CD's Report
Historically The Times is arguably one of the most authoritative of newspapers. Nevertheless, on its front page last week was a piece about the varying price of Chateau Petrus ~ the very fine claret ~ in pretentious restaurants. Their wine writer Jane MacQuitty then gave advice on how to select wine, which included - amazingly - “do not buy wines with easy to pronounce names”. What has this to do with an aerobatic contest? you ask. Firstly, an intriguing opening paragraph is vital to entice the reader’s interest, and as you are still reading it clearly works… and secondly, the wine story shows that even the editor of The Times has sometimes to scavenge for material to compile their journal. And dig deep is what I am having to do to generate 1000 words on the 2007 Icicle and Newbold Trophies!

Weather is always an unknown factor at all our events, except at Sandtoft where it is predictably cold. This year it was, in the immortal words of the of The Sun’s literacy-challenged editor, best described as “Phew, what a scorcher!”. Alas it came at a price, for the prevailing high pressure and nil wind provided inevitable fog. The weather gamblers who had not positioned the day before had to sweat it out at their home bases, praying that there would be enough time after the fog became flyable to get to the mandatory briefing. Tom and Jerry did it, to complete a entry list of 14 for the Icicle, and David Jenkins and his advocate cited several small print rules to squeeze in late from Suffolk to make up a meagre 4 for the Newbold.

Following standard but comprehensive briefings by yours truly as Contest Director, Graham Hill as Chief Judge, and Corinne Dennis as Airfield Controller, scorer Ian Scott announced that this was the first contest to use the new version of computer scoring. This has been developed by former Chairman Nick Buckenham over the past year and incorporates a number of material improvements too technical for this simple innkeeper. There were no evident glitches, and better, no protests, so evidently it’s a success. Alas our principle scorer Jen Buckenham was not able to attend Sandtoft: she had just undergone surgery, but had recovered enough to enable her husband Nick to make a call at the contest as observer and computer counsellor.

Flying started at high noon with the first of two ‘Surprise’ unknowns. As a former Standard level competitor I am always impressed by the speed with which upper level pilots learn their sequence. Since my day too the variety of miniature finger planes has increased: neatest yesterday had an extended spindle through its centreline making perfect rolls deceptively easy. (My model had ~ appropriately ~ Noddy as pilot, and incorporated a pencil sharpener up its rear!).

A couple of years ago Tom Cassells gambled with the weather and arrived too late to complete, but flew HC and achieved the highest score. This year he again achieved the highest score and was presented with the Icicle Trophy by local Corinne Dennis. At Intermediate Paul Tomlinson had landed prematurely on his first flight with a dodgy engine, but after getting his hands dirty during the lunch break (and with admirable help from his fellow competitors) he flew again to win both the Nigel Newbold Trophy and the second unknown.

Thanks are due as usual to all participants, specifically Steve Green as HOCO, Graham Hill as CJ, all the duty personnel of BAeA and Sandtoft, and of course, the pilots.
Eric Marsh