Handicap Distance Tasks

On Tuesday, February 9, 2016 at 11:49:42 AM UTC-8, jfitch wrote:

Perhaps the confusing comes from calling this a race. It is a competition of sorts, but not really what most people think of as a race. More like the gymkhana in motorsports. The Grand Prix format can more properly be called a race.

I believe the official term is competition or contest. You can get all technical about whether or not to use the word "race" what the word means. I don't think that semantics ought be the way we decide what soaring competition ought look like.

To be clear since I get to sit in the meetings where these things are discussed from rules perspective (and Sean doesn't - though sometime he posts as though he does), the RC has no preference (or lack thereof) for one task type versus any other. The rules clearly advise balance in tasking, but also gives authority to those setting the tasks to choose what's appropriate. We have jawboned for better balance, but we have little appetite for mandates that meddle with local decision-making in ways that could have adverse consequences on fairness or safety. We encouraged the "Long MAT" format as a way to move more towards AT in overall racing feel (yes Sean, it is not totally "pure" AT "racing"), but it allows the slow pilots to get home without incurring a landout penalty.

BB's view that the different task types test different skills and all of those skills are relevant to the sport is quite widely held. In addition, many pilots prefer tasking that gets them home most of the time because very few have the risk appetite or crew support to endure 30% landouts (even more for the slow guys) as used to be the tasking guidance way back when. If we care about participation, we need to pay attention to such things. Most pilots I talk to don't really see the value in finishing on the podium in a contest with only three participants so shaping the sport so people will come to contests rather than fly OLC or anything else is critically important.

To repeat - the RC encourages any organizer with an interest to try the handicapped distance task under waiver and providing detailed feedback on how well it works. Keep in mind that you will likely need to fly 100% task types that are supported by SeeYou, which will have some differences form what people might be used to. It seems that those are reasonably surmountable challenges.

9B