by Adam David Seeley

Created on: July 13, 2008   Last Updated: July 15, 2008

Remember when you were a child, walking through the zoo and seeing the clown selling balloons? Do you remember the ideas that came to mind when you seen those balloons? The idea of tethering a ton of helium balloons together and seeing if you could really take flight; that was an idea every child had, young or old.

Well you could make that childhood dream come true. They have called it "Cluster ballooning". Basically it's a cluster of large helium weather balloons, a little sand or water and it's all tethered to you. A crew of about twenty people will help fill the balloons and harness them to you. It takes about an hour just to get all the balloons attached to you and that in itself is a project. In the mean time you must be tethered to the ground so you don't take off to early. Once you get the ok to take off and the wind is right, the crew will un-tie you from the ground and releases you to the sky. The initial ascension is about 100 to 200 feet per minute, that's fairly fast and the physical feeling will drive you up the wall. Its both exhilarating and scary, once at your comfortable ceiling level you just float there letting the winds take you where they please.

Cluster ballooning is not for your average Joe. It takes skill and determination to make the balloons do what you want. To go higher you need to dump your ballast, which is usually sand or water. The more weight you drop the higher you go. However, you want to keep enough ballast to get you back to the ground as well. To descend you must cut balloons free until you are descending at the rate you would like. To slow your decent, you must dump a little ballast, not too much just enough to slow you down. The landing process can be hair curling, on a windy day the balloons could drag you. On nice days the landing should be smooth as ice. The process is a long and tedious one, however, the rewards are almost limitless. How many people can say they have flown with a cluster of balloons.

Tying a cluster of balloons to a chair and flying is unsafe, but, they have a special harness (deprived of a paragliding harness), that allows the balloons to pull the weight evenly and has a rear deployed parachute. Imagine soaring through the air a mile or two above the earth. It's just you and a colorful bouquet of balloons, floating leisurely and taking in the beautiful sights. If considering this amazing feat be sure to dress appropriately, it's a little cold at two miles. Imagine the feeling of passing through a puffy white cloud; be sure to grab a little, and then you can say you grabbed a little cloud.
IF you are interested in this amazing act, it may be hard to find a cluster balloonist to show you. There are very few cluster balloonists in the world. One such man is John Ninomiya, he is a professional hot air balloonist and also flies cluster balloons as well. He does air shows occasionally, and he is a sight to behold. This extreme sport is a few years off for many enthusiasts, but one day it may be possible to take a cluster balloon ride with someone else.

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