Being over two days, it gave the opportunity to organise an evening meal at the nearby Tollemache Arms in Buckminster village and the chance for Wives to come along as well to make it a real Social occasion.
The week leading up to Competition Day saw a mixed bag of weather predictions from Wet and very Windy, to Dry and Windy and just about everything in between. Conscious of the fact that some Pilots had to travel several hundreds of miles to attend, it was a difficult call to make as to whether to postpone the competition or to run with it. In the end, it was decided to run with it as it was predicted to at least be dry albeit with 16mph gusting to nearly 30mph winds.
Competition day started with almost clear blue skies with just intermittent Cumulus cloud and following the usual Pilots briefing at 8.45am on a Sunday morning commenced with our two Clubman pilots, then five Intermediate, one in Masters and then eight in FAI P23.
The wind was very challenging for all Pilots, even at FAI P23 level but somehow these guys did make it look like “Another day at the Office” hence the adage….. What’s the difference between a Professional and an Amateur ? Well, a Professional practice until they cannot get it wrong, an Amateur will practice until they get it right………..shows that lots of practice does pay off.
Sadly, the early morning Blue skies soon disappeared leaving solid grey skies together with a brief offering of rain which did manage to stop flying for about 15 minutes. However, most Pilots managed to get all three rounds in and Clubman four rounds. It was also interesting to note that most Pilots once they had got the first round out of the way, points improved as the rounds progressed.
A special note worthy of a mention should go to Ed Down who was flying an FMS Olympus. Extremely valent effort Ed, well done.
A second note should go to both of our Judges, Leslaw Przytocki and Adrian Mansell who elected to judge throughout the day with only a short break between the rounds. Both Judges offered each pilot candid feedback following every flight and at the end of the day, Adrian Mansell gave a running commentary whilst John Morton was flying an Intermediate schedule. This proved invaluable to Pilots across all schedules as we were able to see where valuable points were being lost. As a summary, Adrian placed a post on the forum GBRCAA Autumn 2021 GRAND FINALE Competition reply #61 which again was invaluable for all schedules and will act as a reference point for a very long time to come, thank you both Judges.
In conclusion to any other “would be” CD’s, give it a go……
The support from the GBRCAA Committee, Pilots and Phil “Notaumatics” Lewis was brilliant and a really great end of year Competition, thank you to everyone.
Clubman: First Place Barry Buxton, 2nd Ed Down.
Intermediate: First Place John Morton, 2nd Graham Gooch, 3rd Mick Broad.
Masters: First Place Phil Lewis.
FAI P23: First Place Kevin Caton, 2nd Garry Peacock, 3rd Adrian Harrison.
Pictures, Report & Contest Director - Graham Gooch.
