Same comments as others. I can live with this.

Thanks to John Cochrane for the discussion on his Web page. One
question: could a pilot who's low on final glide enter the finish
cylinder below the floor, land out just short of the contest site, and
receive distance points MINUS a low finish penalty? That seems a bit
harsh but is how I interpret John's statement, below. I could be
mistaken:

"If there isn't even a weak thermal [on a marginal final glide that
winds up inside the cylinder but just short of the contest site], the
70 points you will lose on the finish, combined with the new larger
distance points, mean that there is less to be lost by landing in
that last nice field on this side of the trees."

I actually had trouble finding the part in the Rules where it says you
have to land back at the contest site to get speed points. You get a
finish time just by entering the cylinder without regard to where you
land:

10.9.3.3 The Finish Point, radius, and minimum height define a three-
dimensional Finish
Cylinder. A finish occurs when a sailplane enters the Finish Cylinder;
at least one fix must lie
within the cylinder. The finish time is taken as the interpolated time
the sailplane first
entered the Finish Cylinder.

But a later paragraph finally says you have to land back to complete
the task:

11.2.2.4 Task completion - If all turnpoints are valid, yield a scored
distance (Rule 11.2.3)
not less than the Standard Minimum Task Distance and the pilot
obtained a scored start
time, a finish time prior to finish closing and landed at the contest
site, then the pilot has
completed the task. Otherwise the task is incomplete.

OK, flying is over for me until next spring. I just don't want to be
worrying about this low on final glide next year.

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"
U.S.A.