TAIR RAID
With the Bournemouth air show scheduled for a windy weekend, the proposition of a battle between windsurfers and the Red Arrows seemed the sort of plan I needed to motivate my Motley Crew! After laying down the challenge, my set of elite highly trained pilots were selected – Köster, Fernandez, Traversa …were all unavailable, but with the promise of free ice creams, Timo Mullen, Jamie Hancock and Jack Hunt were conscripted. I even managed to secure a rare appearance of James Cox away from his much loved home waters of Southbourne! Come D-day and an unpredictable rascal of a low pressure system had wrapped up into an extremely tight set of isobars, so much so that the Red Arrows and the whole air show had to delay all displays for the peak of the wind during the mid-afternoon. Being the strict squadron leader that I am, no such excuses were allowed for my crew as I had brand new Canons ready to shoot anyone in my firing line! Violent winds sweeping across the Bournemouth beaches had all of my ace aviators digging for their smallest sails. While the boys were rigging, I was pleasantly surprised how many hardy locals had come out to play survival in the storm. This area is without doubt one of the strongholds for windsurfing in the UK, illustrated by three windsurfing shops – FC Watersports, H20 Sports and Poole Harbour Watersports servicing the fraternity. With the tourists on hand frustrated by the lack of action taking place in the skies, it was time for my Motley Crew to oblige. Forty knot winds and head high ramps were ample enough to provide stunts galore and to be fair, although not offering quite the same spectacular synchronization as the best pilots on the planet can provide, at least our boys were out there flying the flag!