2009 was my first experience of the Bristol Balloon Fiesta, an event I had planned to visit for many years. With the promise of fine weather on the Saturday, my girlfriend, Diana, and I decided we would finally give it a go. I remember at the time being told by several of my friends who are seasoned Fiesta attendees that we had been very lucky with the weather; they weren't wrong……
After the success of the 2009 event, this year's Bristol Balloon Fiesta was being billed as the biggest ever. Over 150 Balloons had registered to take part in the event that was now in its 32nd year, and half a million visitors were expected to visit the Ashton Court spectacle over the four days. The 2010 running would not only celebrate 50 years of modern ballooning but also the 100 years of south west aviation. All the signs were looking very good; all we needed now were clear, calm skies.
For the past five months, I have been working at Staverton Airport in Gloucestershire, so as I was already nearly there I decided that I would cover as much of the 2010 event as I could. The biggest issue being, as the weekend drew closer, the weather forecast seemed to deteriorate by the day with the outlook not looking so clever. With that in mind, on the Thursday evening, after finishing work, I decided to travel down to Ashton Court to meet up with Paul for the 'special shapes' launch and night glow events that would mark the opening of this year's event. After meeting up in the arena it soon became apparent that the special shapes would be restricted to tethering only as the winds were gusting over 20 knots - way above limits for normal balloons, let alone, special shaped ones that require even calmer conditions to fly.
Tethering balloons in gusty conditions vastly increases the hours on the envelopes due to the strain of the buffeting winds. This resulted in just a few of the special shapes being inflated. Old favourites such as the Churchill Dog, Jaguar XK8 car and the Monster.com balloon, along with a couple of first timers including the Rowntrees Randoms Gnome, Palletways Slick the Dragon, and a balloon I had really been looking forward to seeing, the massive Lindstrand manufactured George White Superbike, complete with rider. This huge balloon is made up from around five and a half thousand unique parts, and is one of the largest special shape balloons ever made. A handful of passenger flights were due to take place on the Thursday evening but sadly, due to the high winds, these were also cancelled; a theme that was to become all too familiar over the four days of the event.
After steak and ale pie, mash, minty peas and gravy in a box in the pilots' marquee, it was time to set ourselves up for the main event of the evening; the ever popular night glow. Around 30 balloons had been set up around the arena, so we positioned ourselves in the middle to try and shoot as many as possible, moving around the site throughout the glow. Thursday evening's night glow was sponsored by HSBC and as a result, their sponsored balloon was tethered a few feet off the ground in the centre of the arena for maximum exposure. The sight of a mass of balloons lighting up the night sky and synchronising their burners to music is a fantastic sight. It's easy to understand why the night glows are the most popular events at the Fiesta, especially amongst the younger members of the crowd. Things had got off to an excellent start.
After the long climb back up the hill to the car, Paul and I parted company hoping that the forecast weather would improve, allowing at least some of the remaining six planned ascents to take place over the course of the next three days. Paul would be returning the following morning for his press flight whilst I would not be able to get back until Friday evening and the rest of the weekend.
Sat at work on Friday, the tales of woe on the radio weather forecasts did little to improve the outlook for the planned ascents over the next three days. The Friday morning lift went ahead and managed to launch just over 80 balloons into the Bristol skies. However, as I finished work for the day it was obvious that Friday evening's ascent would succumb to the high winds and rain that had moved in throughout the day. So Diana and I went to the pub for steak and a pint, then back to the B&B in preparation for the next morning's early start.
My alarm went off just before 5am on Saturday morning and, after a quick look at the forecast on the TV and a quick check out of the window confirming the TV forecast, I climbed back into bed, safe in the knowledge that Saturday morning's ascent was not going to happen. To say things were not looking good was an understatement, and the rain kept coming down torrentially for most of the day.
We headed back to Bristol for the evening launch as the forecast seemed to improve. I decided to give Bedminster Down, a few miles away from Ashton Court, a look, to try and vary the angles, as the winds meant the balloons would head that way. The plan was to shoot the first few taking off from the arena in the distance, then drive to the nearby landing sites to try and get some unusual shots. There were quite a few people at Bedminster waiting for the evening launch, a quick scan of the arena made for painful viewing. We were fast approaching the 6:30pm launch time and no balloons were being prepared. Needless to say the website soon updated and confirmed that Saturday evening's lift was also cancelled due to high winds and rain. Although we were sitting in seemingly calm and sunny conditions, 20 minutes later it started raining again so the decision to cancel was spot on.
However, Saturday evening's night glow did go ahead as planned, but as I had already done the Thursday evening one, and knowing how difficult getting out of Ashton Court after the Saturday night glow can be, we decided to head back to the B&B ready for another early start on Sunday morning.
