For the 2019 13.5m WGC, all gliders participating will be required to have electric motors and be capable of self launching. Potentially being allowed to use some of the electric energy in flight will lead to some interesting tasking and flights I think. I would not consider it to be "Soaring" though.

At the risk of initiating terminal thread drift (I blame last evening's latest
snow and overnight's -4F!) such
(scoring-continued-after-electrically-powered-propulsion) tasking would be a
sort of bureaucratic initiative exemplifying: a) a bureaucracy exceeding its
original r'aison d'etre, perhaps even (gasp!) to perpetuating itself over
actually promoting "soaring"; b) an active step diminishing its relevance (at
least in the eyes of some of the great unwashed who might otherwise see in
said bureaucracies, elements of genuine value to "the sport of soaring").
Thankfully IGC has only a voluntary constituency!

Bob W.

---
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
http://www.avg.com