USA and FAI rules

I just want to say that reading everyone's posts are alot of fun. Thanks! I hope my attempt at humor was not taken as an insult (Dr. Evil, Riiiight!). I just completely disagree with the logic presented. For me people have 1000's of opinions. I still drink beer with people and call them great friends (and they me) even if we disagree passionately about a number of topics. Same applies to us here.

For me, an AAT and especially the infamous MAT (more commonly referred to as the HAT or "half assed task") are abominations to competition and pointless. We should just fly OLC and save the cost of certified loggers ;-) as we seem to fly these tasks 95% of the time!

To Karl: If I were you and had been chased around by leeches for a couple decades, I likely would have a different viewpoint. ;-). Fortunately I do not have this problem as of yet. So I don't mind the idea of these things and don't think that AAT's, MAT's or AT's make that much difference in the tactics of pilots who like to leech or start late and jump the gaggles. The same start cylinder gaggles exist in all of these tasks. Who are we kidding? ;-)

At the end of the day I will respect the elders here and have read the various posts & viewpoints. Some are compelling to me, but most fall short.

I wish to fly more (much more) AT's. IGC is not the key to my happiness however. The AT's in Uvalde 2011 were the most exciting, enjoyable flights of my soaring career (US Rules I believe). The gaggle's were almost non-existant (mainly AT tasks!!!). The group of 15-20 18 meter gliders regularly broke into small packs of 2 or 3 at most. Everyone was going so fast, so far, etc between thermals. Pilots with different tactics split up early and were never seen again. Maybe weak eastern conditions provides more gaggles in AT's, but so what? I saw more gaggles in Fairfield this fall during AAT and MAT tasks then I have seen in the AT's I have flown (to be honest).

As a sailboat racer (regularly within feet of competitors at full speed) I don't really mind close contact or gaggles in gliders. I respect them for sure but am not fearful of them. I think, if you want to call yourself a glider racer you need to build the skills & confidence necessary to manage gaggles and traffic (Flarm, scan, etc). Sometimes I have decided to leave a thermal when it becomes too unpredictable or a glider enters in a dangerous manner. But, we cant make rules that eliminate other gliders from the program entirely (even though some might like to try!).

Sean
F2