From the beginning, the race was ill starred, it really didn’t look nice. Already when traveling there on Thursday, the competitors had to fight with thunderstorms, hail and torrential rain. During the night to Friday, Lech am Arlberg experienced the first snowfall that autumn. Not heavy enough, to open the ski lifts, but the mountains all around were quite "sugared". The mood was correspondingly lousy. The meteorologist, Dr. Herbert Pümpel, later stated, that he had been close to cancel the race. Occasional brightening was observed, but all in all Saturday also brought no significant improvement of the weather.

Had there been a cancellation of the race before? – No, but twice a postponement, but only one for weather reasons. – What would happen, if a race was cancelled? Or, to be more precise: Would the winner of the last year keep the cup for another year? – Yes, according to the rules of 1905, but old Gordon Bennett had only declared acts of God as reasons for cancellation.

Whatever he may have meant with that, bad weather was not an act of God in those years, when balloons flew at any kind of weather. Otherwise, there would not have been five people killed in the race of the year 1923. So should the year 1994 enter the history of the races as the first year of a cancellation for weather reasons?

When studying the charts and prognoses, Dr. Pümpel discovered a "window". Just very small and at an impossible moment, but it should come for sure. In a word, launch began Sunday morning at 5 a.m. The last balloon just took off at dawn break. So in this connection, the 38th Gordon Bennett Race is something new. Never before a race was launched at this time of the day. The national anthems played for the fire brigade and the Red Cross as the only spectators did not create a solemn atmosphere. Those who remained on the field waved a quick "good flight and soft landings" to the crews and rushed back to the hotel to warm up. At the launch field at that time, several degrees below the freezing point were measured.

The theory for the flight, as created by the meteorologist, was quite clear, but unfortunately did not come true: Snow covered hill slopes make the air sinking, this air meets the warmer river Lech in the valley, who will take it with him pushing the balloons out of the mountains at Füssen. Here, they will meet the gradient winds of the low pressure area "Iphigenie", which there, supported by the Alps as buffer, turn from northwest via west to southeast, driving the balloons across Germany to Poland. Terminal station then would have been the Baltic Sea.

The first half of this theory came true. About five hours after launch, all balloons were at the upper end of the valley of river Lech, but already there, they were no longer on the north side of the valley, but much farther south. Obviously, St. Peter had opened the "window" a little too wide, no cold airflow moved to the valley any longer, the slopes were in bright sunlight, and now it became accordingly thermal. The ridge of the North-Tyrolean Chalk-Alps was crossed, now they were in the much more narrow valley of the Inn, and further on in their heading to the east, higher obstacles were threatening. In the lee of the mountains, the balloons proceeded very slowly. One pilot even reported: "Stand up party over Innsbruck".

Logically the first landing reports came in from the valley of the Inn at about 2 p.m. During the afternoon, four other crews also landed. Their landing spots were all still in Austria, the longer they flew, the more to the south. The gradient winds did not think of turning.

Another four competitors preferred to land before midnight, already being across the border to Italy. For the rest of the balloons, the real first night began, and the higher they climbed, the farther they proceeded south. It moved quite quickly up there, and soon they could see the Gulf of Genoa and the Mediterranean Sea ahead of them. The more easterly the balloons were, the more the could proceed into the upper leg of the "Italian boot." But the sea itself was a barrier difficult to cross.

Two balloons had given up to decreasingly slow flight quite early: Joschi Starkbaum, the serial winner and Karl Spenger, taciturn experienced war-horse. Both soon had gained altitude, entering the southerly drift quickly, and already approaching the sea when all the others were still in the mountains. Joschi Starkbaum and his son Roland as co-pilot stood in front of the shore at 4 a.m. and landed at this time near Genoa.

Karl Spenger and Christian Stoll flew on in the direction to Corsica. 69-year-old Karl Spenger wanted to know it once again, 10 years after his victory in Zurich. With an experience from 12 Gordon Bennett Races and many other long distance flights, he could assess the risk. He scratched the island of Corsica, direction Sardinia. (He might also have accepted Sicily or North Africa). At Monday noon, he had reached the west coast of the island in the North, over flew the island until the Thyrrenic Sea in the east became visible. At 3:20 p.m. (local) the balloon touched ground at Jerzu on Sardinia, 825.14 kilometers from Lech am Arlberg as the bee flies, nearly 450 kilometers more that rank second, who had covered 375.74 kilometers and landed just 5 hours before.

At the awards banquet next Friday, Karl Spenger confessed, that crossing the sea had been discussed and agreed between the two crewmembers already before take-off. A brand new envelope and a lightweight net of the balloon created the conditions for that. Those two pilots would not have cared, if the water ahead to fly over would be the Baltic or the Mediterranean Sea.

You have to recall far back in the history of these races, to find a similar superior victory with more than double the distance between rank 1 and 2: Theo Schaeck/Emil Messner from Switzerland in 1908 and in 1925 Belgians Alexander Veenstra/Philippe Quersin. In both cases, the enormous distance was created by a flight across the sea. In 1908 it was the North Sea, in 1925 the Gulf of Biscay, and now in 1994 the Mediterranean Sea.

And there is another curiosity: Switzerland gains its fourth victory in a Gordon Bennett Race this year. Three of them (1908, 1922 and 1994) came into being with after flights across the sea, only Karl Spenger's first victory in 1984 (with Martin Messner as co-pilot) ended without a crossing, but on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean.

What had happened to the other crews? The coast of the province Liguria in Italy is not very rich with landing fields. You have to take, what you may get. Silvia Wagner/Thomas Lewetz considered a hill slope full of trees to be adequate. The trees swallowed the balloon, but without a single tear, the envelope came to the ground. But it was impossible, to pick it up there, even with an off-road vehicle. So one part of the chase crew organized a helicopter mission, while the rest sat down next to the balloon for a picnic. There was enough left to eat and drink. During the flight, Silvia is responsible in the basket for preparing the meals, but she herself is unable to eat a single mouthful.

After three hours, the helicopter came and found the balloon guided by radio from the ground. Carefully the helicopter then pulled the whole stuff past the treetops to a free place.

Joschi Starkbaum and his son Roland did not need help from the air, but had to use a heavyweight Caterpillar tractor. So the chase crew presented to Joschi a toy model of the same type as a souvenir, which now shall get a dignified place in his collection of cups. Some excitement was created by a rashly triggered search and rescue action, caused by the upcoming rumour, that the crew Fürstner/Huber was seen over the Gulf of Genoa. Even if "too soon and unnecessary" is always better as "too late and without success", such actions should better be coordinated with the competition officials.

So finally, everybody came back to the ground safe and unhurt, the race of 1994 ended without further problems.

In 1995 the 39th Gordon Bennett Race will therefore be held in Switzerland, country of the actual winner, perhaps in Wil on September 9th. All races in this country had always been perfectly organized and outstandingly performed. It will be the 6th race from Switzerland, after Zurich 1909, Geneva 1922, Basel 1932, Zurich 1984 and again Geneva in 1985. Something, stormy low pressure area "Iphigenie" had almost prevented ended with an unusual success.

Before we let the winners report from their flight by themselves, they should be introduced. Erwin A. Sautter answers the question: "Who are the balloonists Spenger/Stoll"?

Here now is an extract from the flight report of Spenger/Stoll about the "Altitude safari from Lech (Austria) to Jerzu (Sardinia)", summarized and commented by Erwin A. Sautter.