Plymouth 2012 Champion of Champions!

MLE

Star Fireworks

Phoenix Fireworks

MLE for me too! Thought Phoenix's finale was good, a brocade finale like that is always a real crowd pleaser. Listening to some kids on the way back to the car they thought that was the best finale. Then Mats show was just totally outclassed the previous shows the report sequence was amazing, the shells that burst mle were stunning probabaly something that was lost on the public.

Managed to put another face to a name and met the one and only Rocket Rev!

Glad I'm not on the breakwater this morning as the wind is blowing and it is throwing it down with rain!

Have to say Mat took the win last night. Some stunning chase sequences and shells. The salutes being fired to make a tune and then smiley face shells above in perfect timing was a masterclass in design and bringing something new to the competition.

Feel for the guys setting up today, wet and windy, horrible weather. Think I'll climb back under the duvet.............

Just managed to drag myself out of the yard arm last night to watch the displays... yep Mat pulled a great show out the bag last night with a crazy salute sequence using for the first time in the UK magicfire ignitors have to say it worked well.

As others have said I really feel for the guys setting up today in this nothing but short of awful weather, high wind and pouring rain. Good luck to them all though.

Bob, get yourself to the Yard Arm for lunch mate and I'll buy you that pint

We now have a river running through our tent! I really cannot believe how crap the weather is this morning!

I thought I saw that midway through the display

Probably right but it's not the public that vote here as you know

Loved the jellyfish shaped shells in the MLE show.

I really like the MLE display,some excellent material,other shows very good as well,i feel sorry for the teams who have to set up and fire in poor weather conditions as it must put them at a disadvantage.

Well that was my first trip to Plymouth last night for the firework championship. What a great night as well. certainly well worth the long journey. Left home at 1pm to get down there and got home at 3.30am. Will certainly be going again next year.

From experience, setting up for Plymouth in bad weather is just soul destroying. The rain is more often than not horizontal, everything gets wet.

Best of luck to the teams today, looking forward to seeing what Jubilee can bring to the party.

I'm with Mark, the Jellyfish shells at 7.20 stunning and they functioned at the same angle...nice! Great display.....the intriguing Magic Fire system used on the salutes was amazing, can't wait to learn more about this...and the Digimod...

...and an additional soapbox moment.....isn't it great that a UK designed/produced system is mixing it with likes of FireOne et al....are any of the other teams using British systems? Does anyone who was onsite know what systems were bring used?

Was a long day rigging yesterday. Shame cant see the shows tonight. Hope weather aint too crappy for them today.

Just got back home after a long day yesterday rigging, firing and clearing up. The atmosphere and camaraderie between the teams was fantastic last night, and really made it a pleasure to take part. All 3 displays seemed to have something different and there were some great touches like the effects over the water from Phoenix (which looked great from the side too!!!) and MLE's 'mascleta' was really quite cool. A lot of use by all teams of Titanium salutes throughout with many in the finales. Finally my car alarm went off at a Plymouth display, something it has never done before - Plymouth seems the place for salutes, the echoes around the basin in the still air last night were noticeable.
A friend who knows nothing about fireworks noticed the spelling of MLE in shells, and asked me why they did that (the team names are not known to 99% of the crowd...) - I thought it was very clever.
Sadly I had to come back today, as I have to be at work in the morning, but just been hearing from our team members who have visited site today. The waves are breaking over the pier, and the winds are very strong - a big contrast to yesterday's fine day for setup followed by a brief downpour before firing.
Really feeling it for the teams setting up today and wish them the best of luck - wonder if they may limit the use of larger shells tonight, I hope not!
(For the person who asked, Star and Phoenix used FireOne...)

What are the strobe-like effects at around 50 seconds into the MLE vid?

I thought they were flash pots.

Is this the magicfire people are on about? http://www.magicfire.com/products/ignitors_userprogrammable.html

I imagine it's the kind of thing Disney use to create the Mickey Mouse effect?