On Saturday, August 23, 2014 11:51:46 AM UTC-7, wrote:
A lot of thought went into the design of this and some of the features are quite clever in terms of avoiding unintended consequences. Re-scoring of past contests is informative as far as it goes, but it doesn't answer any of the basic questions about how pilots might behave differently - the theories are all over the map in this regard. Having a trial at a regionals with some real pilot feedback on the experience and how it affected their contest strategy would answer many of the critical questions.
One purpose of regionals is to broaden the appeal of glider racing. Some feel that being knocked out of contention on a single, perhaps fluky day makes some pilots enjoy contests less while others argue that not everyone deserves a ribbon and fluky days are the real test of racing skill. These little innovations in the rules are attempts to address the first effect while not generating too much of the second effect. Finding the right balance also requires some real world trials.
9B
Maybe some information would help.
What year was the rule adopted?
How many times has it been used in a regional contest?
Was the question asked on the Pilot Opinion Poll and if so the results?
Richard
www.craggyaero.com.