No wonder that the British are always talking about the weather! I remember the Icicle, earlier this year, when we distributed the first batch of the new Association jackets, fully expecting them to be vital items for comfort. On the day, Sandtoft proved sunny and very warm for the time of year. T-shirts were the order of the day and the jackets were just too snug to put on.

The Icicle and the Tiger sit like bookends at the extremes of the power aerobatic season, but high summer was far away from Sherburn yesterday. It was Icicle weather and the jackets came into their own.
 
Despite the chill of autumn, however, the brisk nor-wester was pretty dry and the cloudbase stayed high enough all day for flying to be uninterrupted. What a relief that was, and it allowed the late bookend contest to be completed by just after 3pm.
 
Paul Stanley was chosen by the computer to be wind-dummy and kicked off the proceedings with the first of 11 Standard level flights just before 10.00am. Jan Nijhof, who flew his S1T over from Holland for the day, opened the Intermediate flights and these were all completed by 1pm, giving CJ Nick B and the rest of the judging line peeps a well-earned trip back to the warm and friendly Sherburn club house for tea and sandwiches.
 
A number of non-competing members had flown in during the morning, their aircraft including an Edge 540 another CAP232 and the 2-seat Sbach 342 that Gerald had flown back from Czech republic. Despite instructions at the briefing to ignore this new and fascinating aeroplane, nobody was able to ignore it for long, especially Eddie Goggins who seemed to have flown in from Dublin just to drool over the brilliant orange sky-rocket.
 
The clear weather allowed a luxurious hour-long break after which Tony Maxwell launched in four-eyes for the first of six Advanced sequences. The Unlimited version of the Tiger unknown was flown first by Nick Wakefield in G-WILD [yes, it can be done in a 4-cylinder biplane!!] and lastly, and with great skill, by Tommy in the chequerboard 232.
 

The final results showed just what a close-run event it had been. Over 76% was needed to get in the top six and there were pilots from all four categories in this elite group. Taking the Tiger away for the first time was Phil Burgess, who has flown his One Design sharply all season. Phil's 1D was closely followed by Standard Champion Ed Cyster's S1T and then by fellow Intermediate David Thompson's Laser.



The full results are, of course, set out below. The trophy and medals were presented by Sherburn Aero Club Chairman Adrian White, and a special vote of thanks is deserved by all the local people who made the BAeA welcome on the day.
 
Thanks and all the best for 2011.

ACC