2013 USA Competition Rules Published

On Friday, March 8, 2013 10:33:20 AM UTC-6, kirk.stant wrote:
On Thursday, March 7, 2013 3:29:09 PM UTC-7, John Godfrey (QT) wrote:

Um,



If a line is in use, you get speed points for a rolling finish (10.9.4)..



"Rolling finish" has no meaning wrt a cylinder finish, the finish occurs at the cylinder boundary.



QT - RC Chair



My mistake, I thought rolling finishes had been eliminated from both. Need to read the rules closer, obviously.



Which brings up an interesting point (and then I'll stop whining about finishes, I promise!) - if the whole point of the cylinder finish is to ensure a pilot has enough energy to fly a safe pattern, why not just make that a requirement? You finish when you cross the line, at least 50', but with enough energy to fly a safe pattern (whatever that is defined as). No rolling finish for speed, it's a landout. So finish at 700' and 60 knots, or 50' and 150 knots, energy is energy. Fly a dangerous pattern, and the CD gives you a 1000 pt penalty - you get that for an airspace infringement, so why not. Now my final glide and finish is easy - make it over the airfield with enough energy to fly a pattern and land safely. Same result as the circle finish, but less math or clockwatching, and if you overcook your final glide (and your crew is watching) and the pattern is clear, you can still do a nice flyby for the fun of it.



Kirk

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We prefer rules with quantitative limits, where possible, and not a big argument with the CD that in your glider with your great skill a 250 foot pattern at 50 knots was just fine.

So in the end we did exactly what you suggest. 500 feet a mile out and 50 knots is about the minimum for a pattern. Anything more than that, good for you.

Now, there is a lot of complaints that the rules are too complex. Do you really think it's worth the extra complexity of trying to measure speed, account for wind and water ballast, give you "energy credits" for extra airspeed, fight about "now pilots have to watch the flight computer GPS groundspeed readout and do a lot of math", all so that you can blast through the cylinder wall at 150 feet and 150 knots and do a big zoomie, rather than slow up in the last mile, look around you for other gliders, use the same energy to finish at 700 feet and 60 knots, and then gently sequence into the pattern....Remembering that the rules are the same for everybody, so none of this will make any difference at all in who beats who?

A show finish/low pass box seems like a much better idea

John Cochrane

On Friday, March 8, 2013 10:19:12 AM UTC-7, wrote:
We prefer rules with quantitative limits, where possible, and not a big argument with the CD that in your glider with your great skill a 250 foot pattern at 50 knots was just fine.

Yeah, I figured that would be a non-starter with you.

Where I usually fly (and occasionally race) in AZ the last 10 miles are unlandable. I mean "die if you try" unlandable. So I am used to figuring final glides with an pad and an out (that last strip at 10 miles). So are the rest of the guys who fly (and race) here. Yet we manage - and when we have a contest, we usually use a 1 mile 200' circle and go from there. Your approach is to take away the decision from the competitor - make it for him so he doesn't get into trouble. I'm not convinced that is the way to go. Yes it's "safer". So is not racing at all. When QT talks about making the finish 1000' agl or higher, I see the racing days getting shorter - to make sure there is enough lift to get up "over the bar". You obviously don't like creeping back home and sneaking in - because it's statistically dangerous. I see it as part of the sport. But I guess I'm a minority, so I'm willing to play by the rules just to continue enjoying this great sport. And I really do want to thank all of you on the RC for putting up with guys like me - without your work we couldn't even be having this little discussion!

Enough - lets get our gliders waxed and go racing!

Kirk
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