York Racecourse, Yorkshire, UK 27-30 August 2021
This annual extravaganza sees a large fairground, live music and a Hot-Air Balloon Festival combine to bring crowds to this heritage city on the River Ouse. As ever, ballooning requires minimal wind and still, clear air. The planned schedule called for a dawn and a late afternoon launch every day plus a ‘night glow’ on the Friday and Saturday where a few teams inflate after dark whilst tethered to support vehicles. Only Saturday enjoyed the full programme of inflations in near perfect weather but the other attractions and reasonable prices attracted huge crowds.
The site lay within the horse racing circuit with a northerly wind ensuring balloons drifted south towards the grandstand and ensured no conflicts with the cathedral or city walls when landing. In between launches other events; stunt motorcycling, parachuting, wild bird handling were accompanied by a variety of tribute bands on the main stage.
Although less than thirty balloons attended, a good cross section of shapes and sizes were in evidence. Virgin Experiences hosted a full basket of guests who were briefed and utilised in preparing the envelope before they climbed aboard. On Saturday morning the Rugby League World Cup arrived to be hoisted aboard for a flight; highlighting the recent postponement of the event due to the withdrawal of the two key southern hemisphere teams.
Three spectacular ‘special shape’ balloons were the visual stars of the show. The Dinosaur was making its public debut beside the giant dogs head though both were somewhat eclipsed by the Dutch Galleon, an extremely complex fabric sculpture. Designing these ‘shapes’ requires careful planning to ensure all the protuberances can fill with hot air from the single burner. These are often more susceptible to side gusts requiring skilful piloting and near perfect conditions.
The night glow can only safely include a smaller number of balloons but the organisers and balloon teams deserve great credit for coordinating the bursts of burner power with the background music; rarely have I seen such a display executed so well.
On Saturday afternoon the crowds were treated to a parachute drop from the RAF Falcons from Brize Norton who showed their 2021 display circling each other after dropping from around 7000 feet.
