President's Welcome
Since 1969 the Edinburgh University Hot Air Balloon Club has provided a unique, rewarding and inclusive sport for students and staff at Edinburgh University. I hope you enjoy our website – be sure to check out our photos and see what events we have coming up. Even more so, I hope you’ll be inspired to come along to our meetings and go flying.
Here’s five reasons you should join the club:
Taking off at dawn
1. Ballooning ought to be in everyone’s top 10 things to do in a lifetime. The air seems blissfully still – whether gently drifting over treetops or flying a mile high – as you travel at the same speed as the wind. With 360° panoramic views, you’ll see the world in a whole new way. Quite simply, it’s an experience you’ll never forget.
2. We’re cheap. The club offers the cheapest way of getting into the air when compared to other aviation Clubs. Ballooning commercially now costs upwards of £200 per flight. We offer the same opportunity at a fraction of the cost – £40 for your first flight, £10 thereafter. What a bargain!
3. No sporting ability is required, except teamwork. Fed up of unfriendly competitive sports? Ruthless coaches sucking the fun out of things, demanding you train in the wind and rain? We’re always friendly and only fly when it’s sunny, calm and dry!
4. It’s not just flying. The heady waft of propane at dawn, the romance of driving and navigating our classic Land Rover through the twist and turns of country roads, the champagne on landing, keeping on top of paperwork – it’s all part of the fun and looks good on the old cv.
5. We’re a very social society. In the last year we’ve organised a ceilidh, ran a pool competition for club members, had our own pub quiz, gone to comedy clubs, the cinema & iceskating, had barbeques, competed in EUSU netball, indoor football & curling ‘Sundays of sport’ (we were pants), drank ourselves silly on several pub crawls, competed in a treasure hunt around Edinburgh (we won £100) and hosted Edinburgh University’s best Black-tie Burn’s supper in the Playfair library.
Al on his first mile high flight
We love it, and I’m sure you will too.
Alastair Leggate
EUHABC President
s0236404@sms.ed.ac.uk
