Blighty battles Oz for stratospheric supremacy The friendly rivalry between Brit and Oz amateur High Altitude Ballooning (HAB) enthusiasts hit new heights over the weekend when the two nations went head-to-head in a stratospheric clash of high-altitude titans. Raspberry Pi In The Sky chap Dave Akerman met his Antipodean opponent Mark Jessop in a Cambridgeshire field to …
Although the term amateur doesn't really do justice to these professional efforts. And it's also very nice to see "friendly rivalry" where you can be rivals and very nice to each other _at_the_same_time_. Lots of other areas (sport, politics, etc., etc., etc.) please take note...
NEWS FLASH: Dave is not dead.
This is because he's not stupid enough to mix his hydrogen gas with an oxidiser.
You can tell he did not do this as he is using just a RED gas cylinder and not a GREEN cylinder...
and before anyone else starts.. no he did not coat his Balloon in Magnesium based paint either.
How come the British press missed out on this superb tournament, instead focusing on a few people aimlessly running around in London's East End. I would have preferred to have has this televised instead.
How about a European tournament next year, with competitors bringing not only balloons and payloads, but also their own nations beer, that we can see three battles at the same venue, for altitude, payload functionality, and best beer.
I'm sure we can get a contingent of BBC reporters in for that one!
BTW, congratulations to all concerned, all these photos are of superb quality and something to be proud of.
Whilst the RAF bases are easily identifiable in the first photo, which bit of coast is it in the second one, from 114,000 ft?
My best guess is it's the North Norfolk Coast, with the "sandy beach" bit being Well-next-the-sea, and then Sheringham and Cromer would be the darker patches to the right of that.
What does anyone else think?
> Whilst the RAF bases are easily identifiable in the first photo..................What does anyone else think?
Anyone not living in the 1930s thinks that they're occupied by the USAF, which finds it politically convenient to leave the RAF signs in place.
Where's the 'Yanks Go Home" icon?
Beer for the balloonists. (They brew nice beer near the landing site).
Kudos for using Hydrogen
Bundaberg also make an alcoholic ginger beer - it's hard to find outside the home state of Queensland, presumably because it never makes it far from the brewery before someone drinks it. It is rather tasty, and quite nicely alcoholic (around 6-7%, so a little stronger than the average beer).
The cloud formation looks like a descending cold cell - no idea what the proper name for it is though. The weather-wars nutjobs will all tell you it was caused by the HAARP site or chemsprays or some such twaddle.
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