Ferry To Ireland

A few weeks before the Bristol International Bristol Fiesta, I found out I was going to be attending the first Northern Ireland balloon festival in Lisburn with the cash4cars balloon team. The event was held in Moria Demesne, Lisburn on the 27^th – 29^thAugust 2011 and it was a long drive to Holyhead ferry port in north Wales. We arrived on time for the two o’clock ferry departure and the ferry crossing took around three and a half hours. There were many balloonists on board the ferry; in fact possibly half the balloons that were attending the event were on the same ferry!

The Ferry arrived into Dublin port and the final stretch of the journey began. We arrived at our accommodation which was only 5 minutes away from the event site after yet another long drive. The B&B was very nice and we all found that the Irish are very friendly and welcoming. We settled in and headed straight for the pub for a pint of the black stuff before the busy day ahead of us!  Now what puzzled us was the event started on Saturday – Monday. Luckily we decided to read the program and found out there was no flying on the Saturday morning. Thankfully that meant a lie in! Unfortunately the weather looked a blow out for the whole weekend!

Balloon Tethering

Saturday arrived with a lovely breakfast. After some time we set off to the site which we had not yet seen and went straight for refuelling as we had to have empty tanks for the ferry crossing. We were one of the first there so it was a quick and easy refuel!  We then drove the trailer onto the launch field with the others and parked up. The launch site itself was small but large enough to launch 30 balloons. We headed for briefing at 1:00pm and as it was blowing a gale it was decided that we would all do public interactions with the baskets.  We set up the rig and began to show the public how balloons work. This was good fun and gives the public a chance to see what everything is about and to ask questions. The Palletways balloon team decided to tether in very windy conditions, but as they were the main event sponsor it was kind of expected of them. They started cold inflating and the wind knocked the envelope around in every possible direction! They managed to get control and started to add some heat. The balloon began to rise and before you knew it they deflated and the balloon was flat on the ground again. Lessons learnt!

Once the public interaction was finished we could pack up and eat some free grub from the burger van!  Sadly this did not do one of our team any good and was very ill! Briefing came round again and surprisingly it was a YES for flying! We all looked out at the trees and thought this could be interesting!  We all drove onto the launch field and rigged up and laid out. It was still blowing a gale but that didn’t stop some! The sound of fans coming from the front of the arena and two balloons attempted to inflate and of course, one of them was Palletways. The two balloons managed to inflate ok and before you knew it Palletways was off the ground! They took off with huge pendulum and shot over the trees.

Basket Glowing

A few minutes later they sent a radio message back and said 26kt take off! We took the sensible option not too go but about 6 other balloons started inflating! They all took off with massive pendulum and shot off over the trees. We packed up and decided to head for the pub! A total of 8 balloons took flight.  We arrived back in time to help out at the windy night glow! Surprisingly 7 balloons managed to inflate and glow without any problems! It looked great and the crowds of up to 3000 people enjoyed it and cheered.

Sunday morning was called off because of wind so it was another lie in for us! We got up and headed for the 1:00pm briefing. It was the same old story and had to do public interactions again. There was something different about Sunday as a new voice took over on the PA system, Phil McCheyne (a Bristol balloonist) opted to be the new commentator the rest of the weekend because it was decided he knew a lot more about balloons than the other guy!! Along came the evening briefing and it was decided that no flying would take place. Luckily they decided it was to be a basket glow for the Sunday night glow. Our team along with 30 others took part! The sun set and two balloons decided to inflate and do envelope glows whilst the rest of us just did baskets. I was lucky enough to be on the burner and had great fun burning to music and yet again the crowds loved it! The glow finished and we packed up and got told Monday morning had been called off! This meant another lie in which was great!

We had a lovely breakfast at a cafe in Moria before the 1:00pm briefing on Monday. We arrived at the briefing and got told it was too windy for tethering so public interactions it was again. We all got told that the last launch may be possible so we all had our fingers crossed hoping for a launch in the evening, although it wasn’t

More Tethering

looking good. We finished public interactions and packed up the rig. It was time for some free grub before briefing! Along came briefing, it was given a YES for the final evening and we all looked at the trees again and thought different matters. The first balloon to start inflating was Irish balloon flights. On board were around 10 passengers being bashed around as the balloon struggles to take off. Finally the balloon takes too the skies with maximum pendulum and shoots off over the trees. We saw this and decided it was a no for flying.

The next balloons started to inflate and this time Lisburn could see its first special shape! Slick the dragon appeared and stayed tethered for the crowed to enjoy! It was great to see the first shape up and it was one of three shapes attending the event. Did we see anymore? Yes we did! Blue square started too inflated and tethered for the crowds. The crowds love the shapes! It wasn’t before long a freak gust of wind battled the shapes to the ground and they were both flat on the floor. 30 minutes of tethering wasn’t too bad for the conditions. Piers another Bristol balloonist managed to inflate his balloon and shot off at a great speed!  Many teams at this point started to purge their tanks for the ferry journey home. Our tanks were empty so we could head straight for the pub for some more of the black stuff!

The event was very well organised by the Lisburn council, this kind of event is very unique to Northern Ireland because they don’t see any balloons! Our thanks went to the organisers and we will be back again next year, I recommend this event to any balloonist out there!

My thanks go to Clive Wiltshire, Matt Wiltshire, Phil Mccheyne and Guy Mccheyne!

Photos and report © Alfie Jobbins