Mondays are for staying in bed and assessing the possible outcomes of Tuesday. Its much safer to stay there under the blankets.. keeping all extremities hidden with only eyes and nose showing. This is probably the more secure way to see bad things coming. Truly it wasn't that bad but it started out bad.. or at least strange dreams made it more than questionable to get out on the road and work the 13 miles South East.
Onward!!! As its Black Magic Diamonds night as Jane came up with that awesome title.. I will add some more neato shots from Sunday.
I know.. I know.. I said I would load some shots of parts and equipment to show you how different balloon makers do their thing.. I will... hang on a bit.... Okay.. NOW!
Normally you would never see this set up stance. Unless it is totally calm out. It was breezy out but it worked. BMW and Diamonds being very familiar.
Drawing out the fabric by finding and holding the load tapes only and slowly drawing it outward. Loved the glow near Lori's legs.... Like it was on fire inside already. Sorry I cut Lori and Shelly's heads off.. my bad..
Checking the top out before hot inflation. Crown line off to the left. This is a big balloon.
Kurt hot inflates Enchanted Diamonds. The flame mostly goes upward but there are times when it will whip back and touch you. No trouble as it is a rare thing and very quick.
Black Magic Woman standing up and showing colors. They are bright. You can see the dust on her where the envelope was laying in the dust... hard not to do here in New Mexico.
Cool huh.. Now here are the equipment bits... with explanations...
Diamonds crew draw out the envelope. She is 77,000 cubic feet and red red red....
Black Magic Woman's crew draw her out.. it takes four ( hah ) because she is 105,000 cubic feet. Very heavy but a lot more lifting power even when its warm out.
Teather snap shackle quick release which holds down the balloon / connecting between it and a vehicle. It has a pin to release it if the winds are trying to make you take off early. ( false lift is a problem ) Ask me about it sometime.
Same thing on BMW but a more robust version with a safety pin added.
Crown ring for Diamonds is a small round doughnut with the top of the load tapes sewn around it. 12 gore I believe ( gore being the bulging fabric between load tapes.. sometime very bulgy and sometimes not ).
BMW crown ring is much larger.. flattened ring with many more load tapes as she is a 24 gore envelope.
Balloon envelopes in their raw are a basket of load tapes or a cage of load tapes that the fabric is sewn to to create a whole sealed envelope... see.. envelope! Super strong and very over engineered.
So each are different.. Diamonds is an Aerostar and Black Magic Woman is a Cameron. So many different ways of doing the same thing.. just don't get me started on Pop A Tops.... A whole different animal!
So if we were to look at a whole balloon system you would see from bottom to top...
Vehicle / tether to balloon burner frame via the quick release ( snap shackle ) / basket / uprights / burner frame / envelope carabiners or blocks / lines to throat / envelope / crown / crown line.
You need a fan to cold inflate unless you like flapping the envelope throat to get air in her.
Inside the basket are fuel tanks holding anywhere from 20 to 60+ gallons of propane, drop line, fire extinguisher, instruments, radios, burners, upright poles, covers and documents and such....
I can take shots of that and show you my Lindstrand set up which is very close to a Cameron setup... minor differences...
Okay.. thats a lot for tonight... Here is my facebook banner for the day and logo... I have been holding this one for a while but its good for tonight....
Roadrunners are so very less colorful but seriously fast... We wonder about the tongues though.
Hehehehe.... Hope you enjoyed it all.
