Hi John

We apply a similar rule quite successfully in South Africa.

In our conditions you would be insane to not take as much water as you
are allowed at a contest.

Simple process - a max wingloading is chosen per class.
Then the max main wheel weight is established for that mass for each
competing type.
We have it easy, in that there are a relatively small number of contest
pilots and the SSSA contest organisers have an extensive database and
spreadsheets that do all the heavy lifting.

Each morning club class (dry) goes straight to the grid, every other
glider detours over a load cell - where it gets checked against a
printed list.
Wheel load less than or equal to allowable means keep going. Weight over
the maxium means get to the back of the queue after you have sorted out
your ballast. Works a charm.

There are always some people who are at a disadvantage - My Kestrel
can't reach the lowest wing loading they chose (I can't legally load
above 38.5kg/m2)

Very occasionally it pays to take less ballast - in which case the
clever pilots dump before the start based on actual conditions.

Very, very occasionally it pays to have the lowest wingloading possible
- then those of us that have vintage glass have an advantage.

Pretty quick and fair.

Bruce

On 2011/12/16 1:13 AM, Ron Gleason wrote:
On Dec 15, 1:39 pm, John
wrote:
2) We combined the standard, and FAI classes into one class and there
is no provision for taking this into consideration when choosing a
weight. You cannot have a separate weight for each sub-class and in
this case the standard or 15 meter ships would have a big advantage.

Actually the RC is one step ahead of the game this time. From the
rules appendix,

"In a mixed class (e.g. 15/18) regional, the CD may set different
weights for gliders
from each class, to establish a roughly equivalent wing loading."

That said, the partial ballast rule is really intended to address
unusual conditions such as a very soft field that makes full ballast
takeoffs unsafe. (Cesar Creek 2010). It's intentionally rough-and-
ready for this reason. The RC did not put in a wing loading limit,
which might be fairer, because telling everyone and the scales team at
9 am to figure out their weight at 8.25 lbs/ft^2 and grid at noon
would be a disaster. It's better in the majority of cases to decide
water or no water and keep it simple.

John Cochrane

John, thanks for pointing this out as I nor the CD was aware of the
provision buried in the appendix! Will it be moved to the main part
of the rulebook for 2012?

The pilots involved were concerned with the effect of the rule not the
intent so the provision in the appendix is quite important

For those interested the section from the 2011 Regional FA class rule
book states

A6.8.4 This rule allows some ballast when takeoff or other important
safety or operational considerations make the use of full ballast
inadvisable. It allows some equalization of takeoff weights, for
example to partially address the wing loading advantage of motorized
sailplanes. The maximum takeoff weight can be set to any value that
the CD determines provides a balance between fairness, safety, and the
operational consideration motivating a limited ballast day. In a mixed
class (e.g. 15/18) regional, the CD may set different weights for
gliders
from each class, to establish a roughly equivalent wing loading

Ron Gleason

--
Bruce Greeff
T59D #1771 & Std Cirrus #57