By LINDA CALDWELL DAWN _AT 21,500 feet and the temperature was -19 degrees celsius. North Vancouver’s Teruo Kubota hovered in his hot-air balloon, Blue Sky, wearing a parachute and breathing through an oxygen mask while setting the Canadian record for highest altitude ever achieved in a hot air balloon. ‘July 26 of this year, at 5:20 a.m., it was still dark,”’ Kubota remembers. ‘‘! took off from Midland, Ontario, and at Orillia, I reached 21,500 feet.’’ Sixty-five hot-air balloonists were at the Ca- nadian Hot Air Balloon Championships in Barrie, Ontario, from July 22-27. Kubota’s flight time was two hours and 10 minutes. He reached his peak in one hour, but he drifted 100 km southeast on his way down. Although he was authoriz- ed to go up to 30,000 ft., when he reported in to the air control tower at Toronto International Airport, the first controller did not believe he was at 21,500 feet and called over another con- troller to witness the event. ‘*They couldn’t believe I was going up so _ high,’’ he laughs. During his descent, he plummeted at a speed of 300 metres per minute “‘like a kamakazie diver,’’ he says. Because of the speed of his descent, he disappeared from the radar screen. The ground crew and the CBC television crew also lost sight of him. ‘‘To find me, they called headquarters and then a local radio station because they thought | was missing,’’ Kubota explains. ‘‘When | landed, people told me a radio station was looking for me "’ He landed in a farmer's field, and people trom near by houses ran out in their pajamas, amazed at the sight of the exultant Kubota, celebrating his victorious flight with champagne in Blue Sky’s basket. (The ac- tual balloon is called an envelope and the passenger - carrying part is called a basket.) claims photo submitted TERUO KUBOTA was all smiles after he set a new altitude record for ballooning. Kubota calis himself a gas and hot-air balloonist’ He ts the only active gas balloonist in Canada, he says. All the others are hot-air balloonists. In addition to ballooning, he flies a single engine airplane, sky-dives and does special research on high altitude and long duration flights and helium balloon flying. ‘Ll take a lot of technology from NASA and I! work with the ministries of environ ment and transport and the department of national defense,’’ he explains. ‘‘We AMBLESIDE HOBBIES & CRAFTS 41425 Marine Dr. West Van 922-3512 open 6 days a week 9:30 -6 p.m. YOGA. 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It is not an inex informa BY Fridays ‘11.9 pom SP" bili Accept the Yoga Challenge and we'll give you results! MORNING & EVENING CLASSES FOR MEN & WOMEN OF ALI AGES Spectal Yoga For Over “Fifties” Course COURSES BEGIN SEPT. 10 Vre reyinter to reserve you spare ho persan on mall Handia Baba Yoga Training Centres 107 West let N. Van 985-3085 Al3 - Friday, August 24, 1984 - North Shore News pensive hobby, he points out: ‘‘High altitude, long duration flight costs a couple of million dollars per flight,’’ he says. ‘‘It costs $3,000 just to fill the envelope every time I fly.”’ Kubota began ballooning about 10 years ago in On- tario and the United States. He says it is not very popu- lar in B.C. because of the geography. He will attempt to set a world record for altitude within the next few months in Calgary, he says. That flight will require a specially-designed burner because he might go as high as 35,000 ft., and the air density at that altitude is so thin that air pressure is one- fourth what it is on the earth’s surface. The air temperature may be as low as -35 degrees celsius. ‘‘Ballooning is a very safe sport,’’ Kubota says. “*There’s never been a major accident in Canada.’’ Hot air balloons always have two Pre-season sale September 1-15 1845 Marine Drive West Vancouver lan man n height record burners in case one fails, he says, and he always wears a parachute and carries extra fuel. Sometime this fall, Kubota hopes to be able to tether his balloon in a park or maybe a playground and take children on little rides while it is still tethered, he says. He also hopes to be able to offer longer flights for adults later this year, possibly half a day long, which he will call ‘cham- pagne flights.’ ‘*Ballooning is dreamers and ambitious people, children and adults,’’ Kubota says. ‘‘It’s also in harmony with nature because we fly with the wind.’’ Record breaking is not his priority, he says. He is not interested in competition but in personal achievement. Anyone interested in ballooning should tune in to the CBC documentary special, featuring Kubota, which is scheduled for release later this month. for Our prices are going VILLAGE SKI SHOP 926-7547 CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING 986-6222 YEAR END SPECIAL Umbrolias, 2 chairs, base & drink tray 5 pc set West Van Furniture LEISURE LIVING. 1582 Marine Dr., W.V. 922-1204 fr