"Kilo Charlie" wrote...
I would only add that as far as I'm concerned, most pilots will be finishing
at a fairly specific point with a finish gate from the same direction. The
gate is only one kilometer wide vs. a cylinder which allows pilots to finish
legally from any direction (360 degrees) and angle. Especially in a
situation where folks are finishing from all directions with or without a
500' rule, it is dangerous and should not be allowed.

Casey, have you ever actually flown a contest that used a finish cylinder? If
they're coming from all directions, they're spread out over the circumference of
the cylinder, 6+ miles for a 1 mile cylinder, or 12+ miles for a 2 mile
cylinder. The majority of us (you know, the non-adrenalin junkies) make an easy
pull up upon crossing into the cylinder, and are high, slow, and looking by the
time we're going to have conflicts with gliders coming from other directions.
It's significantly more relaxed and safer than trying to hook a gate while
gliders are coming every which way, plus you don't have conflicts with gliders
redlining it at 200 feet while you're trying to land.

Marc