A fair opportunity to compete?

On Jul 16, 12:08*pm, John Cochrane
wrote:
from my example it looks like “drop a day” is a terrible idea and here
it is why:

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Day 1 * Day 2 * Day 3 * Day 4 * Day
5 * * * Total

Pilot 1 * * * * 950 * * 950 * * 1000 * *1000 * *1000 * *4900
Pilot 2 * * * * 1000 * *1000 * *1000 * *955 * * 500 * * 4455

Pilot 1 is the winner. Clearly Pilot 1 deserves to win.

Now if you introduce drop a day then Pilot 2 is the winner. Does Pilot
2 deserve to win?

Absolutely NOT!

There are lots of scenarios to think about here. Many of our top
pilots have lost nationals to mediocre people like me by one unlucky
landout. If Pilot 1 were BB, slow but steady, and Pilot 2 were DJ or
P7, who got a lot of sink on final glide and landed 1/2 mile out
despite a blistering speed, would you feel the same way? Would BB
really deserve to go on to the worlds on this basis? (Not far from the
truth, incidentally) *A lot of motivation for "drop a day" comes from
people feeling that yes, in many practical situations like this, pilot
2 did deserve to win and was the best pilot.

"Deserve" is pretty nebulous, and rules like this need to consider
lots and lots of cases, and which kinds really do happen in practice.
They also need to consider fun and incentives.

If we're going to go on to "drop a day" we should start a different
thread, separating it from Parowan and protests. I'd just as soon let
it sit for a while personally

John Cochrane BB

All,
Briefly, yes, rule tweaking can be over done but I'm all for trying
something new now and then, especially if it’s already a useable rule.
I recall the "Super Regional" concept stirred up a hornet’s nest of
RAS comments but nary a peep of complaint or comment about it since it
was applied at Parowan this year. Mainly because it was a non-event,
generally if you wanted in, you got in.

I suspect the drop/dump/toss/relinquish/ do over or gratefully dispose
of a day concept may have substantially more impact but really, why
not try it? Here's my point and the reason for keeping it in this
thread; I'm fairly certain it would have addressed and legitimized the
Parowan sports class day in question mentioned here. And this rule
would have been likely welcomed by most of the 15m class on the last
day when all but two failed to get around due to substantial
widespread t-storms and rain dramatically affecting the late starters.
So really other than producing a list of silly "what if" situations
what’s the harm in giving it a go, I’ll attend that contest, we just
need a CM/CD who's willing to give it a go.
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