No he didn't JJ. He said 'not remotely true'. Low passes below 30ft
are banned in competition. High energy go arounds are still the norm.

Jim

Yeah, I stand corrected. Time was that John & I were pushing for
elimination of the finish line altogether and just use the finish
circle to end the race. Looks like I'm alone with the safer
alternative. I have done my last low pass some years back. Too bad it
is seen as the "thing" to do by newbies. I believe most contests are
opting for the finish cylinder for liability reasons.

On the down-wind illusion, I can still remember one of my first out-
landings. Picked a road in the desert near Flanigan, NV. As I started
to flare, the feel of the ship was slow, but a very powerfull force
was telling me, "Your going much too fast, slow her down", because I
was going fast over the ground, but all I could do was to hold my
attitude and accept a high speed landing. We lost a pilot at Air
Sailing to this, Rope break at 800 feet on a wave tow into a 30 knot
wind. He made a good 180 turn, then stalled and spun-in going down-
wind. The ground was going by at 70, but he was stalling at 40.
Stay safe,
JJ