I wasn't there but what seems like wild side to side movement to a low hour stude could be what an experienced pilot would class as a normal bit of puff before touchdown. I'm pretty sure that his instructor would have taken control had he been swinging like a hammock.
To the OP, having said that when you are on your own and you think it's getting a bit hairy GO AROUND, there's no shame in it, in fact it shows good airmanship and decision making. When you are solo you are the aircraft commander and it's your call. What you would call hairy at your stage and what someone with a thousand hours on a taildragger would call hairy are probably two different things, but if it's hairy to you that's all that matters.
Edit: I learned on a massive runway, when I got my license I had a trip up to Breighton which is about 800 meters of grass. I had three goes at getting it down, not because I was landing long but there just didn't seem to be enough runway left. There was obviously. Now it wouldn't even register flying into a 500 meter strip.
Take things slowly, do things safely and if you find yourself like me going round with 600 meters of grass left in front of you then it's your call, you do what you think is safe as I did on that day.
Last edited by thing; 30th Aug 2013 at 13:25.