79% More lenient landout scoring per 2006 US rules poll

If you can get 79% of race pilots to agree to anything that is amazing
- surely this can be considered a mandate for a rule change/serious
study. No other poll item was as clearly delineated as this.

6.2 Landouts - Carefully read John Good's evaluation of treatment
for landouts under IGC scoring. Should the Rules Committee pursue
further study or trials associated with adoption of a more
"lenient" landout penalty, similar to IGC scoring philosophy?

RESULT
Yes 79%
No 17%


So what will be done? It appears [as copied below] that changing the
scoring to match IGC formulas was quite popular, especially considering
what a radical change it would be. So adjusting to more lenient
landout could be done as part of the overall change toward IGC AND/OR
could also be done as part of an incremental change in just the
currrent scoring formula.
I would guess that the rules commitee would want to test out the
changes on a trial basis such as in regionals first.


6.0 IGC vs SSA Scoring:
Their have been frequent suggestions that we should adopt
"international scoring" formulas for US Competitions. John Good has
written an excellent summary of the major differences between SSA and
IGC scoring and how these differences may affect scoring and pilot
strategy. John Good's WGC Strategy Doucument

6.1 Speed Points - Under US rules, the total score for a finisher is
generally based on the ratio of his speed to the winner's speed.
Under WGC rules, the point differences attributable to speed are twice
as large as under US rules and... You must do at least two-thirds of
the winner's speed to get speed points. This greater volatility tends
to cancel out over the period of the contest. However, this same
volatility may provide a greater incentive for pilots who successfully
"break away from the pack" possibly encouraging more aggressive
strategies. Should the Rules Committee pursue further study or trials
associated with adoption of a more volatile speed formula?
Yes 61%
No 33%

6.2 Landouts - Carefully read John Good's evaluation of treatment
for landouts under IGC scoring. Should the Rules Committee pursue
further study or trials associated with adoption of a more
"lenient" landout penalty, similar to IGC scoring philosophy?
Yes 79%
No 17%

6.3 Devaluation Factor - Under IGC scoring, mass-landout days tend to
be devalued much less than a similar day under US rules. Should the
Rules Committee consider changes to reduce the devaluation factor on
mass landout days?
Yes 70%
No 25%

--------------

Current Equation:
11.5.6 Maximum Distance Points:
MDP = MSP * (0.65 - 0.25 * SCR)

MSP - Maximum Speed Points (Rule 11.5.5).
MDP - Maximum Distance Points (Rule 11.5.6).

It seems like most landouts score around 100-400 points, maybe this
should go up by 100-300(?) points or so. I know when you fall 600+
points behind in a 3-5 day regional there is no hope of placing well in
the current system.
Just for discussion sake, If we do not switch to the IGC system fully,
maybe for 2007 we can just change the formula to be something like:
MDP = MSP * (0.85 - 0.25 * SCR)

One downside of a more lenient landout rule would seem that pilots
would fly more aggessively / take a higher risk of landout, which would
probably equate to more damaged gliders.

I think some adjustment may be worth testing in 2007 regionals.
Let the discussion begin...
Chris