Wednesday 4 September 2013

Woohoo!

"I know I'll cry when I see them" I warned Paul, and I did!

 "Do you think they 'woohoo' when they do it?" I asked him. "I doubt it" he said.

"I'll 'woohoo' for them then." And I did. Did I care that I was surrounded  by 404,000 people? Nah,  I did it anyway, I woohoo'd until I was hoarse, with tears running down my cheeks!

Who were you woohooing for and blubbering about you might ask, well they'll be here in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
The one and only RED ARROWS!!!  I really love them and I do get emotional when I see them because you just don't see them every day do you?

At the weekend I was lucky enough to be at the FABULOUS 6th annual Bournemouth Airshow and I can't tell you how fantastic it was.
The Royal Navy, along with hundreds of pleasure boats formed a semi circle around the bay.
The sun was shining and there was hardly a ripple on the sea.
The beach was packed and I had found the perfect spot on the cliff to watch the Red Arrows!

I had my camera and Paul had my phone but the sun was shinning so brightly that we couldn't see the screens on the phone and camera so we didn't know what we were taking pictures of!
Paul was worried that he hadn't got any pictures for me and I told him that, in all honesty, my phone was probably telling him there wasn't enough memory,  and it was! He did get some good shots though and, with the help of Instagram I turned this shot:
In to this:
I was happy with that, I'd got the Arrows forming an arrow!

I got a few shots that I was really delighted with.
There was just enough room for this pilot to manoeuvre through the gap!
Slightly too low but there was a woman standing in front of me and I didn't want to get a shot of the back of her head :)
Sometimes I just got the coloured smoke.
But I did manage to get them with the coloured smoke too!

I love this shot:
And being on the cliff I was well lined up for this one:
And then this one:
After the Red Arrows had finished their turn we wandered down to the memorial sculpture put in place in the memory of Flt Lt Jon Egging who unfortunately lost his life at the festival in 2011.
So very emotional.

After that we headed to Frieda's to fill our faces!
Before heading back to the beach to wander around looking at all the stalls, of which there were plenty!

As the sun headed down
The pyrotechnic display started
Three men joint together leaping out of a plane with fireworks strapped to them!
Before separating and landing safely on the beach.  Just prior to this their colleague cut his parachute away and carried out a long free fall before deploying his second chute and landing safely.  Now while this was a breathtaking feat I only watched him with one eye, the other eye was on where that first parachute was going to land and I was already imagining the sort of quilt I would make from it :) It landed in the sea so my hopes and dreams were burst like a bubble!

We walked along the beach enjoying the bright lights and loud screams from the fairs that had been set up:
And then headed back up the cliff for the firework display where my "woohoo" was replaced by "ooh, aaww, glitzy"!.
I used my phone for these and love how you can see the sea reflecting the light.
But I had my camera right next to it to get these
First time off of auto and on the firework setting!
The fireworks were set off to music
With the very last ones being set off to a tune I had been humming all day, in made my night!
Now Paul lives less than half a mile from the beach but this is how many miles we clocked up on the day:
I must have burnt off all of those calories I ate at Freida's!

On Sunday we headed back to the beach for the final displays.
The Royal Navy closed the festival with an 8 gun salute and I had my final treat of the weekend:
I can't tell you how amazing the Air Festival was, you've never seen an airshow until you've seen it carried out over the sea, but I can tell you it's on from the 28th to the 31st August next year and I will be there for all 4 days.  Maybe I'll bump in to you?

I hope you had an amazing weekend too.

Thanks for stopping by
Jo xx

9 comments:

Jane said...

what glorious photos, I love watching the red arrows too, spectacular!

Sandra said...

Seeing the Red Arrows always get chocked up, I love seeing them, it makes you just so proud.

You've got such great shots Jo, you can really tell you had an awesome time :)

Alison said...

I can feel your excitement, Jo! Great photos...glad you had such a fab time
Alison xx

Lisa-Jane said...

We went a few years ago and I shed some tears at the Red Arrows too - I feel proud of them and I don't have any reason to apart from the British connection! Glad you had a good time!

Susanne said...

It does look amazing - your photos are amazing too. Well done.

Sian said...

The Red Arrows flew right over our house a couple of weeks ago..and because I was high in the sky I had a brilliant view. You are right - it made me feel very emotional too for some reason. Brilliant photos

Fiona@Staring at the Sea said...

Glad you had such a great time Jo. I'm hoping to go next year to meet up with my pilot friend. Would be great to see you too x

Becky said...

That looks like such a wonderful weekend. Your photos are great :)

Michelle S said...

See you next year x lol