World Record-Setting Aviator to Speak at Anacapa
Julian Nott will share his exciting and daring adventures as a balloonist

Julian Nott worked with NASA in 2007 to observe meteors associated with Comet Kiess’ close encounter with Earth. (NASA photo)
December 5, 2013 — Santa Barbara, Calif.
Julian Nott, considered to be one of the founders of the modern ballooning movement, will share his exciting and daring adventures in the skies at Anacapa School’s Breakfast Club assembly on Wednesday, December 11 between 7:50 and 8:30 a.m.
Nott has broken 79 world ballooning records including piloting the first balloon crossings of the Sahara Desert, Australia and the Alps as well as the world’s first crossing of the English Channel by a solar balloon.
Nott’s adventures will be of particular interest to the members of the Anacapa Near Space Exploration Club (ANSEC) at Anacapa School (www.anacapaschool.org/ansec). The club has designed and built two near space balloons which have returned stunning still images, video and atmospheric data from altitudes as high as 111,814 feet above the California Central Coast.
“Julian is an incredible inspiration to our students,” said Levi C. Maaia, faculty adviser to ANSEC. “I’m as honored to have him share his stories as I am to know that he has been following our students’ own achievements over the years.”
Anacapa hosts dozens of expert guest presenters each year. Prospective parents who are interested in Anacapa School for their students are welcome to attend this free event to see a Breakfast Club in action.
Nott (www.nott.com) is the first balloonist ever to receive the Gold Medal of the Royal Aero Club, previously awarded to only 34 luminaries such as the Wright Brothers, C.S. Rolls (founder of Rolls Royce Motors) and Neil Armstrong. He has received numerous other awards including the FAI Montgolfier Diploma, the highest international award for ballooning, and a Rolex Award for Enterprise.
Anacapa School is an independent, co-educational, WASC–accredited, college preparatory day school for junior high and high school students in grades 7-12. Founded in 1981 by headmaster Gordon Sichi, Anacapa enjoys the best student-teacher ratio of any school, public or private, in Santa Barbara at its historic campus located in the heart of the Santa Barbara civic center.
Media Contact:
Levi C. Maaia
805-604-5384 • levi@anacapaschool.org
www.anacapaschool.org • facebook.com/anacapaschool