The sun has barely begun to rise over the top of the trees Saturday morning. The skies are clear and the wind is light.

It is a perfect day for a hot air balloon competition, or so at least Dale Dommer, a hot air balloon pilot from Ottumwa, said.

“I’ve only flown in rain once,” said Dommer. “It’s the only time I would [ever] like to fly in the rain.”

Dommer, 30, was one of around 40 balloonists competing in the Summer Breeze balloon race last weekend in Ames, a fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Club of Story County.

At 5:30 a.m., pilots of the competing hot air balloons gather outside of the Boys and Girls Club, 210 S. 5th St. They watch intently as a black balloon is launched from the field.

The purpose of the black balloon is to see which way the wind is going, said Holly Hensley, 32, one of Dommer’s crew members.

As the black balloon travels off to the southeast, the pilots huddle together, inspecting large bright white maps to see where they should take off.

The pilots are wished good luck by an announcer and they rush off to their balloons.

Dommer, who has been ballooning for 11 years, locates Hensley, of Ottumwa, and the rest of his crew. They take off in a black Blazer with a wooden trailer attached to the back.

The trailer is filled with the necessities: The basket and the balloon. The gate of the trailer includes the name of the crew, Hocus Pocus, and a sign reading “Frequent Indecisions.”

After discussing take-off locations with a couple of pilots, Dommer jumps into the driver’s seat of the Blazer.

“What we have this morning is an impossible task,” he said to Hensley.

Dommer explains the goal of the morning competition. The first target is the field by the Boys and Girls Club. The goal is to drop the yellow bag on the “X”, Dommer said, and the orange bag on the triangle.

At the next target, the Ames Municipal Airport, 2508 Airport Dr., the goal is to drop the remaining yellow bag on the target, Dommer said.

All of the pilots head toward an area in East Ames around 13th Street.

The balloons have to take off two and a half miles from the first target, Hensley said.

While driving, Dommer and Hensley comment on some of the competing balloons. They mention the “butt-ugly balloon,” but never point it out specifically. They pass a crew who has their basket upright and burner going, but the balloon is still on the ground.

“If you put your balloon up above that fire you’ll get a better lift,” Dommer joked.

Before deciding where to inflate their balloon, Dommer and Hensley watch some of the other balloons take off. They note that the balloons are shooting almost straight up and are pushed in on one side.

“They’re all coming out hot,” Dommer said. “They know they got to get up there if they want to get the turn right.”

The turn Dommer is referring to is the height where the wind would carry the balloon off in the southeast direction toward the Boys and Girls Club.

After driving around for over 15 minutes and visiting a couple of sites not worthy of inflation, Dommer and his crew unload in a park next to a balloon of red, black and silver color.

The crew, comprising six people including Dommer, pulls the back gate off the trailer and starts to unload. They haul out a large, barrel-sized blue bag and remove a colorful balloon — purple, orange, yellow, black, red and more — from it.

As Dommer and his crew lay out their balloon and attach their sponsor’s banner, radio station KASI 1430, the red, black and silver balloon next to their balloon begins to deflate. The balloon, from Screwball Balloons, falls back to the grass.

Dommer said they had a leak.

Dommer, now dripping with sweat, tears off his Old Navy Trademark sweatshirt and begins heating the air in his balloon.

At 6:36 a.m. Dommer’s balloon lifts off the ground, soaring into the sky as other balloons have already done. Unlike the other balloons, however, Dommer’s balloon holds its shape.

In less than 15 minutes Dommer lands his balloon in a field at the Ames Municipal Airport.

“They usually last longer than that,” Hensley said, commenting on the quicker-than-usual trip.

Hensley drives the Blazer out to meet Dommer, taking different runways to get to the balloon.

“They need to mark these runways a little better for the next time I drive on a runway,” Hensley said.

Hensley learns when she meets up with Dommer that he hit both targets and had good scores on both. Hensley said she thought Dommer completely missed the first target.

Hensley also discovered the balloon’s advertisement, which started to come off during flight, was put on upside down and the wrong-side out.

“That’s classic,” Dommer said.

Dommer and the Hocus Pocus crew competed again Saturday evening and Sunday morning. Overall, they placed 11th out of 40.

Dommer was in good spirits after his competition Saturday.

“My favorite comment to make in a balloon when you get up to tree level is ‘uh-oh’,” Dommer said.