Bristol International Balloon Fiesta 2006 Review
Pictures: Phil's Balloons - Ballooning Pictures
Once again the 2006 title sponsors were Discovery Channel. The press launch took place in Queen Square, like 2005, and a good number gathered to fly. Round balloons that took off were: Discovery Channel, Bailey Balloons, British Airways, Fishtank, A-GAS, Bristol University, Cameron Balloons (G-CCGY & G-CCEX), Stroud & Swindon, Somerfield, Sloggi, Royal Navy, Adez, Snap Surveys, EDF Energy, G-CDGN, DS Smith Packaging, Nokia, Churchill, Harvey's Orange, Snow Business(G-SBIZ), Chubb, The Mall, G-MOFB plus 2 other multi balloons seen below.
Thursday evening was cancelled because of the wind. Instead there was a tether with the Tesco Trolley, LG, IKEA, Stroud & Swindon House, Stowells Wine Box, Cadbury's Creme Egg, Monster, Harvey's Orange and the Discovery Channel. This was impressive considering the very gusty winds, but it was still good to see some good special shapes for the shapes rodeo.
The nightglow on Thursday was good with about 20 balloons taking part. The wind was still a large issue throughout the glow as the balloons were moving lots, but the pilots kept control of them well to last until the finale of the spectacle.
Friday AM went ahead, but with only about 35 balloons lifting. This and the press launch was the highlight of the 2006 fiesta.
The Friday evening ascent and both Saturday mass launches were cancelled due to bad weather. There was a bit of afternoon tethering and on Friday or Saturday one of the Bertie Bassett men (G-BZTS) tethered. It was great to see a classic special shape back at Ashton Court. The nightglow on Saturday went ahead despite the mass launch cancellations, but it was smaller than Thursday's. The LG special shape took part.
Sunday morning was called off, but some tethering took place on Sunday afternoon. Mister Bup OO-BUP had been manufactured by Cameron Balloons shortly before, so the team decided to take it to the 2006 Bristol balloon fiesta. You can read about the creation of Mister Bup HERE. The Cockerel first attended Bristol in 2005 and they brought it back a year later, but in the end a tether was the best they could do in the harsh weekend conditions. Lindstrand's Stroud & Swindon House also tethered with LG. The Papillion Orange OO-BPO, also from Belgium like Mister Bup, attended the fiesta in 2006 too. The Discovery Channel balloon saw someone climb onto the top of it and it hot inflated and stood up for a while!
The Bristol Balloon Fiesta 2006 had excellent special shapes, but the weather was not good so there was not a good chance to see them properly. The Cathedral special shape was at the fiesta in its bag, but unfortunately because the weather was so bad it never even tethered.