Amid gales to 50 mph, Maxine McCormick, the 14-year-old fly casting prodigy, won the women’s world championship Friday for casting accuracy.

From a platform atop a 6-foot-high bluff at the Cumbrian Lakes on the British coast, Maxine sailed cast after cast into 30-inch floating rings spaced from 20 to 70 feet, reported Chris Korich, coach of the San Francisco-Oakland Casting Club.

Her scores also earned her third place in Men’s (or overall) Division, won by perennial world champion Steve Rajeff, who also represented San Francisco/Oakland-based casters. For this year’s championships, 123 casters from 20 countries are taking part.

“It was just unreal, howling like a hurricane, the wind blowing 30 to 50 mph,” Korich said. “Some people fell over on the casting platform. It was just brutal out there, everybody soaking wet. And then Maxine goes up there and takes her shot, and wins the gold medal. Just incredible.”

The event she won is formally called “Trout Accuracy,” where casters use a rod similar to those who fly-fish for trout. Maxine first won the event two years ago at the world championships in Estonia.

McCormick was featured in Sunday’s Chronicle. The story is archived at www.SFChronicle.com.