Major snippage...

I agree with Dave on this. Its the JWGC, they might be young but they are
good. He had plenty of options and seems to already know where he would be
landing. Sure, no one wants a finish like that, but it shows it can be done
with prior planning. World Teams scout out all the landable fields ahead of
time, not only around the airport, but out on course. It may surprize you,
that some of our top pilots do the same scouting when they go to a US
National. Some even arrive early and drive around the task area looking
over the fields.

#711

FWIW, no need to wait until "you're a nationals level contest pilot to
pre-scout fields"...a thought I'd hope would be obvious to every (potential)
XC pilot...but which I know for a fact, isn't! :-)

I started scouting fields (& brain picking, and cross-checking
information/feedback) before I had my license, so foreign to my brain was the
very idea of not landing at the gliderport of my takeoff, much a
never-before-seen field. Continued to pre-scout over the next 3+ decades.
Eventually moving to the intermountain west (where fields in the hills can be
few, far-between, misplaced on maps [and now databases], etc., etc.), simply
increased my motivation for "ground truth." Since us northern hemispherians
have reason to believe spring will (eventually) arrive, I've found spring a
Great Time to use those unsoarable (rainy, foggy, dreary) days for extended
day excursions into the hills/boonies to scope out ground truth...good for
one's personal soaring safety/confidence, can be good for the fambly and
mutts, good for everyone's souls...

Bob - never a "real contest pilot" - W.