30 August 2009
Snowbirds & Parkside
30/08/09 13:10
In Minnesota a Snowbird is someone that leaves the state for Florida or Arizona in the winter. In Canada the Snowbirds are the Canadian Air Force demonstration team. They go from event to event, fairs, celebrations, air shows, and such and put on a show of their flying skill, much like the Blue Angels or Thunderbirds do in the US. They don't fly top of the line fighters though. They fly older trainers and this is one of the ongoing issues. The aircraft are getting rather worn and somewhat unreliable. The Snowbirds were supposed to be in Nanaimo in May or June but a problem with the ejection seats grounded them for a couple of weeks. This messed up their schedule and they finally made it to Nanaimo on the 12th of August.
I had just made it back from Victoria. One of my many trips to work on the Parkside Resort, more on that later. Marsha greeted me with "The Snowbirds perform at 6:00. Lets go. No I was tired and not in the mood but we went anyway. Rather than going to the harbor though we went up to Pipers Lagoon Park. It's a mile or so north of the Harbor. This way we avoided the crowds and still saw most of the show. I'm really glad Marsha convinced me to go.
Here is all nine Snowbirds getting themselves arranged for a pass over the harbor. Notice how red the aircraft are.
Now they have gotten themselves sorted out and are lining up on the harbor. Notice the aircraft are mostly white on top. This produces a really cool effect. As they turn and spin the aircraft will sometimes seem to vanish or appear out of nowhere depending on which side of the aircraft is facing you and what the background is.
No this isn't the beginnings of a disaster. This is what you get when you are shooting with a telephoto lens at aircraft that are a mile or so away through trees that are half a mile or so away. This is their signature move the Inverted Starburst. They all fly in close formation straight down then each pulls out traveling in a different direction.
At one point their travels brought them over Pipers Lagoon Park at low altitude. This is NOT a telephoto shot. The tree is about 100 meters from where we were sitting.
Then they passed nearly between us and the sun
And then formed up and turned back toward the harbor. Notice there are only 7 aircraft. The other two have been performing over the harbor as a duo while the rest of the group was circling around for another pass.
As I mentioned I had just returned from Victoria when we ran out to see the Snowbirds. This month I have made 3 trips down there to work on the Parkside Resort; the 30th-1st, 10th-12th and most recently the 24th-26th. The place is now partially open, which is nice because now they can put me up in one of the unused rooms. It is a lot nicer than the cheapest room in the Days Inn where they had been putting me. Now I have a secure parking ramp for the Mini, a really nice room to stay in, and my commute to work is just a quick elevator ride. As you can see the rooms are very nice. Hardwood floors, granite counters, TVs, fireplaces, really nice. More like efficiency apartments than a hotel room. Here are a couple of shots of my room. You can see the Kitchen, Living Room/Dining Room, and Balcony. Not shown are the large Bedroom with en-suite Bath, plus the separate full Bath off of the Kitchen. This is one of the mid sized rooms. There are smaller ones just like this but with less space for the Dining Room. There are also larger units with 2 full bedrooms and even larger Kitchens and Living Rooms.
I had just made it back from Victoria. One of my many trips to work on the Parkside Resort, more on that later. Marsha greeted me with "The Snowbirds perform at 6:00. Lets go. No I was tired and not in the mood but we went anyway. Rather than going to the harbor though we went up to Pipers Lagoon Park. It's a mile or so north of the Harbor. This way we avoided the crowds and still saw most of the show. I'm really glad Marsha convinced me to go.
Here is all nine Snowbirds getting themselves arranged for a pass over the harbor. Notice how red the aircraft are.
Now they have gotten themselves sorted out and are lining up on the harbor. Notice the aircraft are mostly white on top. This produces a really cool effect. As they turn and spin the aircraft will sometimes seem to vanish or appear out of nowhere depending on which side of the aircraft is facing you and what the background is.
No this isn't the beginnings of a disaster. This is what you get when you are shooting with a telephoto lens at aircraft that are a mile or so away through trees that are half a mile or so away. This is their signature move the Inverted Starburst. They all fly in close formation straight down then each pulls out traveling in a different direction.
At one point their travels brought them over Pipers Lagoon Park at low altitude. This is NOT a telephoto shot. The tree is about 100 meters from where we were sitting.
Then they passed nearly between us and the sun
And then formed up and turned back toward the harbor. Notice there are only 7 aircraft. The other two have been performing over the harbor as a duo while the rest of the group was circling around for another pass.
As I mentioned I had just returned from Victoria when we ran out to see the Snowbirds. This month I have made 3 trips down there to work on the Parkside Resort; the 30th-1st, 10th-12th and most recently the 24th-26th. The place is now partially open, which is nice because now they can put me up in one of the unused rooms. It is a lot nicer than the cheapest room in the Days Inn where they had been putting me. Now I have a secure parking ramp for the Mini, a really nice room to stay in, and my commute to work is just a quick elevator ride. As you can see the rooms are very nice. Hardwood floors, granite counters, TVs, fireplaces, really nice. More like efficiency apartments than a hotel room. Here are a couple of shots of my room. You can see the Kitchen, Living Room/Dining Room, and Balcony. Not shown are the large Bedroom with en-suite Bath, plus the separate full Bath off of the Kitchen. This is one of the mid sized rooms. There are smaller ones just like this but with less space for the Dining Room. There are also larger units with 2 full bedrooms and even larger Kitchens and Living Rooms.