“Passion within your soul is the flame that will light your way.”
December 5, 2025Europe in Winter 2026
February 15, 2026
Forty years ago I flew at the Chateau d Oex annual ballooning festival. January 1986 my first time flying on and in snow. I loved every minute of such a challenge as no ballooning in snowy conditions existed in Australia at that time.
As January 2026 unfolds I will find myself in the same situation, ballooning in Chateau d Oex. Excitement at this anniversary ballooning experience dances through my veins.
A reunion with Shawn Mackinga who saved my life in 1989 when the marlin fishing boat we were on was picked up by a 7 meter wave and split in two. I sit here today typing this story because Shawn kept both of us afloat and alive in a cold wild ocean, without life jackets, for nearly two hours. As my life force drained to almost zero, a pod of dolphins surrounded us dancing in a circle. The rescuers searching for us saw the dolphins and sped over, lifting us from choppy waters. Shawn moved to Switzerland to fly balloon commercially around Zurich. Now we shall spend time together in Zurich and Chateau d Oex.
The Tièche family are well known Chateau d Oex locals. It’s my privilege to spend time with them once more. I met Nicolas, an accomplished and popular hot air and gas balloonists when we both competed in the 2018 prestigious Gordon Bennett Gas Balloon Race from Bern Switzerland. Nicolas will be flying at this amazing event. Laurent Sciboz and Nicolas won the 2019 Gordon Bennett Race with a distance of 1774.76km over 82.03hrs airborne. True air warriors! The Tièche matriarch, Yvonne, is sharing her home with me while her granddaughter Léa will visit so we can reunite also.
Check out https://www.festivaldeballons.ch/en.
And watch my future blog for spectacular ballooning images at this event in the Swiss Alps.
More ballooning adventure stories in my memoir #ConqueringClouds.