On Friday, January 26, 2018 at 11:00:05 AM UTC-8, Jim White wrote:
Time to change the subject line?

I have been thinking about the hard deck idea. Possibly fine in flat land
soaring but I am not sure it adds much when ridge flying.

I perceive another problem: Turbos are even more dangerous near the ground
than pure gliders. I may be happy in my 27 at 500ft but in a turbo?

Setting a 1000ft deck because that is safer for turbos will take away the
advantage that real gliders have in this zone. Many pure pilots would say
this advantage goes some of the way to make up for the additional
opportunities turbo pilots have in competition.

Setting a turbo deck for everyone will force everyone to go to the dark
side!

Jim

Jim, on the turbo thing: exactly the opposite is true. Non-motorglider pilots allege that motorglider pilots have a competitive advantage because they can overfly unlandable terrain low, taking on faith (and it is Faith) that the turbo will save them while the non-motorglider does not have that option. The hard deck prevents anyone from gaining points by flying that low in that location, eliminating any perceived advantage for the turbo pilot.