On Monday, August 3, 2020 at 2:38:45 PM UTC-7, wrote:
Hey all. I somehow got the idea that there was strategy involved to maximize score on contest flights where one decides not to continue to a turnpoint. But I don't see anything in the rules other than incomplete tasks essentially being scored as a landout.

Am I missing something?

Good to make it home regardless!

The one case where your strategy might be the case is on a "Long MAT" task, where the next turnpoint is in a sinkhole and going home undertime gets you speed points instead of pressing on to the turn point and landing out. Under an Assigned Task or Turn Area Task heading home before the next turn will cost you whatever distance points you might've scored by pressing on. Of course, depending on the landout, getting home might leave you in a better physical state to score points on subsequent contest days. Most racing pilots try to score as many points as they can on the current day - short of risking the glider to do so. Having seen some pilots on the grid who got home from a retrieve at 5 am, it's not clear to me that a few extra points are worth it - assuming you have a choice to get home at a relatively modest cost in points. It's certainly a big advantage of having a motor.

Andy Blackburn
9B