ooooooooos and ahhhhhhhhhhhs
The national fireworks championships have been running for
19 years now but somehow we had never heard of it – we even missed it the year
we were living in Plymouth .
This year we had seen the build up and made sure that we were sat on the front
deck in time for the first night to begin. There was just about enough room for
the 5 of us alongside the dinghy which is taking up most of the deck whilst it
is being built.
Sitting on a warmish night with a dark blue sky is a good
start for fireworks. Between this and the French national day it is a while
since we have had to huddle up in gloves and woolly hats to watch a display.
The Sound is an ideal shape, the breakwater used as the
stage is opposite the Hoe poking out at a right angle into the water. Thousands
of people line the waterfront on both sides of the river and I wouldn’t be
surprised if there were quite a few watching from the Cornish side.
The booms roll around the sound, bouncing back off the
cliffs. Comets scream, bursts of sherbet colour fizz in the sky, shapes and
colours constantly shift building up to each finale which colours the horizon
in silver and gold; from our viewpoint the castle is outlined against the
brightness of the lights.
Many people sit on their decks and lights can be seen
flitting across the water from the small boats watching from the river itself. A
sailing boat arrived in the middle of the first night’s displays from a port
further up the coast. They were quite surprised by all the activity and noise
having not heard about the championships. I’m sure that large bangs as we were
coming alongside would not do my
nerves any good.
There was a delay at the start of the second night due to a
technical problem. As everyone waited there was a cacophony of boat horns with
answering hoots from both sides of the peninsular. Finally 3 loud bangs announced
the start followed by the loud sound of nothing which was greeted by cheering
from the crowds.
When the displays finally began after a further delay, the
wind had dropped which left the smoke drifting lazily across the sky, at times
it would cover the display completely leaving the ash glowing with colour and
flashing with energy.
After two evenings it was over; 6 teams had thrown all their
best, biggest and loudest explosions at a fantastic competition. The overall winners
were a team from Crewe in Cheshire
and we’re looking forward to watching more of the same next year.
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