Sunday morning seemed to be a much better prospect; the ground was dry and there seemed to be a calmer wind. However, driving along the M5, the constant mist hanging over the countryside did little to encourage me that we would be rewarded with a lift this morning. Needless to say, no sooner had we arrived back up Bedminster Down around 6am, the website updated, and the morning's lift had also been cancelled. I decided to head back to the B&B but not before having a quick look in at the airport. It's been many years since I last visited Lulsgate, but I think it won't be too long before I make a return visit as the photo opportunities show great potential.
After another afternoon of non aviation stuff, we headed back to Bedminster Down, to shoot the Red Arrows. Shooting their display from inside Ashton Court is difficult to say the least, not helped by the fact that you are facing into the sun; so I decided to try the Down not only for different angles, but because the sun would be behind me there. The traffic around Bedminster was chaotic and I ended up having to abandon the car as the Reds had already started their display, but I had little success photographically.
After they had finished we made our way back to Ashton Court, parked outside and walked in with no problems. We made it to the far side of the arena with the sun on our backs in plenty of time for the evening launch. The crowds had built up throughout the day in anticipation of finally seeing a weekend ascent. Typically in the two hours before the lift, the weather was superb, but no sooner had it started, the clouds came rolling in to make photography much more of a challenge in the fading light. As the first balloons made their way into the skies, the crowds let out a cheer, encouraged by the commentator, this continuing with each balloon that ventured skyward. The Sunday evening launch is always on a smaller scale to the previous lifts throughout the weekend and just over 50 balloons managed to ascend into the Bristol skies, with the higher flying balloons heading over the top of the 27 approach into Bristol Lulsgate, whilst lower flying balloons headed out towards Bedminster Down.
This year's event was badly let down by the weather. High winds and rain caused the cancellation of five of the seven planned ascents over the four day period of the fiesta. The event itself was still a success, attracting large crowds throughout the four days. Sadly only around 130 envelopes in total made it into the skies during this year's fiesta; significantly less than the single ascent of 150 that had been hoped for. One thing is for sure, next year the balloon teams will be back, the crowds will be back, I will probably be back. Lets hope the calm and clear skies make a return for the 2011 event.
I always look forward to the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta and even more so when I don't have to worry about flying or being part of a retrieve crew. I met up with John on the Thursday for the special shapes and night glow and, as he has already said, the wind just wouldn't drop out enough for the special shapes to fly. The weather was a large part of our discussion during the evening as we both needed it to be good for our return visits to the Fiesta. I was booked to fly as a passenger on Friday morning in the first mass ascent, and I'm sure I checked the weather forecasts even more than if I was actually going to be flying the balloon!
I arrived back at the Fiesta at 5.30am; the promised nice, sunny weather hadn't appeared. The remnants of a weather front were still moving through and the wind was rather keen in helping to move it along. I had been allocated to fly in the Kew Technik balloon; now finding a balloon when its inflated is easy but amongst the 80 or so others that were laid out in various states is far trickier! Luckily every balloon had been allocated a take off spot in the launch arena so it was reasonably easy to find. I met pilot and MD of Kew Technik, Richard Penny, and some of his first words were, "its going to be quick," - relating to the wind speed - and this was suitably demonstrated by the first balloons that took off and were blown in to the distance.
The ground crew soon had the balloon cold inflated and Richard was on the burners keeping an eye on other balloons that were taking off. With the balloon on its feet the breeze was blowing the envelope around so Richard straight away asked for the other two passengers and I to get in the basket to aid with weight to keep the basket on the floor. Our take off spot was close to the sponsors' marquee, so, to avoid a close up visit when the balloon was released, Richard got the balloon buoyant with plenty of heat going in. A "you're clear" call from the ground crew and Richard pulled the quick release and we went straight in to an immediate climb, easily clearing the marquee as the wind took hold of the balloon carrying us along at 15-18kts. Although the sun was not shining seeing 20 plus balloons ahead of us across Bristol and looking back to the arena with 60 balloons still inflating or taking off was a great sight. The visibility was excellent and looking out to the west you could see across the Severn Estuary with the two Severn Bridges and further across to much of South East Wales.
As we continued on the flight the wind dropped down to a more leisurely 5-8kts. Richard and I both thought the local geography of Ashton Court and the wind direction contributed to an increased wind speed at the launch arena. We could see in the distance that balloons were already landing at Hengrove Park, a favoured location in Bristol to land, and Richard said that's where we would be aiming for. At this stage in our flight the wind was much kinder and we were on the perfect course for landing.
Now landing at Hengrove Park does throw up the odd obstacle, in the form of two pairs of metal rugby posts! I have seen a balloon safely land only for the envelope to become attracted to the posts...! No such problems for Richard as we safely passed the first set of posts and touched down on the grass in the second half of the pitch. A big pull on the rip line to pull the parachute down to release the hot air and the basket slowly tipped over as the envelope fell to the ground. Richard let his crew know we were safely down and our location so they could pick us up, whilst we set about packing the envelope up. A total of 81 balloons took part in the ascent, one of only two to happen over the Fiesta weekend due to the weather.
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