The 11 best things at the 2015 15m/Std Class Nationals at Harris Hill

On Monday, August 10, 2015 at 10:54:41 AM UTC-4, Papa3 wrote:
But, I think the first order of business is to put some thought into whether pack racing is or isn't what we want. That will determine whether the "fixes" make sense. No?

A little thread drift here, but why not, it's r.a.s. after all. Erik: Yes.

Pack flying mostly sucks.

ATs provide the means by which mediocre pilots can hang on the apron strings of really good soaring pilots and say "Look hon, I'm 97% as good as __." ATs aren't too bad when they are called on good, strong days with uniform weather and (here's the key) long task legs. On a 50+ mile leg, you can afford to vary your course line a bit and have the chance to do some proper decision making. The thing that drives me *nuts* about the "Long MAT" is that they generally get called with these stubby little 20 mile legs that keep the furballs from spreading out. Yuk. Multiple hours of flying around the Arc de Triomphe. No thanks.

Oh, there are occasional exceptions. We've had some riotously good Nascar style glider racing at Perry some years. It helps when all your buddies are really, really good... and race like gentlemen. That's good fun, but it does tend to compress the scoresheet.

Real accomplishment in this sport (imo) comes from winning a long day on your own decisions, and that means either leading the pack or doing a fair amount of flying on your own. It's really hard to do. I like it because it's hard.

Evan Ludeman / T8