7th Balloon Meeting at Tegernsee

The Balloon Meeting at Tegernsee is definitely the balloon event with the best party factor, this we know at least since 2006... and this year, it was no different =)

Whether at the shindig, at the over30-party or at the concert of the Spider Murphy Gang - the balloonists really got the party started that weekend!

After no start had been possible on Thursday, Friday morning started with wonderful sunshine - exactly what we needed for our new model balloon, which couldn't be launched at Gosau due to the lack of sunshine.

Near to the gas balloon of the Balloon Club of Stuttgart, Matthias began to inflate the new balloon...

...for good reason, as the new 1483 cu ft (42 m³) large and 23 ft (7 m) tall balloon is the detailed replica of a gas balloon.

Only from the outside, however - inside, the balloon is filled with warm air, heated by nothing but the sun. In about 100 hours of work, Matthias has built the probably first radio controlled solar balloon of the world.

Controlled is the "Black Pearl" by a valve at the top of the balloon, with which warm air can be released. Additionally, a ballast container inside the basket allows to drop sand from the balloon which makes it rise.

On this morning, conditions were perfect - the sun heated the air inside the balloon from 0°C to 23°C, thus creating a lift of about 100 grams per cubic meter - almost 2 kilograms of sand could be loaded.

The flight duration of the new balloon theoretically is only limited by the sunshine duration. The warm air emitted from the valve is replaced by cold air, which is warmed by the sun again. So, if one operates economically with the ballast, the solar balloon allows much longer flights than a normal model balloon.

In this case, upcoming clouds set an end to the flight of the solar balloon - however, we were quite pleased with the first successful flight or our new balloon.

While the "big" balloons and airships took to the sky over Bad Wiessee, we were packing our equipment...

...and then took a close look at one of the airships, with which Matthias later even was allowed to fly :-)

Special thanks to pilot Wim van den Bogaard!

In the evening, we took part in the night glow with our model balloons.

And after that, we were in for the next party! The concert of the Munich band "Spider Murphy Gang" was great fun for all the balloonists and guests, and the after show party kept us entertained til' the wee hours of the morning.

Special thanks to the Tourist Information Bad Wiessee with Peter Rie and Bettina Wolff, who had organized this one-off spectacular! :)

On Saturday, it was snowing all day - but, however, we knew how to spend the day. Bastian bought one of the remote controlled mini helicopters they were selling at a stand on the venue, and we had a fun time flying around indoors.

And on Sunday, the sun was back again! The model balloons had their grand entrance that day, as the "big" balloons couldn't start due to strong winds in higher altitude.

So, it was our part to keep all the spectators entertained - which was no problem with our many special shapes ;)

It's in the eyes... the Penguin, the blue Elephant and the Fox, photographed by Peter Heinzel.

On Sunday afternoon, there was yet another first flight: The little grandchild of co-organizer Bert Reichart was allowed to fly with a model balloon ;-)

If the little one liked it?


For us, one thing was certain: The Balloon Meeting at Tegernsee is and will always be one of the absolute highlights of our ballooning year! =)

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