing, temperature of the seat, and bidets) and all the hotel bathrooms have mirrors that heat a section from behind so it doesn't steam up:

Hopefully this doesn't become common...

For you technical-competitor types, here's a copy of the task sheet from Saturday morning's flight that instituted the ascent/decent rate limits:
Flight 9 task sheet

Prize flight

Sunday morning was a separate prize flight. The task was a fly-in to a parking lot at the Twin Ring Motegi from individual launch sites. Paul took Joe with him:


They made a run on the target:


And a throw:


But in the end it wasn't good enough to be in the money. Nick made a nice run at it:

Several that followed were inside him.

We're spending the afternoon packing all the equipment up for shipping. The fan oil and gas needs to be drained, and the propane burned out of all the tanks. There's also a ton of electronics to put away.

Tonight at 7:00pm is the awards. I'll be sure to post some photos when I have them. It will be a big event for Team USA.

Tomorrow morning we'll leave for Narita bright and early. Balloons have to be dropped off at air cargo, vans returned to the rental company, and several (including Joe) will fly home. Erica, Paul, Shawn and I will spend the night in Narita (and possibly go into Tokyo for a few hours), the fly home at 3:45pm on Tuesday.

How good?

NOTE: FOR A FOLLOW UP ON THIS INFORMATION, PLEASE SEE THE POST ABOVE FROM 11/28/06

Paul Petrehn just completed his first World Championship event. Here's how his finish stacks up against the first attempts of some other prominent American pilots:

• Al Nels (1981) - 53rd
• Phil Glebe (1985) - 26th
• Joe Heartsill (1989) - 17th
• Johnny Petrehn (1993) - 26th
• Paul Petrehn (2006) - 11th
  

Information obtained from the FAI Ballooning Commission Category 1 Championship Events and Champions page: http://www.fai.org/ballooning/champs.asp#ax-world

FINAL RESULTS (thru task 28)

Here is final top 20 for the 2006 World Hot Air Balloon Championships:

1 PETREHN, John USA 21652
2 HEARTSILL, Joe USA 21251
3 SCHNEIDER, Uwe GER 20873
4 DONNER, Nick USA 20504
5 MIZUKAMI, Takao JPN 20377
6 ENDO, Mamoru JPN 19358
7 KOSTIUSKEVICIUS, Rimas LTU 18386
8 BOLZE, Stephane FRA 18364
9 FUJITA, Masahiko JPN 18292
10 MESSINES, Francois FR A17996
11 PETREHN, Paul USA 17717
12 BAREFORD, David GBR 17259
13 STURZLINGER, Gerald AUT 17094
14 WILLIAMS, Crispin GBR 17041
15 PIEPER, Markus GER 16671
16 KALOUSDIAN, Rubens BRA 16668
17 MASUMOTO, Yoshihiro JPN 16647
18 GIBBS, Paul AUS 16372
19 GOEHLER, Sven GER 16364
20 FILUS, Witold POL 16062

For complete results: http://www.balloon2006worlds.com/results/HABWC06index.html

The results are in - sort of

They've posted provisional results for the last 5 tasks - but have not totaled them into an overall. We did some quick calculations in Excel to do just that - but because they're provisional and because I'm not an expert in Excel, I'll stop short of posting them here.

You can do your own math at:
http://www.balloon2006worlds.com/results/HABWC06index.html

I will say that it does look good for Team USA - not perfect, but good.

We're off to a morning prize flight. Shawn is headed to Tokyo for the day with Al. The awards are tonight at 7:00pm (5:00am Michigan time), so I should have something posted shortly after you all get up tomorrow.

Still waiting...

There's a lot of "nervous energy" and impatience in the air.

At 8:30pm, everyone got tired of waiting for the online scores, which the competition director explicitly said would be updated at 8:00pm, exactly the same time as they're posted at the Competition Center. Everyone is driving up to the Competition Center right now to figure out what's going on. I suspect that the German team will be there as well..

UPDATE 10:10PM - Still no word or updates. I won't be checking again until about 4:30am, but maybe you can find out sooner from the official site: http://www.balloon2006worlds.com/results/HABWC06index.html

The waiting is the hardest part...

