2007 US Contest Rules Poll and Meeting Minutes

On Dec 19, 7:50 pm, g l i d e r s t u d
wrote:
Now if we can do something about the unreasonable start cylinder
penalty. Most I have seen are nearly 150 points if you are not in the
cylinder for the full 2 minutes. On a three hour task this is equal
to about a 27 minute penalty.

Tim- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

There is no rule that says you must stay IN the cylinder, but you must
stay UNDER the height.

John Good has made a great guide, it is a little old but on page
10-11:

http://www.sailplane-racing.org/Arti...52%20Illustrat...


I just think the current penalty is extreme. I made an error last
year and it cost me 148 points for not being under the full two
minutes. I was under for over a minute and left at standard speed,
but the penalty was equal to nearly 38 minutes on the flight. Each
minute was worth about 4 points that day.

We all make mistakes:

Ive left through the wrong start cylinder and slowed my speed from
103-105mph to 70' something.

Ive programmed the wrong size turn area....basically landed
out....that cost me 700plus points.

first contest i flew I got to visit the scorer and CD almost every
day. Took the picture from the wrong angle, too long of GPS gap, One
day im not sure why I got a zero for the day.

Radioed the wrong start time.

The 2min is not a way to give you a penalty, but keep the guys
blasting down from wave, nicking the start gate at speeds ....then off
on course turning the excess speed back into height. The good old days
of VNE +20 are over.....at least on the start.