Handicap Distance Tasks

I agree scoring software should not be a constraint on task definition. But to a certain extent, it is. As much as corralling someone to develop and read TP film in the old days was a hassle, so is finding someone who can competently make Winscore do what it's supposed to do. And the frequent rule changes in the past did lead inevitably (to anyone who works in software development) to bugs being introduced. Recently I sense there's been more stability but a new task would complicate matters. It shouldn't stop us from considering this interesting concept but the gap between theory and practice exists here, too, as elsewhere in life.

Chip Bearden

At 18:30 04 February 2016, wrote:
Interesting concept. Love to try it. Two concerns:

1. Traffic. I've done simultaneous starts in local contests and the
jockeyi=
ng that goes on to be on top of the gaggle when the gate opens can be
excit=
ing. So can the first few thermals as all competitors are stacked in
closel=
y together, rather than spread out over hundreds of feet or more as
occurs
=
today when start times are minutes apart.

In UK regionals we do not have regatta starts. Pilots start when they want
to. Human nature is that they tend to end up as regatta starts!

At 15:54 31 January 2016, smfidler wrote:
The problem is that the USA uses proprietary scoring software (and
propriet=
ary tasks and scoring rules which requires it). =20

Not quite true Sean. See You uses a script to actually score the task. See
You provides variables to the script such as task distance, speed, handicap
etc. so that the scorer can apply whatever scoring rules he likes within
his script.

Writing a script is simply a matter of taking one of the defaults and
modifying it to meet your needs.

Jim