Pacific balloon flight

[foxmoth]

Historic balloon flight ends off Mexican coast

They were initially going for Canada then changed to Mexico - Anyone know why they seemed to avoid a landing in the USA?

[Windy Militant]

Like it says at the bottom they hit a wall of High pressure and had to head South.
Have a look at the pressure charts for that time. Ballooons have to go where the wind takes them.

[evansb]

Their adventure ended just after sunrise Saturday when they touched down in the water a few miles off the coast of Mexico's Baja Peninsula, and about 300 miles north of the popular beach destination of Cabo San Lucas.

[foxmoth]

Ballooons have to go where the wind takes them.

Whilst this is true, they have influence on this, wind direction changes with height so you control direction to an extent by climbing or descending.