2011 Australian Championship
Mullumbimby's Thomas Dattler has claimed the 17th Australian Hot Air Ballooning Championship held in Canowindra, central western NSW, from April 9th to the 16th. Dattler, a German native who has been living in the shire for the past 16 years, was the man to beat since the first day of competition in the weeklong challenge. Starting with an excellent second place just a few points behind multi Australian Champion Paul Gibbs in fact, Thomas never fell off the top 3 positions for the entire duration of the event. Nailing two nearly impeccable flights in the challenging weather conditions during the last day of competition, Dattler clearly saved his best for last to oust the field of 23 competitors starring some of the biggest names in Australia's Ballooning plus few European pilots. Also of note is the fact that Dattler had never participated in a ballooning competition before, and entered the Canowindra Challenge as an absolute rookie.
The competition format is based on accuracy, where the pilots are given different tasks they have to achieve during each flight. Tasks include multiple marker drops over designated targets on the ground, the most points being awarded to the pilot whose marker falls nearest to the target. Using only the wind variations at different heights to gain some steerage, strategic and navigational skills become crucial as the pilots have to plan carefully their flights according to the wind speed and direction, for example by picking the right take off spot and avoid the designated no-fly areas. Thomas, who's also an accomplished glider pilot and sailor, admits that flying hot air balloons over the Byron Shire skies for the past six years has been the key to his success in the Championship, as he felt more at ease than most in the ever changing weather conditions in Canowindra.
The Byron Bay Ballooning Team also consisted of ground crew members Lui Monacelli and Emiliano Cataldi, also from Byron Bay, who provided Thomas with an important support on the ground.
During the presentation Dattler was awarded a beautiful hand crafted wooden trophy engraved with the names of the past champions since the inception of the Titles. Thomas has now two year's time to have his own name engraved on the trophy before the next Australian Championship.
Thanks to the victory, Thomas Dattler and the Byron Bay Ballooning team have now been invited to represent Australia at next year's World Championship that will be held in the USA.