At tonight's briefing, they said that the latest scores would be posted online at 8:00pm. It's now 8:15pm, and still no update. Everyone is literally bunkered in a room clicking the Refresh button every 5 seconds:

The glow

Tonight there was a balloon glow on the front stretch of the Twin Ring Motegi oval track:


Special thanks to Andrew Nels for his help:

Task 28

Saturday evening, the last competition flight: a single JDG fly in from individual launch points in the flatlands west of Motegi

Nothing unusual, a typical evening fly in with light and shifting winds. Paul took off earlier than the rest of the Americans, primarily to assist the others with picking their launch sites. He ended up missing the field to the right, but many others did as well. However, Nick, Joe, and Johnny all scored on the field, so perhaps it worked.

Still no scores from this morning. They indicated that the next update would be at 8:00pm local, or 6:00am Michigan time. I'm guessing that will include this morning's tasks, but not this evening's. They'll probably wait until tomorrow's rewards to reveal the winner.

The balloon glow on the race track starts in about 45 minutes. We stopped by a convenience store on the way back to the hotel and spent 11,000 yen (about $100) on various beverages.

Just one picture tonight:

Your next World Champion?

Tasks 24, 25, 26, and 27

Saturday morning: PDG (pilot declared goal), JDG (judge declared goal), JDG (judge declared goal), FOT (pilot declared fly on) from a common launch site in Motegi

Preface: In an attempt to deal with the 4 or 5 pilots who have caused the incidents this week, the event director instituted a 600ft/min vertical speed limit for all pilots. Any excess of this limit over 30 seconds in length would result in a "reckless flying" penalty. Penalties for incidents that necessitated this limit have varied from 150 to 500 points.

Translation of preface for non-balloon people reading: Congratulations for making it to the last 20 laps of the Daytona 500. Because a couple drivers have caused accidents, for the first time ever we'll be enforcing a 55 mile per hour speed limit for all of you. We realize that you all qualified for this event by performing in a certain way, and that it was your understanding that you'd be able to continue under those parameters. We also understand that only a small percentage of you are having difficulty operating safely. However, rather than deal with these exception drivers appropriately on a case-by-case basis, we have no choice but to develop a policy that will be applied to all. Now let's go out there and see who the world's best driver is!

The winds this morning were very light. It took many pilots over an hour to go 3000 meters to their first pilot declared goal. By the time they got into the valley for the first of the judge declared goals, the winds had light and variable. Some pilots were able to salvage a good score (word is that Johnny did well), but many had to drop several hundred meters out in an effort to continue working on the other goals. The second judge declared marker had coordinates for the fly-on included, so recovery of that marker was crucial. That meant that some (including Paul) sacrificed any sort of maneuvering toward a very unlikely southern goal in favor of getting a recoverable marker on the ground and making some progress toward their final goal. Compounding all this was the time factor - most flights were 3.5 to 4 hours long, and goals closing was a motivating factor for many.

It's the kind of morning when median scores for some targets could be in the hundred or thousands of meters. That means that, as always, it's impossible to make any projections.

The briefing for the final flight is in 2 hours. Most likely it will be a 2 part task in the western flatlands. After that, we have a balloon glow on the race track and the Sionara Party. I'll certainly get an update posted before I go to bed, but it might not be right after the flight.

A BIG day...

Saturday brings the last day of competition for the event. This morning's flight will be big. Only 650 points separate the top 5. Less than 1000 points separate positions 6-10. And while the names in the final top 10 are probably relatively set, there's lots of opportunity for any individual pilot to gain (or lose) 1-3 positions based on today's results. The consensus is that we'll see 4-5 parts this morning and 2 parts this evening. There also some agreement that ending a world championship on an evening flight isn't the preferred method.

Everyone in our room was in bed by 9:00pm last night.

Of course, everyone wants to finish as high as they can as a personal achievement, but there's also a broader context to place today in. The results from this event will largely determine how many American positions are available for the 2008 Worlds in Austria. A 1-2-3 finish here by Team USA would allow something like 10 US pilots to make the trip in 2 years.

Imagine being Joe Zvada or Al Nels today. Joe was the 2006 BFA US National Rookie of the Year, finishing 5th in this year's Nationals. He's also here crewing for Paul Petrehn. Al is already a 2-time World Champion, finished 4th at this year's Nationals, and is the team manager ("coach") for this year's team. By and large, today will determine whether or they'll go to Austria and fly in the next Worlds.

