Irish National Hot Air Balloon Championship 2009

Trotter

Hi all,

Just to confirm that the balloons will be back in September this year. I have no specifics yet, but it'll be September again. Just to answer a few Q's before they pop up;

There won't be flights for sale at the event

The championships website isnt updated yet so I'll let you all know when it is

Theres no timetable of events / take off areas yet

No I cant steer them over your Aunty's house because she's maad to see one up close

Theres no decision on whether there'll be a night glow again or not

The event polo shirts will absolutely

not be orange.



Get the novena books, rosary beads, weather chimes etc out.. because I'll be amazed if we get the weather we got last year this time!

Maybe the mods might put a link into the Waterford County forum for me? There's likely to be a few launches from County Waterford again this year, weather permitting.

Slán

mike65

Jesus won't anyone else take them?

The weather will be fine, don't worry about that.

Trotter

Hehe, I suspect this'll be the last one you see down here for a good while!

Aquos76

Trotter,I copied your OP into the balloning thread which is open in the county forum

ray1

last week of sept I heard

Trotter

Thanks Aquos! Its most likely that the event will be from the 21st til 26th September.

Sully

Any updates?

Trotter

All plans on track so far so I hear anyway. If any info comes my way I'll stick it up here asap.

Sully

Trotter wrote: »

All plans on track so far so I hear anyway. If any info comes my way I'll stick it up here asap.

Any dates?

Trotter

Sully wrote: »

Any dates?

20th - 26th September. Some pilots may arrive a day or two earlier and decide to fly, and a day or two after aswell, but the scheduled championships flights will be from 20th - 26th.

Weather will be the key to how much flying goes on. If we get the stunning weather like last year there'll be plenty. If its windy and manky, there'll be little or none.

There wont be flights for sale, and I'll try to post the provisional launch sites like I did last year, and confirm them when the director confirms them to me. Often thats only a very short time beforehand so I'll do my best.

I really enjoyed meeting the photography gang here last year at the event and that really opened up a new hobby for me.

I'm not doing the website updates this year so I'll have more time to get the info up here when I have it.

Jor

There wont be flights for sale,

Why not?

Trotter

Jor wrote: »

Why not?

No idea, its just the way its done.

mike65

Bump Here is the current spiel on the website, here is the intended schedule

The Irish National Hot Air Ballooning Championships are the longest running National Hot Air Ballooning Meet in the World. It is returning to Waterford City after a massively successful event last year. There were many happy moments during the championships last year and major credit is due to the people of Waterford city and county and south Kilkenny for the wonderful welcome afforded to the Balloonists and their crews.

The event takes place from 20th to 25th of September inclusive.

The base HQ for the event will be Woodlands Hotel on the Dunmore road and flights will take place in the vicinity of the city throughout the week, weather permitting.

It is expected that up to 40 hot air balloons from the England, Scotland, Wales, Isle of Man, France, Holland, Italy and the USA will attend.

---

The weather we are about to enjoy has arrived two weeks too soon.

Trotter

Cheers Mike.. Yeah its gonna be a biggie this year alright. As per usual it all depends on the weather. Expect some last minute changes to launch sites etc.

Coming closer to the event, I'll try get any news or info I get up here. I'm not looking after the website this year (Thank the Lord!) as there's much better qualified people than me looking after it. I'll still have the ear of the boss of the event so I'll try answer any questions etc that any of the boards locals have on the event.

dudara

Sounds good - will have to schedule a trip to Waterford that weekend - bringing the camera of course.

Trotter

We're taking EI-ECC (Discover Waterford Balloon) out for a tethered launch in the park today between 2 and 4! Say hello if you're around! As is usual at this time of year, I'll be the one roaring... "Get Back!".

Sully

Are you still hoping to be by the new bridge, as announced, or has that changed?

Trotter

I hadnt heard about that one myself Sully so I checked it out. It isnt in the plans at the moment.

The tethered flights went well today. We had a few angry people unfortunately because we weren't giving everyone a go. It was tough to manage but we did our best to let as many kids as possible go up and down and experience it.

Beeker

Trotter wrote: »

I hadnt heard about that one myself Sully so I checked it out. It isnt in the plans at the moment.

The tethered flights went well today. We had a few angry people unfortunately because we weren't giving everyone a go. It was tough to manage but we did our best to let as many kids as possible go up and down and experience it.

You can never keep everyone happy! Fair play and looking forward to the week, hopefully the weather will be good!

Trotter

Long range weather forecast seems mixed at the moment. If any of the local weather experts are willing to take a punt on the weather forecast I'd be interested to hear!

Organisation behind the scenes is hotting up! You'll be glad to know we've banished those horrible orange balloon shirts from last year

Fingers crossed we'll get a couple of those really clear blue sky launches from the park in the evenings that week.

mike65

You'll have a much better idea in a few days I think. Right now it looks like Wedneaday and Thursday will be the kindest from a wind point of view, with fairly slack pressure.
But there is high pressure nearly by all week so if it drifts a bit closer than predicted right now, it could be very like last year.

Bears and Vodka

Kewl shud be good!

Hells Belle

I got asked yesterday if I would like to be "ballast" in one of the balloons, I'm very excited but I don't have any more information other than its either dusk or dawn - wherever they have room I suppose. I'm a bit scared but I'll deffo give it a go if theres a place, it was fab last year, we had a great view from the hill above Ferrybank of the balloons in the evening.

mike65

Were you rightside up within the balloon or upside down hanging from a rope? :pac:

Hells Belle

lol thats what I asked and he said no they put you in a net bag and drag you around to wherever you are needed, but you do get a helmet- I presume he was takin the mick, its hardly legal to dangle someone over the side of a basket.....is it?....:eek: Fook it I'm still doing it!!

mike65

Just looking at the pressure charts for next week, not looking good - windy.

Trotter

mike65 wrote: »

Just looking at the pressure charts for next week, not looking good - windy.

I hope we didnt use up all our weather luck last year..

mike65

Update!

The latest charts are looking better, the wetterzentrale GSF pressure chart shows the high that was lurking to the west pushing east if this is a trend then things could turn out nice again. As it stands Thursday/Friday is now looking better than earlier today. Tuesday/Wednesday marginal.

Trotter

That pretty much adds up with our own met info too. We're optimistic. Fingers crossed.

Trotter

Start your engines ladies and gentlemen.. Likely launch at 6pm from the park tonight. Weather goes downhill then til Tuesday or Wednesday so it should be a good chance to see them this evening.

mike65

Might be down there, if I can persuade one or two others parties...