1. we forget the bus passaison at home, so we had to go back home to get it
2. we forgot the umbrella in the car
3. the metro stopped for about 5 - 10 min (in lauirier i think)
4. in la ronde (pont Jacque Cartier) there was too much wind (and some showers, not alot) after 10 pm, the fireworks r pushed back for about 10 min
5. after 10:20 (i think) it was going start but the was a problem it pushed back again
6. the fireworks start at 10:30 (there was again the wind)
7. at 10:45 (i think) it STARTS TO RAIN! heavy rain
8. at 10:55 (i think) the rain stops
9. at 11:00 (when the fireworks r finished) the wing stops (there was some small heavy wind, nothing big)

all of this to say yesturday was crazy, and im sure it was for u too, it was some sort of curse, la ronde could have started the fireworks at 10:00 becuz there was no rain at that time, but there was wind

start posting ure reviews about yesturdays show, ill post mine in ure topic

and Dame Nature SUCKS!

What an evening it was! Never in the 19 year history of the competition has a display ever been delayed, let alone cancelled, due to the weather. Last night was as close as it has ever come to being cancelled (or, more accurately, postponed).

Overall, though, there was only about 10 minutes of rain during the entire season this year so, despite the delayed start, it is actually one of the better years weather-wise. Just a pity that on at least half the competition days, it threatened rain during the day which no doubt put people off attending in the evening.

At least the forecast (so far) for the closing show is good. It is supposed to be warm and dry.

Paul.

and i just would like to know what exacly is problem with the wind?

nevermind i just read it in ure review

In the event that Paul will permit me to post this message I will give you the precise version of events and problems we encountered. As display director of Kimbolton Fireworks and the designer of the display I am well qualified to give you the true version of events.

There is no secret that we had bad weather, to be honest with you rain does not bother me to much during the display, apart from the obvious dis comfort for the audience. For a normal commercial display I would have been over the moon with our display, our paying client would have been delighted that we managed to fire a display in such conditions. Unfortunately for us with this being a competition you just cant help but think that the rain will have detracted from the enjoyment of the show, no matter how impartial one is, it is impossible for me to think that the weather will not have a bearing on the final decision.

The problem that I do have with the rain is during the set up, rain will always double the amount of time it takes to rig a show. We were well ahead of schedule after the first two days pre fusing off the ramps, the problem came on day one on the ramps after the Canadian show on Thursday. Torrential rain after lunch meant that we lost about 5 hours of work on day one so we were fighting fire from then on in. Remember that there is a crew of 20 plus working on the show so that is 100 man hours lost. After day one we only had one and a half shell positions of five set out, and half the roman candles, this meant that we had to work a 14 hour day on firday to try and keep up. I was still worried about finishing on time by the end of Friday as we had all the shell positions set out but only 50% loaded of which 25% was actually wired in, we had'nt even started on ramp 3.

Saturday for me will go down as one of my worst days in terms of emotions, worrying about not finishing in time, worrying about the weather, trying to motivate the team to push harder, they were already at 110%. The aprehension of the show working, the stress of the delay and the shear panic of what if we have a disaster.

Anyway on with the events. Not withstanding the problems above, it was clear to us that by 9.30pm the wind was going to b a problem, why because of safety. Although the large shells are some 500 metres from the audience, in those strong winds the debris from 150mm shells and above can travel in excess of 500 metres. The hard shell casings do not obliterate to nothing, rather they fragment into large sharp pieces of solid card with jagged edges, some times the size of dinner plates. When a piece like this hits you in the face from 1000ft you no about it. In fact I know of some serious injuries in the past from falling debris. This was in fact proved when a large part of a shell flew through the open window of the Place de Canada control, narrowly missing my lapt top which was firing the display.

At about 9.55pm I was told that the display was going to be delayed by 5 minutes as weather reports told us that the wind was going to die down, five minutes turned into 10 minutes in to 15 minutes and I think eventualy it was 25 minutes after 10pm that we finaly fired.

Then the rain came down and my heart sank but as I said above I still give my team a big pat on the back for getting a display of this size up in those conditions. Sure the rain made some problems with the firing system and effected the synchronisation, but take it from me the way I felt at 10.20pm just before we were due to fire I did not know whether we were going to have a show at all.

What I will say is that the whole crew at La Ronde and the organisation behind it are inredibly professional and effcient. Personaly I just wish that we did not have the bad luck with the wind and rain because it meant that I could not enjoy the moment or savour the atmosphere in competeing on this world stage.

damn i feel ya

maybe it was for the best if they cancelled it?

but then again it would be a problem for the ppl who watch out of la ronde, specially me who has to come to Jean Drapeau from Laval

i can remember i was very pissed off that night, not only at the weather but also at la ronde too

i still dont understand why they have to do 2 times every week? what if i rains for 3 days, then what?

cant just La ronde do the fireworks 1 times a week, then the setup will be perfect... also by doing the fireworks in august

this truely pisses me off, Paul could u answer to me please?

Enkil,

Chaque participant au Mondial SAQ a une période de cinq jours (incluant la journée du feu) pour effectuer le montage du spectacle. Au cours des deux premières journées, les artificiers travaillent principalement dans des ateliers (donc, à l'abri des précipitations) et ils y effectuent un pré-montage. Les trois jours suivants sont consacrés au montage, c'est-à-dire au déploiement du matériel sur les rampes, aux branchements, etc... Je ne pense pas que la pluie empêche nécessairement les artificiers d'effectuer leur travail mais, comme cela semble avoir été le cas pour Kimbolton, des orages (ou la menace d'orages) obligent le retrait des artificiers pour des raisons de sécurité.

Cet échéancier de 5 jours est identique pour tous les participants, ce qui rend les conditions de préparation du feu plus équitables. De plus, les artificiers ont souvent un horaire chargé et leur hébergement à Montréal a aussi un coût. Il serait souvent difficile de prolonger de plusieurs jours leur présence à Montréal.

Par ailleurs, il s'écoule déjà plus d'un mois entre le premier et le dernier feu en compétition, ce qui n'est pas sans conséquence pour le jury. Leur tâche serait encore plus difficile si la compétition s'échelonnait sur deux mois...

Frédérick

ohhhh ok

je savais pas qu'ils travaient sous l'abri aussi, hehe
mais merci pourl'information