Balloonists everywhere are thinking about Richard Abruzzo and Carol Rymer-Davis. They were one of 20 entrants in the Gordon Bennett Balloon Race who launched from Bristol at midnight on saturday and flew south across the Channel towards Brest.
Good weather blessed their route across France, out across the Bay of Biscay and east towards the Pyrenees.
By the end of sunday they had been flying nearly 40 hours and were faced with the decision whether or not to venture out over the Mediterranean Sea. After a night at -13°C it's easy to see why 14 balloons landed safely in daylight and enjoyed reunions with their gallant ground crews who had been following their pilots wondering where on earth they would end up.
The six leading balloons opened up a whole new chapter in this race as they carefully timed their approach to Italian airspace after sunrise to avoid disqualification. With judicious juggling of altitude they all succeeded with the leading Swiss balloon managing to clear it monday night and the other five hanging back until tuesday morning.
France 2 landed in Italy as Swiss 2 raced ahead to land on the beach of the Black sea in Romania 2434 km from Bristol.
The other four teams spent Tuesday night crossing the Adriatic and on into Montenegro, Serbia, Croatia and Serbia Herzegovina where GER 2 landed.
The weather was beginning to change and after GER 1 landed on the edge of the competition area in Romania, GBR 3 landed in Croatia.
USA 2 meanwhile was still over the Adriatic battling with thunderstorms. Their tracker shows variable heights and directions as they bravely fought the very weather that all balloonists fear.
After their tracker stopped transmitting and calls by vhf and phone were not answered a full scale search was started.
Balloon crews are beginning to arrive back in Bristol with wonderful stories of a classic Gordon Bennett Race - the first time it's been held in Britain since its inception in 1906 - but everybody's thoughts are with Richard and Carol.
American news report HERE.
A few of my pictures from the launch HERE.
Click on any image for larger size.
Final positions....
Richard and Carol launching on saturday night.
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