On Thursday, January 10, 2013 12:22:04 PM UTC-5, Evan Ludeman wrote:
On Thursday, January 10, 2013 8:12:12 AM UTC-5, Tony wrote:

On Thursday, January 10, 2013 6:29:20 AM UTC-6, Evan Ludeman wrote:



More FAI rules silliness: http://tinyurl.com/aasl8mg










T8







a Rule that creates an incentive for that kind of behavior is pretty silly I think, but I don't see any igc file in the club class mass landout on Day 2 that backs up the story. Perhaps it was a story of what they would've done, or had done at some time in the past.



I can't find it, either. With the finish height as low as it is, it's a pretty thin edge, even as edge cases go. Hmph. Never trust a yankee to come up with a good story that's true.



T8

I'm very surprised how IGC rules are negatively presented to pilots which didn't have opportunity to fly them .
Claiming that IGC rules are responsible for gaggles and are more dangerous is not correct.

The best of the best are flying in the Worlds.
Pilots skill level is almost the same , performance of the gliders is the same, the only difference is small difference in achieved task speed or distance. The best way to gain is to outsmart opponent and to do that is to start 20 seconds later and finish at the same time or to gain just fraction of altitude or gain extra distance. Because in US contests pilots level is over the place top pilots have comfort to shake off followers and don't need to worry about 20 seconds. In addition because of different skill level US gaggles are not able to grow to the size which we see during Worlds. For some there is shock to see 150 gliders like in Szeged and blame IGC rules for gaggling. Weak and marginal condition will always attract gaggles doesn't matter what kind of rules.
We had gaggles during 2012 US 15M Nationals Mifflin, in addition we had start roulette where we were in sinking thermal before starting 1000 feet lower then possible, under US rules not IGC. For some pilots seeing more then 20 gliders in the thermal there is shock, but in Europe or during Worlds 50 gliders or more is normal as their contests attract 100 or more pilots.
Start line was presented as unsafe in comparison to start cylinder.
US start cylinder is one of the most dangerous places, because before start most pilots are trying to find strong thermal inside cylinder and start trough the top . Worse, we have gaggle flying just under deck with high speed in turn or open air brakes just to stay below start altitude for 2 minutes checking our instruments for altitude and time instead of watching other gliders. This is the most dangerous gaggle in the world and it is under US rules not IGC. US rules are putting more restrictions on the pilots then IGC rules, forcing US pilots to check instruments more often instead looking around especially before start and on the final glide.

Jerzy XG