The tasksetting has remained the same as mentioned in an earlier message, the flight duration is set to maximum 17 hours... this means the balloons that left last won't be able to fly the full 17 hours. The French team Villey / Halloserie took off at 02:20hr, but the final landing time still is Saturday 19:00hr.
As predicted the balloons took off in the direction of Poland and from the start they had a good speed. Not only the competition but also the landings are certainly going to be thrilling! 24 hours after the landing all the teams are expected back in Bitterfeld, and by Monday noon they have to be ready for the third and last flight. Thomas Fink, competition director, even thinks that the preparations for that flight will start on Monday morning.
To be continued!
Donald & Luc Buyle
At 01:20hr the first balloon with Bob Berben & Luc Van Geyte took off for its second flight. The others obviously weren't in a hurry, and the only reason we can think of is that they were hoping to get more daylight at the German-Polish border where the first marker would have to be dropped. Yet all the balloons were in the air within an hour!
