Question for you contest fliers...

On Aug 6, 3:07 pm, J a c k wrote:
toad wrote:
Perhaps if a sailplane had been chosen for
the world class, instead of a streamlined brick,

we could have good head to head races for cheap

And this has prevented you from competing in world class?

Jack

Yes,

If a glider that had met my required specs when I was looking to buy a
glider had been selected as the world class glider, I would probably
have bought one. And my specs were not to extravagant, I ended up
buying a Grob 102.

Todd Smith
3S

Warning, extreme topic creep!

When I started learning to race in the Arizona Soaring Association's
year-long contest series, we still carried cameras, used start gates
and finish lines, but were starting to use handeld GPSs to navigate.
Tasks were mainly assigned speed tasks, with occasional MATs or PST
when the weather was iffy, and speeds were handicapped.

The trick was that we separated the gliders into performance groups,
and tasked accordingly:

A class was full-up racers, and could compete wet if desired.

B class was current or just over the hill racers (say, std Cirrus and
G-102 on up) but had to be dry. Also new guys with fancy toys but
little racing experience. They were tasked on about 75% of the A
class task.

C class was for 1-26, Blaniks, G-109s, Pioneers, etc; anything that
wanted to race but didn't quite have the speed to fly the longer
tasks. Again, their task was a percentage of the A class.

We had weekends with bigger grids than some regionals I've been to!

Personal opinion: with small numbers of less experienced racers, the
simpler the task the better. In fact, leeching is a good thing when
you are trying to learn! I think area tasks can be too demanding for
a newby, if you really try to fly them right. They should only be
used as a last resort, for a specific reason: Iffy weather, too many
competitors in the same piece of sky, etc. The good old speed task
lets the pilot concentrate on going fast, or watching other pilots go
fast and trying to copy what they are doi

But I'm apparently a minority view (and used to that!).

Kirk
66

On Aug 6, 3:22 pm, toad wrote:
On Aug 6, 3:07 pm, J a c k wrote:

toad wrote:
Perhaps if a sailplane had been chosen for
the world class, instead of a streamlined brick,

we could have good head to head races for cheap

And this has prevented you from competing in world class?

Jack

Yes,

If a glider that had met my required specs when I was looking to buy a
glider had been selected as the world class glider, I would probably
have bought one. And my specs were not to extravagant, I ended up
buying a Grob 102.

Todd Smith
3S


The new one?
Congratulations.

Thanks for the input guys.

I already have a PDA with SeeYou on it, but haven't gotten around to
installing it in the ship. My feeling is that the cockpit will be a
tad busy with the addition of the PDA. Just to give you some
background, this ship is new to me and I'm a low timer. I figure I can
use the 302/303 to get my x-country legs under me and shoot for some
badges. Once I'm comfortable and confident enough, I'd like to try a
regional contest or two, but that's gonna be a while.


Thanks again,
Dave

wrote:
Thanks for the input guys.

I already have a PDA with SeeYou on it, but haven't gotten around to
installing it in the ship. My feeling is that the cockpit will be a
tad busy with the addition of the PDA. Just to give you some
background, this ship is new to me and I'm a low timer. I figure I can
use the 302/303 to get my x-country legs under me and shoot for some
badges. Once I'm comfortable and confident enough, I'd like to try a
regional contest or two, but that's gonna be a while.

A 303 is fine for basic cross country and badge flights. However,
having a moving map available will increase your comfort level and
reduce your overall workload. A moving map provides continuous feedback
as to your location and reachable land out options, which you won't get
from a 303 alone...

Marc

Think of the PDA moving map as a sectional that you don't have to fold
and unfold inflight, or try to find out where on it you really are, or
try to measure the distance to the nearest airport. Used that way
(and SeeYou Mobile can be easily configured to be just that - a moving
map with landable fields highlighted) it actually lowers the workload
in the cockpit.

The real trick (and this applies to all the magic gizmo's we now have
in our plastic toys) is to ignore them and look outside until you
really need the information on the gizmo, then just use it long enough
to get that info.

The danger is in spending too much time playing with the magic, until
you look up and realize that it's time to put the gear down!

Kirk