I should have added -- the perceived risk of landout damage is also significant in many people's reluctance to race. And it is a real factor. While I was keeping statistics, there was an event, usually a landout, with significant damage in about one out of every two contests.

Glider damage is less severe than people damage, and we are fortunate that the ratio of people damaged glide damage is so low. But any event with glider damage risks people damage, and people don't like to damage their gliders even if they personally are not at risk.

Needless to say, more long IGC style ASTs will mean more landouts, especially among the newer pilots. If you like gaggle racing, we really should keep the MAT with the option for "long MAT". It's just an AST with a time limit rather than a distance limit.

John Cochrane