The site is not the greatest from a wind standpoint- trees on all four sides(although there is a bit of extra ground in one direction. The wind was shifting around over the trees. It was nothing to feel the wind on your back, see the tops of the trees blowing towards you, and have the plane roll 45 deg. across the wind when it cleared the trees. Or to be standing on one side of the field in a dead calm and see the trees opposite bending and blowing(15 mph +) and see the safety tape on the field blowing the other direction.
Quite a few flights lost hundreds of points on a gust, mostly when the pilot decided to bail out. Only one real crash. Al Knight was flying dead level and his plane suddenly dropped 4 ft. from 3 ft. altitude, wiping off the gear and cowl. Fortunately no other serious damage.
The only tactics that really seemed to work were pilot skill and luck. The top two in expert got a slight break- the wind wasn't quite as gusty on their second flights- but knowing when and how to whip got them through pretty creditable patterns without blowing any maneuvers. Dan B. nearly ended up on his back whipping the plane through the vertical eights.