The Bristol man who flew up and away with 100 helium balloons

“I think anyone who’s ever held a party balloon has wondered how many would be needed to take off,” says Tom Morgan, a man who is well qualified to answer such a question.

The Bristol-based adventurer made national headlines when he soared 8,000 feet up into the sky above South Africa and flew for 15.5 miles strapped to nothing more than a camping chair suspended from 100 helium balloons.

Now back on land and busy preparing for his next adrenaline-fuelled experiment, Morgan reveals the stunt was all in preparation for the “world’s silliest air race,” which he hopes to organise for next summer.

The 38-year-old founded The Adventurists as an antidote to our ‘overly safe and sanitised’ society and has spent more than a decade injecting some fun into life with a series of events that push people to the limits and raise a load of money for charity along the way.

Reaching 8,000 feet up in the air above South Africa. Photo by Richard Brandon Cox

“We are hoping to organise another fund raising adventure – the world’s silliest air race – in Africa, but in the meantime, we wanted to try it out for ourselves,” he tells Bristol24/7.

Tom deflated after high winds scupper initial attempts in Botswana

In scenes reminiscent of the Pixar film ‘Up’, Morgan created quite a picture with his flight of multi-coloured balloons, but things didn’t go according to plan at first and attempts in Botswana had to be abandoned.

“We got the weather window really wrong and couldn’t do it because the balloons kept being destroyed by wind,” says Morgan, who moved the stunt to South Africa.

“It’s actually a pretty fantastic way to fly, you have quite a lot of control and it’s really silent. It was just the best.”

Kester Haynes, Tom Morgan and Buddy Munro of The Adventurists. Photo by Richard Brandon Cox.

Morgan’s daredevil career path began with the Mongol Rally – an epic 10,000 mile motoring adventure across all terrains and several countries, with no support or back-up, in a small, cheap car to raise money for charity.

“I started organising the Mongol Rally as a hobby out of my cupboard. It got big really quickly and was kind of taking over my life so I realised I had to do it properly or shut it down,” says Morgan.

“Now we do all sorts, including the world’s longest horse race – we change the horses along the way so they are always fine, but the riders suffer.

“My motivation is to keep doing things that make people happy. I think we live in an overly safe world, even adventures are often quite safe and regulated. This is the idea of adventure being a bit more feral and unknown.

“I was quite lucky – I travelled a lot when I was young and came to the realisation, often with the benefit of hindsight, that I enjoyed it more when things went wrong.”

There is still a lot of planning to do before a helium balloon air race becomes a reality, but there’s never a dull moment for the Adventurists, who will be testing another adventure before Christmas.

Tom heading towards 8000ft in South Africa, powered by party balloons

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