Article - "you will be tempted"

The pseudo anti new technology snippet at the end of the article is interesting. Clearly some who are competitive today are concerned and perhaps a little fearful of these potential "changes to the game." Of course, that reaction is to be expected.

Look at the Volvo ocean race (happening today in the middle of leg 6 from Brazil to Miami). The boats are in constant communication and each competitor has real time satellite tracking of all other competitors. This makes it fun for spectators and allows the race boats to constantly analyze performance, tactics and potential strategy decisions relative to key competitors.. The old days of the "random flyer" and winning (or losing) a leg by 2 days or 800 miles are basically over. This is better for the sport, its sponsors and most importantly its fans. Luck is reduced and racing is much closer.

In some ways the opposite effect (in reference to the authors fears that this tech with tighten already tight racing proximity) occurs now in the Volvo ocean race. The boats do not have to fight to stay within sight of each other in fear of losing touch. They can be comfortable 25 miles apart and track each others progress. I think much the same will happen in gliders. Gains & loses in glider racing happen much, much faster. Gliders have limited energy to spend changing their route to chase others who may appear to be performing better on another route. It would be very hard to REACT to tactical information far outside visual range. That said it would be fun to know! To put it another way, thermals come and go quickly. How much would you be willing to deviate?

Remember John Cochran's recent article on the cost of deviations at various climb rates? Would you deviate 7 miles (laterally) to a location where a pilot is (at that moment) climbing better than you are? Or would you deviate away from a pilot up course who is climbing poorly? Would you second guessing a ridge or mountain route based on location/performance data from other pilots elsewhere? Would that deviation cost more than it would gain? In most cases I would say yes. So the performance data is of minimal value in my view.

I hope this exciting new technology is not "witch" hunted. I think it would be fun to see how others are doing during the race rather than guessing. We are trying to have fun, right? As this technology becomes more affordable, along with great safety improvements, it could prove attractive to younger pilots. It also could prove a valuable learning tool for less skilled pilots. Especially in regionals.

Great article in general! But I really enjoyed John's live presentation in Uvalde which was even better due to his presentation skills while 60 pilots listened quietly just ahead of 10 days of full tilt racing. It definitely made everyone think. As a new pilot in my third ever contest, it certainly caught my attention as I had already experienced these temptations far too much.