Balloon Jumps 2008

Balloon jumps went well. Last Sunday morning 19 jumpers got to make the zero airspeed exit into the ice cold early morning air, and all 19 had sweet jumps and good landings. The winds were in our favor, and almost everyone was able to land on the mesa. Kevin C got his balloon to altitude so fast that Eric, Dave H, and Andres were able to land right at our airport LZ! We had an all star jumper retrieval crew that had everyone else back at the DZ in short order. 

There were lots of good jump stories, but my personal fave was Alex W's. Alex exited on his back and was enjoying watching the balloon get small, when he saw a small black object go sailing by his feet. In the next instant the small black object disgorged a cloud of cash and credit cards, and Alex realized that he'd just jettisoned his wallet! Amazingly enough, he was able to land nearby and, with the help of a few of his friends, he actually found his wallet. The cash, however, floated away, never to be seen again. I admire the way Alex skipped the "middleman" in the Manifest Office, and gave his money directly to the sky! 

I wish I had pictures, but my camera batteries went dead before I got any good ones - D'oh! 

My jump was fantastic. I helped my buddy Travis R get sorted out on his first balloon exit and then I climbed out to my exit position and waited for Steve to get his balloon to stop climbing. I got to sit on the edge of the basket for a minute or two while Steve sorted out the balloon. I made sure to fully enjoy the wonderfully free and somewhat absurd feeling of sitting on the edge of a hot air balloon basket with my feet dangling 5000 feet above the early morning desert landscape. Steve couldn't quite get the balloon settled out, but since we were starting to drift over less friendly terrain, he gave me the OK to exit anyway. This was my third balloon exit, and it was every bit as much fun as the others. As I've said before, there's something intensely beautiful about still air exits and the sensation of accelerating from zero to 120 mph in those first 12 seconds. I tracked for a good LZ and opened right above a balloon that had just landed. The canopy flight in the dawn air was great and I made a perfect landing right next to the balloon and the chase crew. For the whole rest of the day I was grinning like a blind monkey that had just found a banana.