On Thursday, October 31, 2019 at 1:34:36 PM UTC-4, wrote:
And even on a task, wherever it may be and under whatever set of rules, if we start out with 4,000’+ bases, we can’t control what is happening at the finish between rain, storms or high cirrus that may cut off lift later in the day. At that point is where 250 pts is up for grabs, let’s say between two pilots that had matching speeds up to that point and one decides to do the safe thing and land in the last good field or airport while another decides he’s going to push that 0 MC glide to a 750’ agl finish ring through rain or whatever may lie ahead over unlandable terrain. Even that 750’ buffer can disappear quickly.

Crewing at a nationals years ago, I saw John Seaborn turn around on task one day and land while others punched through a line of rain and lightning to finish the task. A8 did the right thing, losing a shot at the podium but coming back to fly another day - and is still winning now. Hopefully we all make the correct choice when we need to but a 250 pt carrot doesn't help.

And for exactly that same reason, I don’t see it spreading out a gaggle compared to current FAI rules. When crappy weather strikes, pilots aren’t going to risk landing out if there are an extra 250 pts on the table and they have a better chance of making it around in a group. The reason we don’t see gaggles in the US has more to do with the numbers involved. We just don’t have the entries they do in Europe at our contests. If we had 130 gliders like a WGC or Europeans, gaggling would be an issue under our current rules. When we switch to FAI rules, I just don’t see gaggles materializing out of nowhere if our most popular classes only have 20-30 entries.

You're making a nice argument for the US rules safety finish :-).

T8