To John Cochrane, Uncle Hank....and all the guys on the Rules Committee.

Are you guys getting the message that we're tired of the constant rule
changes?

Listen...admittedly you guys are brilliant minds, leaders in your
professions (which are also related tecnically to this rules/mathematical
interpretation of soaring-thing), and you're donating your time and doing
what you think is best to improve soaring contests. Thank You!
But.....

Perhaps this constant tweaking and re-creating is de-emphasizing the flying
aspects too much. Analagous to the days of pre-GPS where a good map
reader could best another (superior flying) pilot simply because he never
got lost....now one can best another pilot simply (no....it's complicated)
because he interprets and uses these (complex) rules better. I don't do
my own taxes, nor take out my own gall-bladder.....but defer these jobs to
professionals who are better qualified than I. Charlie Spratt once told me
"These guys STUDY the rules and USE them to their advantage". I'm thinking
of hiring a "soaring contest analyst advisor" who I can hand my flight trace
over to upon landing and then be advised by them to drop a day, claim
whatever various bonuses I may have qualified for, or to just give up and
go home because I have no statistical chance of winning.... (another sore
spot--- come on you big guns, poor sportsmanship to just leave when you
can't win.....what if the rest of us, your usual cannon-fodder, did this all
the time when you're kicking our asses? You'd be left all alone in your
sand box.)

Back to the rules....

Example....flying at a past Newcastle contest one year there was a tough day
when only one pilot (a local guy flying a 1-35) got around the course. A
gaggle of his fellow-class competitors counted the number of gliders on the
ground while rounding the second (airport) turnpoint, clandestinely
conferred, and realized there wouldn't be a valid contest day if they just
landed.....and they did. The finisher got ZERO credit/points/recognition
for his effort. Your rules sometimes reward the wrong pilots. Granted
this is a simplified example and it was probably safer to have landed with
everyone else, but it makes a point.

Henry (Romeo) said it well.....it's a tough sport, but that's what makes it
worth doing. May the adventuresome, supremely-skilled and undaunted pilots
amongst us prevail (safely, of course). Kill all the (soaring) lawyers.
(also Shakespearean, R).

Less TATs, less penalization for landouts, less rules, less rule
changes.....PLEEEEEASE. While at it, let's align the USA contests more
with the world championship competitions so we can get practiced for them
and fare better in those results.


J4