CD: Clive Whitwood Judges: Gary Peacock, Adrian Mansell. Score recorder: Jane Garlick. Helpers: Mel and Gavin Garlick. With many thanks to our hosts: Ramsey MAC. Podium: FAI: 1st Mike Williams, 2nd Gordon Frost, 3rd George Drever. Intermediate: 1st Nigel Smith, 2nd John Langridge, 3rd Paul Heath. The weather forecast was not good and it turned out pretty much as expected. An overnight shower gave way to a very windy morning with speeds of 18 to 22 knots recorded. The competitors (plucky bunch they were) opted to continue and flying started at about 9.30am. With George Drever leading off the flying in FAI it was soon apparent that the actual flying (downwind box notwithstanding) was not likely to be a problem, the landings were likely to be the real test of nerve. Mike Williams led at the end of the first round, with George second and Gordon Frost making a rare visit South of the border a close third. These were followed by Mark Pearce and Bill Michie. There were no incidents with the landings and wind correction largely seemed to be the deciding factor in the scoring. Second round was very similar with George and Gordon swapping places as did Bill and Mark. All showed improved scores as they got to grips with the wind continuing at the same level. The third round after lunch followed the same pattern (see what I did there) despite the wind increasing to 35 mph although with the exception of Mike, who increased his score on each successive round, the scores reduced slightly. So it was that Mike took first place by quite a wide margin, with Gordon second and George third. We had only three fliers in Intermediate on the day and Nigel Smith led at the end of the first round from John Langridge (a close second) and Paul rounding things up in third. All three flew well conspiring the windy conditions would have put off most club fliers from flying. This pattern followed in the last two rounds leaving Nigel a worthy winner, with John close on his heels and Paul not too far behind despite that blustery final round. All credit to them and I’m sure they will continue to improve dramatically. My sincere thanks to judges Gary Peacock and Adrian Mansell for bravely sitting through three rounds in the cold and windy conditions instead of watching the Grand Prix at home in comfort and to Jayne Garlick for her very accurate scoring and also to husband Mel and Son Gavin for their assistance in the general running of the event. A final thanks to our Ramsey club members for the loan of the site for today even if they probably wouldn’t have bothered to fly themselves. Hope to see you all again next time. Clive Whitwood