Also, I'd again like to thank everyone for all their comments and feedback regarding my posts. I never imagined that the scope of the audience would be this large. The blog was conceived as a way to keep my family updated on what was happening here. As many of you know, I have 2 small children and a saint of a wife who actually encouraged me to make this trip. Google Talk has been a great tool, but the 14 hour time difference can make it hard to connect. The posts have allowed me to both relay practical information and feel like I'm sharing this experience with them in some fashion. It's worked quite well, and the fact that so many others are enjoying it is truly icing on the cake.

Like I said, today is a big day...

Thanksgiving in Japan

Tonight Al arranged for all the Americans here (pilots, crews, observers, and officials - over 40 people total) to have an "American" dinner and a local restaurant called Raimu. The menu included:

• Chicken
• Mashed potatoes
• Stuffing
• Macaroni and cheese
• Pizza
• Calamari
• Salad
• Ham sandwiches
• Beer

It was a great meal. Many pictures were taken, but none with my camera. When I get my hands on some, I'll post them.

Results thru task 23

Here are the top 10 after tasks 1-23 (with total points included):
1 PETREHN, John USA 17866
2 HEARTSILL, Joe USA 17814
3 DONNER, Nick USA 17484
4 SCHNEIDER, Uwe GER 17235
5 MIZUKAMI, Takao JPN 17216
6 KOSTIUSKEVICIUS, Rimas LTU 16214
7 BOLZE, Stephane FRA 15808
8 MESSINES, Francois FRA 15782
9 PETREHN, Paul USA 15487
10 ENDO, Mamoru JPN 15299

For complete results: http://www.balloon2006worlds.com/results/HABWC06index.html

Miscellaneous photos

With a little time to spare before our Thanksgiving dinner, here's some random pictures from the past week.

First by popular demand, some more of Al Nels (Team Manager) and his group:



Next a couple of Maury Petrehn sumo wrestling some Japanese baseball players:


And finally, here's a homeless Johnny Petrehn and Nick Donner (their teams had to switch hotels multiple times this week as well) hanging out in the lobby waiting for the evening briefing:


I can't help but wonder if the participants in the World Poker Championship have to spend their time between games sitting on a hotel lobby floor checking e-mail and Skype'ing because they're changing hotels for the 3rd time...

Scrubbed

Friday evening's flight was cancelled due to surface winds that were forecast to be 15 knots at sunset. For the first time this week, Al and his gang relaxed:


Joe checked the scores:

But the results of morning's flight still haven't been posted.

There have been a few mid-air incidents this week, including one that resulted in significant envelope damage. No one was hurt, and none of the US pilots were involved in any way. However as a result, the event director has indicated that the remaining flights will likely bring an absolute limit on ascent and decent rates (possibly 600 ft/min) to be enforced using data from the GPS loggers. Pilot opinion is falling on both sides of the issue, with some being more vocal than others regarding the possible new rule.

Tonight all the Americans are going to a belated Thanksgiving dinner at a local restaurant here in Motegi.

Tasks 20, 21, 22, and 23

A four part task from individual launch sites in the Motegi area was presented for Friday morning: FIN (judge-declared fly in), JDG (judge-declared goal), FON (pilot declared goal), FON (pilot declared goal)

Nothing tricky about the tasks or planning on this one. However the winds above were on the quick side (40 kmph+), so coming over the ridges and into the calmer winds in the valleys presented some challenge. Each member of Team USA dropped in the measured areas of the first 2 tasks, and all markers were recovered (important because of the provisional coordinated written on the tails). We only had to go tracking through the bamboo for a couple. Some other teams are going to have problems this morning though, as many were still searching when we left. On the way to find one of Johnny's markers on a thick bamboo-covered hillside, we saw at least 4 other markers dangling in trees and bushes.

They're saying the weather looks good for the rest of the event. There's 3 more competition flights left (tonight, Saturday morning, Saturday evening), then a separate "prize flight" on Sunday. There's an optional glow on the race track tomorrow (Saturday) night, and believe it or not we actually signed up for it. They pay 2,000 yen to glow (about $200), but the real reason is that Joe gets to drive our chase vehicle around the track.

