Monaco 2012

It all started on the 5^th October 2012, following on from our most recent win in the British Musical Firework Championship, an email arrived in our inbox from Graham at Pyro2000 with an invitation for the Monaco International Musical Firework Championships that were taking place in 2012, which was shortly followed by an acceptance email from them that we had been selected, we were delighted!

We started preparations as early as possible and as with any competition, the music choice was key so this was chosen first with massive input from friends, family and crew members.

The competition wasn’t without its hurdles, one being the main hazardous ferry used to ship fireworks from the UK to Europe would be out the water being repaired for the whole of August (which is when the competition is) this certainly gave us a massive headache but was soon rectified and another route was soon chosen which was via Immingham and Cuxhaven. The display was going to be the biggest firework display we have fired to date and it took many months perfecting the design and the pre-show preparation took longer than any other show we have done. The display consisted of over 1500 single shots, 200 candles, 300 slices and just over 2000 shells and various other firework effects totalling almost 1 tonne of net explosive content.

With Monaco attracting the worlds wealthiest security is paramount, even more so when you’re trying to import explosives into the port. Passports for all crew members and drivers were presented to the authorities and authorisation was finally granted to set up and fire our display. All was going well and things were on track to start working on the Thursday evening however an unscheduled arrival of a £300 million super yacht halted proceedings and we were not allowed to unload our container until this had set sail the following morning, however with the help of the JCO team along with our crew we managed to get back on track and the show set up.

In the evening of the 25^th August it was show time, the lights around Monaco harbour were turned off and our display was announced across the PA system, we felt ill with anxiety. However after two salute firework shells were set off our display began to fire, the skies over port Hercule were alight with fireworks to the beat of the music for our 25 minute show which was followed by the biggest storm we had ever witnessed that swept through the most dramatic end to the display.

After the display we attended the awards ceremony and dinner which was set at the impressive Metropole Hotel. After what seemed like an age awaiting our fate, soaking wet from the storm they finally announced that we were the Jurys international Champions of 2012. We were winners, the proudest day of our careers! We also walked out with the audience award for our display too. Incredible!