Leaderboard

So I get a call from some film students. They want to do a documentary about ballooning and my history in the sport. I said "sure what the heck" I know I have a ton of stories and they would be welcome to come along and film a few flights, Heck I could take them on a flight and really open their minds about the sport and the fun of flying a balloon. So we arranged a meeting to talk. They were all very nice and students at a film collage called "FULL SAIL" I believe they taught me as much about the film industry as I taught them about the balloon world. As many of you know I am an avid learner. I want to know everything about everything. So me and the boys were setting out on an adventure together. So me and my merry band of film students (Christian Jose, David, Nick, Taylor, Damion & Jonathan ) went out to learn about Hot Air Ballooning. They came out one morning, and went with us for a flight, Captain Kim McCourt was nice enough to bring out his balloon and take them along as well. We we were able to film in one balloon and from another balloon on the same flight. The morning was a little hazy but the crew was more interested in the workings of "How ballooning was done" than the view. So overall the flight was a huge success. We opened them up to the idea that there was much more to this (Balloon world) than it looked like on the surface. They had endless questions! So now we entered the interview stage. They set up the film equipment and made my shop into a mini studio. We talked about ballooning and how I became involved and answered questions from David (The Director). We talked about competition ballooning and flying passengers, my family and how they became involved. It seemed the more questions I would answer, would spur even more questions to be asked. We ended up spending almost 8 hours out there just talking and telling stories. We all became very close friends during this time. The National Championships. Our new friends (during our interview) found out that we were about to go fly in the National Championships with my father. This was a HUGE deal for our family and for me as well. They asked if they were able to come along and film? I told them "Sure but you will have to do some serious scrambling during the event"! I explained that balloon flying during competition is no holds barred. When it is time to GO you gotta GO!! So the crew found a way to pay their way and we were off to the National Balloon Championships with team Thompson in Battle Creek Michigan. When you fly in the National Balloon Championships you often fly in weather conditions that you would not normally fly in. These pilots are some of the best in the country and you must earn your way into the Nationals. This is an invite only event. There was a day when the weather conditions were not so great, my father and I chose to stay on the ground. He was in his 70's and a hard landing could do some serious damage and I was flying a balloon that was much to large to fly safely in those conditions. The film crew was immediately asking me if I regretted the decision to stay on the ground. My answer was simply this, " I regret that I am unable to compete but the decision to stay on the ground with these weather conditions and the equipment I have borrowed is a good one". I then informed them that we must hurry up and go! The answer from the crew was "WHY"? I explained that when the pilots who chose to fly are trying to land they will need as much help as we can give them. So the race was on to get our rigs down wind of the last target that day. Once we were down wind the crew was curious as to why I chose that location. I told them that if I were flying this would be were I would end up. Sure enough about 8 minutes later we could see balloons appearing on the horizon heading our way. My ground crew ran out into the field and managed to catch three balloons when I spotted a young pilot named Benji just to our west. I told my ground team and the film crew to "Load up" we have to go! This was Benji's first National Championships and that alone is a daunting challenge let alone the weather conditions they were flying in. I told the crew we must catch Benji. We managed to get down wind and waited. Sure enough in less than 2 minutes we could see Benji coming over the trees headed directly at our location. We were waiting and ready. Benji told us later that when he spotted our truck he just knew we were there to help. He came in hard and hit the ground right in front of us. Our ground team immediately jumped on his basket to stop him right where he was. The film crew had a camera running, when Benji looked at them and said, "Man there is some funky ass voodoo shit going on up there" All I could do was smile. Later I told the film crew that when they were editing the video, they may want to use those two clips together. The first clip where I said it was a good choice for me to stay on the ground and the clip with Benji's comments. We returned to the hotel and put our stuff away. Benji came back a little bit later and presented us with two 12 packs of beer to thank us for our help. The adventure with the film crew was one of the many highlights of my ballooning career. I remember they were a little hesitant when they announced the name of their film. They were worried that I may take offense to the name. I had a huge smile on my face when I told them "That is a perfect name" BALLOONATIC was born. It is my hope that they enjoyed their time with me and the adventures we had. When I saw the film they produced it was nothing short of amazing! As I told them, "I do not say this because I was the subject, I say this because what you have created is nothing short of amazing". "The way you put this together shows real talent for what you do"! BRAVO! Below is the video they put together. I still to this day watch this video with huge respect for what they were able to produce. As a team they were more than gifted. Thank you for creating this time capsule of my adventures. Love you all, Jeff