Turkish MSc student Ekim Tan is an architect with an unusual hobby. To relax during her demanding studies, she escapes into the clouds in her beautiful balloon, where she can forget all her worries, challenge the elements and get a different perspective on the world.
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Three o’clock in the morning. The alarm rings. Sleepiness and excited anticipation both fight for your attention as the van transports us to a big tent in the valley. Trying to wake up, the fresh, chilly air and a cup of coffee is the best you can hope for. Soon, the referees are explaining the rules of the day%s hot-air balloon competition and detailing the forecasted weather conditions. What are the boundaries of today%s region? When will we start and finish? What are the competition%s tasks: throwing ribbons down from the balloon onto specified targets, or flying first to a pre-determined geographical point, or perhaps following a precisely defined route in a certain amount of time? Then, the rush begins. Reading complicated maps, measuring wind direction and velocity and finally devising your ultimate strategy for winning the competition. In competitive ballooning, there are two parts to each team: the balloon team in the air and the ground team following in a jeep, and both parts must work in harmony with each other.
Surrealist landscape
After these nervous preparations, an amazing and absolutely breathtaking scene awaits you. At sunrise, 50 colorful balloons take off above the surreal landscape of Turkey’s Cappadocia region: rock caves, capped pinnacles and fretted ravines in color tones ranging from warm red and gold to cool green and gray. It’s exciting to imagine how, three million years ago, this plateau was covered with molten rocks formed from the surrounding active volcanoes. But before getting lost in time, you must first concentrate on the difficult mission ahead of you and the tough opponents you’re facing. Once up in the air, balloonist must first quickly determine the right wind needed to navigate your balloon, because catching the right air movement increases your chances of following your plan. At the same time, balloonists must keep track of their location, as it%s very easy to get confused and lost up in the air. While the balloonists above tussle with these matters, the ground team below is carefully following the balloon’s movements across the rugged landscape. The day ends in either victory or disappointment, but actually it doesn’t matter very much, as ballooning is ultimately a test of using your knowledge, working as a team and, most importantly, learning how to deal with nature.
Battling gravity
Indeed, balloonists are constantly challenging their relationship with nature. Ballooning is about instant decision making, about positioning in a certain geographical environment and about handling physical conditions and surroundings. Bottom line: it%s a battle against gravity. In this sport, nature is your best friend, but can also be your worst enemy. Ballooning, whether for competitions or recreation, is an exciting and fascinating experience. In the reed basket in the air, you experience a different relationship with your surroundings. In this third dimension, you observe everything from a different perspective. Cities look readable, mountains become reachable, clouds touchable and rivers turn into mere silver lines. Also, alone in your balloon, you experience total silence. As you float higher and higher, you forget about your daily hassles and become one with yourself.
Going up yourself: Ballooning can be done in many places in the Netherlands. See the national organization for hot-air ballooning
(www.pbn-info.nl). A trip of a few hours costs about 150-250 euros, depending on the number of people booking. The Koninklijke Nederlandse Vereniging voor Luchtvaart (KNVVL) – Royal Dutch Aerospace Club % also has a Ballooning section. Their website is www.knvvlballonvaren.info. There is also the Dutch Balloon Competition Club (DBCC), info at www.dbcc.nl. To learn virtually everything about ballooning, go to www.euronet.nl/users/jdewilde/, where an enthusiast has collected every link imaginable. For ballooning in Cappadocia, Turkey, go to www.goremeballoons.com.
Turkish MSc student Ekim Tan is an architect with an unusual hobby. To relax during her demanding studies, she escapes into the clouds in her beautiful balloon, where she can forget all her worries, challenge the elements and get a different perspective on the world.
Three o’clock in the morning. The alarm rings. Sleepiness and excited anticipation both fight for your attention as the van transports us to a big tent in the valley. Trying to wake up, the fresh, chilly air and a cup of coffee is the best you can hope for. Soon, the referees are explaining the rules of the day%s hot-air balloon competition and detailing the forecasted weather conditions. What are the boundaries of today%s region? When will we start and finish? What are the competition%s tasks: throwing ribbons down from the balloon onto specified targets, or flying first to a pre-determined geographical point, or perhaps following a precisely defined route in a certain amount of time? Then, the rush begins. Reading complicated maps, measuring wind direction and velocity and finally devising your ultimate strategy for winning the competition. In competitive ballooning, there are two parts to each team: the balloon team in the air and the ground team following in a jeep, and both parts must work in harmony with each other.
Surrealist landscape
After these nervous preparations, an amazing and absolutely breathtaking scene awaits you. At sunrise, 50 colorful balloons take off above the surreal landscape of Turkey’s Cappadocia region: rock caves, capped pinnacles and fretted ravines in color tones ranging from warm red and gold to cool green and gray. It’s exciting to imagine how, three million years ago, this plateau was covered with molten rocks formed from the surrounding active volcanoes. But before getting lost in time, you must first concentrate on the difficult mission ahead of you and the tough opponents you’re facing. Once up in the air, balloonist must first quickly determine the right wind needed to navigate your balloon, because catching the right air movement increases your chances of following your plan. At the same time, balloonists must keep track of their location, as it%s very easy to get confused and lost up in the air. While the balloonists above tussle with these matters, the ground team below is carefully following the balloon’s movements across the rugged landscape. The day ends in either victory or disappointment, but actually it doesn’t matter very much, as ballooning is ultimately a test of using your knowledge, working as a team and, most importantly, learning how to deal with nature.
Battling gravity
Indeed, balloonists are constantly challenging their relationship with nature. Ballooning is about instant decision making, about positioning in a certain geographical environment and about handling physical conditions and surroundings. Bottom line: it%s a battle against gravity. In this sport, nature is your best friend, but can also be your worst enemy. Ballooning, whether for competitions or recreation, is an exciting and fascinating experience. In the reed basket in the air, you experience a different relationship with your surroundings. In this third dimension, you observe everything from a different perspective. Cities look readable, mountains become reachable, clouds touchable and rivers turn into mere silver lines. Also, alone in your balloon, you experience total silence. As you float higher and higher, you forget about your daily hassles and become one with yourself.
Going up yourself: Ballooning can be done in many places in the Netherlands. See the national organization for hot-air ballooning
(www.pbn-info.nl). A trip of a few hours costs about 150-250 euros, depending on the number of people booking. The Koninklijke Nederlandse Vereniging voor Luchtvaart (KNVVL) – Royal Dutch Aerospace Club % also has a Ballooning section. Their website is www.knvvlballonvaren.info. There is also the Dutch Balloon Competition Club (DBCC), info at www.dbcc.nl. To learn virtually everything about ballooning, go to www.euronet.nl/users/jdewilde/, where an enthusiast has collected every link imaginable. For ballooning in Cappadocia, Turkey, go to www.goremeballoons.com.
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