On a windy day in February, crowds gathered for the Hot Air Balloon and Kite Festival at the South Florida Fairgrounds in West Palm Beach. They were there to see the sky fill with colorful ...

He grew up with a love of hot-air balloons, and since 2023 he’s been training to become a hot-air balloon pilot. Training requires learning technical skills and dozens of hours of flight time.

It's a pursuit that goes by different names. It's variously called skimming, splash'n'dash, or balloon sailing — where a hot air balloonist, with skill and experience, lands the balloon on water ...