I spent a lot of time over the previous three weeks getting ready for the show, wrapping up everything on the plane. Putting on the stick boots, wing walk, centre console armrest and general cleaning and primping.

I even fitted carpet back there in the baggage compartment... Finally.

We set off on our way, giving chase to Sean who had left about 40 minutes previously. We were running a little late. We were due to stop in Valdosta (KVLD) for some cheap $3.50 a gallon fuel for the last leg down to Lakeland, so we'd probably be about caught up by then. Turns out we were about 15 mins behind by the time Sean had landed. There we hooked up with one of Sean's friends, Mike, and we continued down as a flight of three. This is what it's all about!

Sean flew in the Mooney with his wife Sarah and Mike's son James.

Mike flew his recently painted Centurion with Sarah's friend Buffy along for the ride for some flight experience.

We arrived with all our stuff at about 7pm. We were greeted by Ed Brock who was kind enough to give us a ride to the General Aircraft Camping area. That was a big help as it meant we didn't have to carry all our stuff! A big thanks to Ed! He helped us out a lot at this years show, and even came to the award ceremony with us. Ed's wife Diana was working in the Homebuilt Registration and made sure we had everything we needed too. Hopefully we can keep in touch! This is the sort of thing that makes these airshows special.

We set up camp in General Aircraft Parking. You can see Buffy, Sarah and Sean... This was the morning after we arrived, hence the loud jim jams that Sarah is wearing. Some other campers gave her the loudest jim jams award. Sun n Fun had a deluge of rain the Sunday previously and the ground was still recovering from it when we arrived. It was a little soft, but not too bad. It was drying out OK in most areas.

I have to thank Sean and everybody for letting us hang out with them giving us a space to camp. The evenings after the show are a fantastic time. If you've never spent an evening at an airshow, be it Sun n Fun or Oshkosh, it comes highly recommended. It's a blast! Thanks to Mike too for picking up Subway for us for the first evening dinner!

We spent most of Thursday morning with the plane answering questions and the like. Everyone's comments were positive about the plane. Everyone thought the paint scheme was a hit! Here's Lucy taking a break...

On the Friday morning, we spent time at the plane again to be sure we were there for the Judges. Sure enough, they came round to look at her and the feedback seemed pretty good. I didn't have much time before the show to print out some of the web pages, but the spec board helped make up for that deficit. They asked me questions about stuff that was unique to my aircraft, so I pointed out the less obvious stuff like the glovebox door, wrapped glareshield and that sort of thing. It didn't really take long either which was surprising.

Checking out the panel.... Two things EVERYBODY rates a plane by... Paint scheme and the panel! Lucy and I spent time making up a specification board and got it printed and mounted at Kinko's.

Front row centre parking... Couldn't get any better really!

The Thunderbirds were flying at this year's show too... Here they are overflying 4 Sierra Tango!

Another rear three quarter shot... This was early Saturday morning... This was the day you find out if you have won an award or not. Lucy went looking around at planes that were being judged to get a feel for the competition. Then she came back to hang out by the plane again. We had so many visitors, I can't hardly remember all their names! If you came by, drop me a line!

I went for a look around and saw a really nice Rocket owned by Jim Stone and Dwane Smith. They did a really nice job on their aeroplane, I liked it a lot, and I have a fussy eye. I got back to our plane and said to Lucy she should go check it out.

She went over to check it out and complimented Jim on how nice it was. Jim responded with, "Thanks, I won an award!" At that, Lucy came running over to see if I had one. I had been completely oblivious talking to people and when she saw the paper wrapped around the propeller she started yelling, "You got an award! You got an award!" The question was, what did it win?!! You don't know until you either attend the award ceremony, or read about it in paper the next morning!

Checking out the interior....

The award ceremony was in the Florida Air Museum on site at Sun n Fun. The pictures here didn't turn out so well really...

The anticipation was intense! They went through all the other classes before coming to Homebuilt. Then they started at the bottom and worked their way up... 5 outstanding aircraft awards, one of which was Jim Stone's Rocket.... Then it went on... Best non certified engine, best workmanship... Still no call for me... Best interior, best fabric, best metal... Still no call for me! Best composite, best low wing.... STILL no call for me! Aaargh! The suspense was killing me! Next they called out Reserve Grand Champion, and if that wasn't me, that could only mean one thing right? Reserve Grand Champion went to a Lancair IV P owned by Wendell and Martha Solesby from California. STILL NOT ME!!! So what's left?

GRAND CHAMION KIT! They called out my name, and I was stunned. I went up to collect the award in a state of shock and utter disbelief! All I can say is that it's a fantastic feeling getting that high an award for the plane. I never built it to enter into shows for judging specifically, I built it to my specification, and I do admit it I am quite fussy about how things turn out. I guess it paid off in a big way!

Here I am with the award... Those who have been following this site might recognise the T-Shirt!

Here's a shot of the plane on the Sunday morning. It's a shame that everybody has pretty much gone by the time the sign goes up! Maybe they should finish up the judging a day earlier.

All in all we had a fantastic time, met lots of great people and spent a lot of time chatting about aeroplanes! Absolutely brilliant.

Unfortunately about fifteen minutes after we had left, one of the award winners for Outstanding Aircraft, a Lancair Legacy owned and piloted by Gerard Schkolnik crashed about a mile off the end of the departure runway killing Gerard. Our sympathies go out to Gerard's family and friends.