If you have ever flown in a large contest you know first hand the
dangers that exist when pilots are gaggling around the start
cylinder. Many pilots will fly out of the way by many miles just to
avoid this issue until they are ready to start and then return
through the cylinder.

And when you go to Benalla, you won't be able to avoid gaggles at
all unless you want to be at the bottom of the score sheet. You will
have pre-start gaggles of ~60 gliders, and especially on blue days,
you will have most of the class in a single gaggle all the way around
a 400 mile course through the outback. That is the nature of FAI
speed tasks. If you want to do well, you have to get comfortable
with gaggle flying, like it or not. FLARM has helped a lot, but you
will never get the mid-air risk to be zero. Been there, done that,
got the T-shirt with a second place podium finish at the 1987
Benalla WGC.....

I remember one long task where John Byrd and I climbed through
the entire gaggle on 3 separate occasions, only to be the first to
lead out from on top. We then wound up low and looking for lift as
the gaggle ran over the top of us, and we had to start from the
bottom all over again. Three times we repeated that, on one task
alone....

I was never on the USA RC, but as I recall, we only had one
company that would insure gliders back then. I believe there were
either veiled or open threats by the insurer to drop all gliders
altogether unless the SSA did something to mitigate the insurance
claims from mid-airs and mass land-outs in contests. The bigger
turn point cylinders were partly to de-congest the air right over the
turn point. They were also to give the CD some flexibility on a
thunderstorm day so the whole class wouldn't have a mass land-out
due to the turn point being obscured by weather. That rule has
(IMO) been abused by CDs who don't want to be blamed for a poor
call. I believe a lot of those rules came to be before FLARM existed,
so maybe, they can be re-visited now.

I really think that most USA pilots who vote in the polls don't like,
and are uncomfortable with gaggle flying. That may be a key
reason that USA teams have not fared well in recent years. The
USA contest taskings get rid of most gaggles, while an FAI WGC will
just say "We have FLARM now. Get over it." Looking back at my
own experience, I think I can say that I was more comfortable in
gaggles than most other pilots due to my military formation
experience. I have been used to flying very close to others in all
sorts of weather and other duress. This allowed me to have the SA
(situational awareness) to be able to climb through entire WGC
gaggles while most other pilots were just frozen on looking at the
guy ahead of them. I even had WGC competitors (more than once)
come up to me afterwards and ask how I was able to do it.

So, my short answer is USA guys that vote prefer OLC flying versus
gaggle flying, which is what changing to FAI rules will portend.
Most of the guys that vote have no shot at making the team, and
they are uncomfortable in gaggles. In the past, USA team selection
has only been a by-product of a USA nationals. The SSA will tell
you that the USA nationals are there to select a national champion.
There is no mention of team selection. With the rules they way they
are now, we are choosing champions who are very good pilots, but
who also may not have a lot of SA when thrown into gaggles of 40-
60 other gliders. The "lone wolf" versus "team player" deal is a
whole other matter unto itself again....

FWIW.... RO