The prologue to the in-port races at the Volvo Ocean Race in Galway on Saturday was a fly-by and 30 minute demonstration over Salthill by the Red Arrows – probably the most elite flying squadron in the world. Their arrival was flagged for 11.30am exactly – they are military afterall – and it was thought, but not certain, that they would arrive over the railway station and the docks area en route to the display area over Salthill.
That prospect suited me – I was due to board a boat at 11.45am to head out for the two in-port races, and so I wasn’t going to be able to catch the whole display, but hoped to have a chance to capture the planes as they flew in over the docks.
I was beginning to learn some of the pressures that press photographers come under – in this case I had about 10 minutes to get a photograph, and only sketchy information about where in the sky that photograph would be. I made my way up to the roof of the Merchants Road carpark which overlooks the docks, and kept my eyes peeled for any sign of the 9 red planes that were expected any minute now.
I heard the sound of engines, but it was over my right shoulder, and not in front of me as I had expected – they approached on a different heading, and as it turned out were never destined to fly over the docks.
My elevated position on the roof would have been a good vantage point except the building directly in line with me and Salthill (the display area) was taller than the building I was on, so I could see (and photograph) very little.
I had to make do with photos of them re-grouping, so I took advantage of the trailing smoke that they released to compose this picture (and a few others like it).
The real action shot of the day was probably when they all came together and released their trademark red, white and blue smoke trails in a crescent shape over Salthill, but I had a boat to catch.
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