A long wait for the flying machines

I thought this would have made a good blogpost, but I'm afraid we got tired of waiting for the show.

It was a beautiful sunny morning while we were sitting at the foot of the Rideau Canal locks (the Alexandra Bridge, which would have made a better vantage point, was closed to pedestrians for the day) staring across the Ottawa River along with a large crowd of other people, including patient children, many of whom had pedalled there on their bikes. There was a far bigger crowd on the other bank near the action, or what would eventually be action, ––"Be there at 11am to check out the flying crafts and prepare for takeoff!" it said on the website––but the launching of the home made flying machines during Ottawa-Gatineau's Red Bull Flugtag, didn't actually begin until midday or perhaps later. We had gone by then.

Pilots ... launch themselves off a 22-foot high flight deck in hopes of soaring into the wild blue yonder…or more often than not, plunging into the waters below. Flugtag, which means “flying day” in German, pushes the envelope of human-powered flight ... Teams are judged on flight distance, creativity of the craft, and showmanship.

We missed seeing the flops of the flying beaver and the giant banana. Having read the report in the Ottawa Citizen, we seem to have missed a lot of fun altogether.

The Au Feel de l'Eau Aquataxi had been offering special rides on this occasion to passengers who booked in advance. Anyone lucky enough to arrive by boat could have a closer view of the Flugtag show; we saw some boat owners showing off at high speeds in the vicinity. I see that one canoeist-spectator has left a comment about this on the CBC.ca website, saying:

We went by canoe to join a fotilla of hundreds to enjoy the day. Unfortunately, on the way back we seemed to be the only ones stopped by the police to check if we had safety gear aboard. When asked what are you doing about the boats going at speeds up to 140 km/hr in the river, they responded that according to the law, people can drive their boats at any speed. Yes, but if they do so in an unsafe manner in a crowded waterway like this, that is an offence I replied. Too bad tbe cops [...] seem to focus on canoes when it's the motorized craft that imperil others.