Competition Ballooning – Hare and Hounds
The rule (or information) for this task is set out in Chapter 15 of the Event Rules
The Hare and Hounds or as it used to be named in the USA, the Fox and Hounds, is a relatively simple task where all you have to do is follow a balloon that launches before you and then drop your marker on the target upwind of the balloon once it has landed. As it is simple it is not often used. The most common time this task is now set is when the winds are light with no predictable direction in an evening flight. Occasionally a double Hare and Hounds will be set where the hare balloon touches down after the first set time, some of the crew disembark with one target which is then displayed while the hare balloon takes off again and flies on for the second part.
Though in the natural world the hare will do all in its power to escape the following hounds this is not the case in this task. The pilot of the hare balloon will try to ensure that most competitors will pass over the hare once landed; otherwise it becomes a wasted task. I have seen a hare balloon take off and then find that when all the following balloons launch they head of in a different direction; the hare pilot then tried all in his power to get somewhere in front of the pack again.
One of the most important decisions in this task is when to take off after the hare balloon. On many occasions balloons have taken off too close after the hare to find themselves overtaking the hare. This happened to me on my first practice Hare and Hounds and I then tried to drop my marker on the crown of the flying hare as I passed over it so that it would be somewhere close to the basket when he landed. Unfortunately, though close to the crown ring, it slipped off so no score for me. As a rule of thumb 10 minutes is often ideal. It gives you time to manoeuvre your balloon when the hare has landed but you are not too far away if the winds should change or drop off preventing you from reaching the target within the scoring time. If the winds should allow the hare balloon to get ahead of you by some way it is useful to instruct your ground crew to follow the hare so that they can pin point the landing. They can then radio up to you the coordinates so that you have a point to aim for on your map. This is also useful in murky conditions or you when you are flying into the sun where it may be difficult to identify the hare balloon amongst the other balloons in front of you.
My most memorable Hare and Hounds task was in the earlier days. At the Europeans in the Ardennes area of Luxembourg in 1982 John Coleman, who had been attending the fiesta part, was asked by the competition director to pilot the hare balloon. He took off in a fairly brisk evening wind and promptly dropped down into a steep sided valley a few kilometres further on. Some of the more skilful pilots in the early balloons managed to drop down next to him. This included most of the British team so there were rumours afterwards that we had been briefed as to what John would do. All these early balloons hovered next to the hare just above the main railway line as the 6.15 to Luxembourg City passing just underneath; it was a really wonderful site. After about 20 minutes John flew on to land in the valley on the opposite side. However there were enough complaints from pilots that they could not drop down into the valley due to the number of balloons already there that the task was eventually cancelled. A sequel to this was that I was asked by the Spanish at the end of the event if I would like to come down to act as hare at their Festival La Mercè in September. I think that they wanted me to act similarly and dive down between the tall tower blocks of Barcelona but sadly the weekend proved much too windy.
The task went out of fashion as it was felt difficult to combine it with other tasks. Now, with the increasing skill of pilots, it is often added onto a couple of previous tasks as it can give the competition director an added target in an area where there may be no suitable ground features to set one. This tests the skill of the hare pilot as he has to try and pass over the other set targets to give all competitors a chance at all tasks. A brilliant example of this was in the Europeans in Magdeburg in 2007. The tasks that evening were a JDG followed by a Hare and Hounds. The JDG seemed to be difficult to get to with the winds shown by our piballs. Dominic Haggeney took off in a special shape, flew quite high, came down straight over the JDG and then flew on for another 20 minutes to lay out the target for the Hare and Hounds. About 90% of the competitors tried to follow suite but came down too late and missed the JDG by some distance.
Hare and Hounds, Luxembourg 2000 by David Bareford
Balloons jostling on their approach to the hare – Europeans, Magdeburg 2007 By Karin Bareford
Just after having past over the hare – Europeans, Magdeburg 2007 by David Bareford
Written by David Bareford
