The small West Cumbrian seaside town of Whitehaven, which boasts an historic harbour has for many years hosted an annual show named The Festival of the Sea Over the years this has grown into an event that consumes the town over a weekend. Now alongside the harbour and its Tall Ships, there is a Music Festival, Cookery shows, and an Air Display. The music Festival attracts acts as diverse as Classical singer Katherine Jenkins and Pop group One Direction. The Cookery shows have most of the Celebrity Chiefs queuing up to show their skills. The Air Display also attracts some of the counties top display items.

This year the flying was condensed into one day, however as with all events held in Britain the one thing that can’t be relied on is the weather and unfortunately this was the case for Whitehaven. Strong winds were to cause problems later for the aircraft participating. Despite the conditions the display went ahead on schedule. All the aircraft for the event were based at Blackpool with the exception of the Tucano and the Seaking which flew in from their respected bases of Linton on Ouse and Prestwick.

Exhibits each completed their full routine but the wind was unrelenting and by the time that the final display of the day was due the Red Arrows it was deemed unsafe for their display to go ahead.

An entertaining afternoon of flying was enjoyed by the crowd and the weekend was another success, unfortunately there is some uncertainty as to whether or not the organisers will be putting together another event next year.

Aircraft taking part were

XZ578 Seaking

ZF264 Tucano

XV281 Sea Fury

ZH850 Merlin

ZK322 Typhoon