About the time they started to do away with assigned task is about the time I dropped out of competition soaring. Sure I tried a couple of contest with the newer task structure but it wasn't really a race IMHO, more like a social gathering and data analysis. I found yacht racing more gratifying since everyone was on the same race course, dealing with essentially the same weather. Sure you'll have your leeches and gaggles with assigned task but the purpose of a national contest is to select a team for the worlds. In the old days, the top 10(category 1 pilots)would vote for who they thought would best represent the US and the leeches would never make the team anyway.

Barry