Because we had to check out of our temporary hotel this morning:


We're now homeless until after this evening's flight. They're VERY strict on check-in times here. A posted time of 3:00pm does not mean 2:30pm or even 2:55pm. It's not so bad though, because we need to leave Motegi by 1:00pm or so for the 2:00pm briefing in Haga Town. It will be nice to get up tomorrow morning at a leisurely 4:15am and only have to drive 5 minutes to briefing.

Results thru task 19

Here are the top 10 after tasks 1-19:
1 DONNER, Nick USA
2 PETREHN, John USA
3 HEARTSILL, Joe USA
4 SCHNEIDER, Uwe GER
5 MESSINES, Francois FRA
6 MIZUKAMI, Takao JPN
7 BOLZE, Stephane FRA
8 KOSTIUSKEVICIUS, Rimas LTU
9 PETREHN, Paul USA
10 GIBBS, Paul AUS

For complete results: http://www.balloon2006worlds.com/results/HABWC06index.html

These include all the tasks we've flown so far. Not a significant shake-up like I'd thought, but more shifting around of the same names. The top 4 have separated themselves from the rest by 1000 points or so.

Today looks like another decent morning.

Results thru task 14

Here are the top 11 after tasks 1-14:
1 DONNER, Nick USA
2 PETREHN, John USA
3 HEARTSILL, Joe USA
4 MESSINES, Francois FRA
5 MIZUKAMI, Takao JPN
6 BOLZE, Stephane FRA
7 SCHNEIDER, Uwe GER
8 KOSTIUSKEVICIUS, Rimas LTU
9 FUJITA, Masahiko JPN
10 GIBBS, Paul AUS
11 PETREHN, Paul USA

For complete results: http://www.balloon2006worlds.com/results/HABWC06index.html

Keep in mind that there are 5 tasks that were flown today that are not yet included in these totals. My guess is that there will be some significant shake-up once those post.

Video from task 19

Shawn has outdone himself. He put together a video montage of Team USA's drops on the minimum distance target from tonight's flight. They take place in the order listed below:
Joe Heartsill / Nick Donner / Johnny Petrehn / Paul Petrehn task 19

Task 19

A minimum distance task with a common launch point was called for Thursday evening. Essentially each competitor had to fly for at least 20 minutes, then drop a marker as close to their take off point as possible. This meant taking off to the southwest, climbing to 2500+ feet to "back up" to the northeast, then descending to make a gravity marker drop a target back on the launch field. Here's Erica and Chase Donner cheesing it up before the flight:


It was a great evening for the crowd, as they got to see balloons launch, then throw on the target, and then land nearby. Several balloons disappeared into the clouds at altitude; we'll see how the event director chooses to handle that. It's different here in that there doesn't appear to be the air law restrictions that we usually fly under in the US. For example, many markers landed among the spectators, and several pilots made low flights (under 25') or radical descents over the crowd. So maybe IFR flights aren't a big deal.

It was an good evening for Team USA. It was hard to tell from the ground exactly how far each of them was from the target, but Joe looked like he was within a meter, and I don't think any of them was outside of 20 meters. Remember, those are gravity drops. Paul strung it out the longest of any competitor, coming across about 15 minutes before sunset (over an hour after he launched) with a drop of about 5 meters.

Here's a shot of a Kubicek XR racer:

Even among all the racer balloons here, it looks very skinny.

Tomorrow is going to be a very long day. First we have to check out of our cool Chase Commander hotel and drive 45 minutes to a briefing and flight in Motegi. That means we'll all be up at about 4:00am. And we can't check in to our new hotel in Motegi (the same one we were at earlier this week) until after the evening flight, which is 30 minutes west in the flatlands. Tonight after the flight we had to drive 45 minutes back to Motegi to drop the observer and refuel, then 45 minutes back to our hotel. No event that I've attended before can compare to the amount of driving around they make us do here. It's literally hundreds of miles a day. Nothing beats the competition at a Worlds, but this really makes me appreciate the well-structured, pilot-oriented events that I get to attend back home.

But as long as we have 4-5 tasks in the morning and a couple in the evening, it will all be fine.