Florida Grand Prix

Huge thanks to the folks at Seminole Lake Gliderport and to Andy McQuigg
for conceiving of and hosting the first Florida Grand Prix. The wet
weather relented on Sunday and we got a beautiful blue sky full of cu's
and a well-called task to match. I won't recount the race or results.
That's for the organizers. I will say that the GP format worked well and
was tremendous fun to fly. I have no problem with the conventional
glider race format, but the GP does make for a very enjoyable and
satisfying change. Everyone starting together and flying in the same air
is great. There is less incentive for leeching in the GP. One can't win
by following, at some point you have to physically get out ahead of your
competitors. We had a max start height and a minimum finish height, so
no safety issues there. The only safety issue I saw was my own stupidity
regarding the start. I noodled around and ended up a couple of miles on
the wrong side of the line too close to the gate opening time for my
class. Scooting back to the line, I was not thinking about the class
that was just starting so I was head-on to them. Really dumb on my part.
The start line is not very wide, so it would have been much smarter to
have flown around the end. No rules needed, just remind everyone to stay
out from in front of the start line.

WB

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