| We saw it all on Friday afternoon driving
down to Waterford from Lisburn - first low cloud and lots of wind (that's
NI !), then clear and sunny from Dublin down through Wicklow and Wexford
counties until, when we were almost in sight of Waterford, suddenly there
was mist on the hills and a typical coastal snafu from the weather. It
might have taken us over six hours, thanks to the road planners of Dublin
City, but from the UK things looked even worse - a deepening front driven
by the usual Atlantic low pressure system, with more to come over the next
few days. The East Anglian crowd soon gave up in disgust, Wee Ron and Tony
Maxwell fell foul of a shortage of Avgas at Caernarfon (!), but quite a
few mainland stalwarts did get their acts together and made the crossing
into CAACI country.
On Saturday morning a good crowd gathered in the
Waterford Aero Club, soon to be joined by the rest of the Brits. Joint
CD's Eddie Goggins and Cliff Lebiola quickly got the briefing out of the
way, and we all waited for the box to clear sufficiently for the plot to
begin. It was clear just to the south, the low scud forming over the
airfield persisting for some time. In the end however it did relent, EG in
the home-team's dark blue Pitts opening the day in good style for the
advanced brigade, followed by the intermediate chaps and chap'ess and the
standard pilots last of all. A superb buffet lunch appeared during the
day, courtesy of the ever helpful Waterford locals, and by 6'ish the
knowns were all complete and the competition status assured - although
this did require a trial change of box for the G-IIIL pair and without
doubt the smelliest judging position (next to a smouldering heap of
silage) I have ever endured.... Viktor Ostapenko's comments were quite
unprintable! At this stage the locals held most of the scoring cards, only
Robert Woollard just a nose ahead of Des Watts keeping the union flag
aloft. A short attempt was made to get into the unknowns, but after EG's
between-the-clouds opening dance we wisely decided to call it a day.
So - following an excellent Saturday night Chinese meal
in Waterford's best - we reassembled on Sunday to get the rest done. Once
again it was quite a while before the conditions gave in, but then it was
a straight run through to the end.... just in time for the rain and the
clag to re-start. Cadbury Dave (will he ever lose that tag?) couldn't
quite catch Eddie G for the advanced crown, Sean Shannahan continued to
show a clean pair of heels to the rest at intermediate and also bagged the
Celtic Shield, whilst in standard Seamus Fagan scored the most but still
couldn't make up the gap to Robert Woollard.
All in all then a most pleasant if weather dominated
affair, with excellent company and great spirit all round. Ed and Cliff
kept it all going, yours truly's judging line comprised Cliff Lebiola,
David Gorman and Viktor Ostapenko, and Jennifer B maintained strict order
on the keyboard.
Nick Buckenham
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