I figured I better let some time pass before I chimed in since I was on the
short end of the ruling at Parowan.



1 - I have no problem with the protest since the rule allowed it.

2 - I have no problem with the decision of the committee and felt they
upheld the rule.

3 - I have no problem with Charlie opening the gate when he did so per the
rules.



Everyone was correct. The rub is the rule itself. This rule punished
competitors that flew well (in this case a vast majority of the field) and
benefited those that landed out / back or choose not to fly. It is
frustrating to have 4 hours negated to zero.



To make matters worse, the Sports Class was moved to the end of the grid the
next day since the 15 and 18 meter guys did not have a contest day. Hello!?
Neither did Sports. Separate topic, but if you fly Sports at R9 you will
not receive the same attention to detail as the FAI guys. Our starts are
historically called poorly and until this year we always launched last.



All week long in the pilot's meeting we were reminded that competition
pilots represent a very small percentage of soaring people. Reading RAS and
going through this last Region 9, it is clear that crappy rules and scoring
that requires a degree in mathematics will probably keep this number in the
same range in the future.



Can't bitch without making suggestions right? Two rule suggestions -



1 - Change the rule so that if a majority of the field scores, adjust the
competitor's score that was not able to start. Instead of bringing 20 some
scores down to zero, adjust 1 or two scores up.



2 - As suggested in other posts, change the call when the gate opens.
Opening the gate 15 minutes after the last competitor starts the t/o roll is
not viable.



Tom Dukerich OD2