Ironically, I used this rule in Ionia (R6N) all 3 years I ran it. I might have been the first to use it actually. So I have some relevant experience with the rule and with the reaction competitors have had to it. Oddly, nobody has asked me about the experience at the SSA.

We advertised the rule usage and promoted it to potential competitors. People seemed to respond positively to the idea (many though it was the ability to throw out a worst day score) although I think it had more to do with locals being able to miss a day for work rather than having a bad flying day and therefore have no chance of scoring well in the contest.

Personally, disagree with the concept of throw outs in sailing or soaring. Especially soaring as we often have so few flying days constituting a competition. I think ALL races should count 100% in a competition. The most consistent pilot is the champion. Not the most consistent pilot with a mulligan. I'm commenting on the rule favorably only in terms regarding the "science experiment" of attracting more "competitors" by making the sport more forgiving via rules (wide radius TAT tasks, worst day score adjustment, etc).

I like the idea of having more competitors but rules like this, compromises in task quality (TAT, MAT) also negatively impact the overall competition quality. We need to be careful that we do not "water the sport down" so much that the people who actually care about serious competition are left disenchanted.

Sean