Additionally, pilots who would like to see this task tried in their
regional should lobby their contest organizer.

John Godfrey (QT)


I have followed the very animated and often inspired
correspondence on this subject and I think I can tell my story now,
which can also be called history since an idea of many years ago
grew to factual reality.

In the year 1995 I imagined a task constituted by a short circuit to
be repeated three times, with simultaneous start of groups of
gliders, scored according to the arriving position, so that the first
is first and the second is second etc. independent from elapsed
time. The task was tailored to the gliderport of Crazy Creek because
I judged that location as favorable to this kind of contests. At the
time I discussed the CRAGAR (Crazy Creek Airport Gliding Air Races)
task with other glider pilots but the idea did not make it into
practical application.

In following years I adapted the same concept to Truckee and tried
to have more following but apart a couple of trials with a few other
glider pilots, not much was done until 2005. In that year I finally
was able to organize the first TAGAR (Truckee Airport Gliding Air
Race). It was a quadrilateral to be repeated three times for a total
length of 128 SM. Simultaneous race start crossing the airport
runway, scored by the automobile Formula 1 Grand Prix system, 25
points for the first, 18 for the second etc. without consideration of
the time on course. The last leg was shortened or extended
according to the glider handicap. At the end of the season I read
about the first Sailplane Grand Prix competition and I was comforted
that the were other pilots thinking the same way I was. From then
we run one or two TAGARs per year and slowly the original concept
evolved.

In 2011 I learned about a one-day race held annually by the Arizona
Soaring association (ASA) that consisted also in a race start, but
O&R and with gliders divided in two or three groups, each group
turning at a different distances from the turnpoint according to the
handicap assigned to that group. I was inflamed by the concept and
decided to do the same but added fairness by giving a different
radius per each glider according to its own handicap. I already had
the Great Circle formula I was using for my record attempts and I
created a spreadsheet with the different pilots handicapped
according to their glider.

In 2013 per suggestions of the participants I added handicaps for
the pilots, with 1 percentage point added to the pilot handicap per
each contest win. From that year on we held four races per year, of
which three O&R that I called Grand Prix, and one that was the
original quadrilateral that I called Classic and was run at the end of
the soaring season.

As of today between these two types of contest we have held 27
TAGAR racing days. Both contest types are well liked, the Grand Prix
because it is a cross country flight, and the Classic because it is a
close race inside the Truckee Valley and some pilots like the fact
that they stay close to the airport. I often considered doing a Grand
Prix contest that was not just an O&R but could be a triangle or a
quadrilateral.

In 2014 I came to know about Jim White’s program that would do
just that. I contacted Jim immediately and we began to try and
adapt his program to US parameters. However after two years of
tentative to harmonize the British and American different handicap
systems, the solution was for Jim to modify substantially his
program by including American parameters, a work finished just a
few weeks ago. One feature I like in Jim’s program is the fact
that it can be scored using the SeeYou Competition program.

All the above says that there is no one that would like to try the
HandicapTask more than I do. No need of lobbying!

I saw in these e-mails the good disposition of John Good to go
ahead and try this concept in an actual competition and Andy
Blackburn’s interest as well, and this is what I think can be done: I
will definitely use Jim’s program in two and possibly three of this
year’s Grand Prix. Regarding making an entire contest based on the
program, I cannot do it this year because the Truckee contest is
advertised as an SSA Regional and this is what pilots expect, but we
can certainly consider doing the entire contest based on the
HandicapTask for next year.

- In that case, can we still call it a Regional? The Contest Committee
may give an opinion on that. Or, still regarding next year:

- The HandicapTask may be considered just a different type of task
and be selected by the CD at his choice as it would be a TAT or MAT
or others. In this case, we have to find a scoring system that
addresses the difference between one score based on speed, and
another based on distance - not easy to do but one can try.

- For this year, I can propose to the pilots of the Regional if they
would like to forfeit one day of the Regional competition (we have a
6-day contest) and try the HandicapTask. I would assign the
HandicapTask on the first contest day or perhaps on the second but
not on the last half of the contest or else it would be disruptive of
the overall contest development. Of course if just one pilot votes no,
we cannot do it.

- Also for this year, I can - after asking for the pilots consent –
assign the HandicapTask on the second practice day (we have two
practice days).

This is what I think at this point, comments are welcome

Sergio