image: Belfast Telegraph
Eighty-two hot-air balloonists launched from England on Friday morning and flew 26 miles across the English Channel to land in France, in an attempt to set a new Guinness world record. The previous record was 49, set in 2011. Steve Mabbutt, one of the organizers of the effort, said, “Everybody is absolutely delighted,” according to the UK Telegraph.”It’s a large number of balloons on a beautiful day, it was incident-free and, to be honest, we couldn’t have asked for more. It all went to clockwork. The pleasure it brings a lot of people is fantastic — it’s a very unusual thing to see.”
The first balloons launched about 6 a.m. on Friday from Dover and landed safely in Calais about three hours later. Guinness officials said paperwork that should have been completed prior to the attempt was never received, but they will work with the organizers to try to verify and certify the record.
