I have an idea - how about rally starts?

The expected winners will be assigned the latest start times, those with
little or no expectation of winning will start the earliest. Then there
would be no incentive for gaggling.Â* If you join a gaggle, you've
already lost and might as well withdraw or simply just fly for fun as
Mark says.

Or fly your own flight, not someone else's.Â* If you see someone
circling, you can't fly with him unless he's your team member. There's
way too much hanging on to everyone else's coattails.Â* I thought glider
pilots were individuals.

On 5/15/2018 8:04 PM, wrote:
Gaggle flying is inherently dynamic. It changesas newcomers alter the position and flight path of those already established in the thermal lift. At the same time, everybody wants to out-climb everybody else, and blindly following or adapting to the guy directly opposite you might pitch you into the sink on the edge of the lift just because you and he are focused on making perfectly symmetrical circles and not paying attention to the core of the lift. Add in a few other gliders just above or below, and the situation can quickly become chaotic. Now, add in a penalty for coming "too close," and the dynamic changes again by introducing a factor that is not readily apparent, but can conceivably alter proper and courteous thermaling behavior.

"Oh S#!+, where did that (fond euphemism) come from?" you pull tighter or roll level and now you are in someone else's "Safe Space" and at the end of the day you get docked 10 points (after several encounters over the course of the task.)

You aren't doing anything but flying conservatively and as courteously as possible in a crowded thermal, but you might be penalized by taking evasive action that brings you into closer (but non-threatening) proximity of another glider. You saw him, and judged that your course deviation would minimize the risk of interfering with the first target, but you inadvertently got too close to someone else, as determined by the all seeing and all knowing Oz, the man behind the curtain. And the perfect flight analysis software, and the impeccable GPS data and the fact that discussions concerning intentions and results can add hours and hours to the joyous experience of the CD and scorekeeper.

I say, "Bring it on!" Just another BS impractical rule to keep me from ever deciding to enter a contest. I was wavering, and starting to consider it, but a rule like this will definitely kill that misguided notion.

Sleep late. Fly for fun.

--
Dan, 5J