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Final Results published after debriefing all teams

07.09.2009 09:00 loc (monday): Bulletin The Coupe continues to deliver very challenging stories. Yesterday (sunday) four balloons had landed safely: GER2, GER1, FRA and GER3. During the early hours last night team GBR 1 had concluded its flight in the NE of Spain. We very closely monitored the teams AUT, FIN and BEL who are just north of Algeria.... Read more ....

Team GBR1 landed safely at 01:40 (Monday)  Pilots David Hempleman-Adam and Simon Carey landed safely in the NE of Spain. The retrieve crew was on site when the balloon landed. All is safe and clear. 11 ballons are still flying, all over the Mediterranean Sea. The Belgian team is working hard to find a way out… ore must we say A WAY IN! ... Read more ....

Our team goes for another night in the air, they have no choice as they’re still over water, heading for Africa. Let’s hope winds turn towards (friendly) land. Tomorrow morning things will become clear. Ronny and Luc remain calm and concentrated and the balloon still works well. The teams on the ground are sitting nearly 24/24 behind the... Read more ....

The three balloons (AUT, BEL, FIN) are approaching the North of Africa. Landfall could be within 5 hours if the current altitude is maintained. Another option is to fly very low and benefit from an easterly aircurrent. Forecast is for increasing winds between Sierra Nevada (Spain) and Atlas (Africa). Remark: Africa is defined as “outside the... Read more ....

The French pilots Thierry Villey-Desmeserets and Benoît Pelard confirmed their landing on the foothills of the Pyrenees, near Perpignan, after almost 18 hours flight-time and 480 km distance. Bepperl Höhl and Georg Sellmaier reached Sardinia, landing was confirmed some time ago. The German team reached the Italian island of Sardinia just before... Read more ....

GER1 (Eimers / Seel) and GER2 (Hora / Löschhorn) landed safely on the island of Menorca. Did they make the right decision? We’ll see later on …

As the balloon passed nearby Menorca (between Spain and Sardinia in the Mediterranean Sea) we had some contacts with the pilots via GSM. Contacts where very positive and pilots BEL1 wanted to know the positions of the other teams and if all the balloons were over the sea. Also they asked different opinions about strategy, directions, winds, etc.... Read more ....

Everything OK with balloon and pilots BEL1, they urgently need a reload for their iridium telephone, as it is the only way to contact meteo and crew from above the sea. And they need a lot of information at this moment. Chasing crew also on their way, heading for… that’s the question!  This is an exciting race!

Thierry Villey-Desmeserets and Benoît Pelard are working very hard fighting the sea. They want solid ground beneath their feet… but it looks like they will lose the battle!

The leaders at this early point in the Gordon Bennett are Gerald Stürzlinger and Nikolaus Binder, close by followed by Ronny Van Havere and Luc Van Geyte, who at this writing are about 480 km out of Geneva. All balloons are still flying and they are moving pretty quickly. Some of the teams are over the Mediterranean now heading for Africa (off... Read more ....