2005 SSA Handicaps Posted

Steve Leonard wrote:
Mark,

As one qutoe says, "There is No Substitute for Span." Then, some Bird
came along and said "There is a Substitute for span. It is called
Talent. But you can buy Span!"

That reasoning seems to presuppose you can only have one or the other.

What's to say you can't have both ?

Cheers CV

"CV" wrote in message
...
Steve Leonard wrote:
Mark,

As one qutoe says, "There is No Substitute for Span." Then, some Bird
came along and said "There is a Substitute for span. It is called
Talent. But you can buy Span!"

That reasoning seems to presuppose you can only have one or the other.

What's to say you can't have both ?

Cheers CV

Well, in that case you don't need a substitute.

Tim Ward

The whole handicap thing remains a mystery to this racing sophomore. If I
had to fly my glider in soft conditions I would feel more advantaged, with
low sink rates and good L/D below 65 knots (but not the advertised 44:1,
which is a joke). When the conditions get strong (I fly in Arizona), my
competitors disappear into the horizon when I find myself having to find my
next thermal. Often this means they get to the next thermal and I don't. So
a glider's handicap seems to have quite a different affect in different
parts of the country!

-ted/2NO

"Ken Kochanski (KK)" wrote in message
oups.com...

http://sailplane-racing.org/rules.htm

Ken Kochanski
SRA Secretary

Ted Wagner wrote:
The whole handicap thing remains a mystery to this racing sophomore. If I
had to fly my glider in soft conditions I would feel more advantaged, with
low sink rates and good L/D below 65 knots (but not the advertised 44:1,
which is a joke). When the conditions get strong (I fly in Arizona), my
competitors disappear into the horizon when I find myself having to find my
next thermal. Often this means they get to the next thermal and I don't. So
a glider's handicap seems to have quite a different affect in different
parts of the country!

I think when you have more experience, you'll the 304 is good machine
for the Sports Class, even it it's only 40:1.

--
Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA

40:1 if I'm lucky, and freshly cleaned and waxed ... DJ couldn't get
better than 38:1 in his flight test, and that was at 50 knots, not 60.

I love my 304CZ, it's the perfect ship for a newer pilot who enjoys
both recreational and contest x/c, but when the CD calls a 250 mile AST
on a strong summer day, I'm in trouble if I can't start 20 minutes
before all Venti, LS-8s and ASW-27s I fly against start ...

-ted/2NO

but when the CD calls a 250 mile AST
on a strong summer day, I'm in trouble

I do this all the time, a 38:1 ship on a "Good Day" should easily be
able to do a 250 AST. I have done it (or close to it)many times in my
HP16 which is probably closer to 36:1.

In 15 meter someone if a better ship has to make a mistake (usually a
serious one as far is speed) for me to keep up with them. Handicapped
it can be a close race.

Brian Case
HP16T N16VP V6

A good PILOT on a "Good Day", of course, but I've only flown over 250
miles once in my life, and that was a downwind dash on a GREAT day!

I'll be able to use my handicap to compete with the faster slippers
when I get better at getting high early (as in in the start cylinder)
and starting just ahead of the pack instead of just after. It's always
been bad news when I started after the pack on long ASTs (which hasn't
been by choice) -- I hear them calling in their finishes when I'm still
45 to an hour out and it's demoralizing!

But the learning is fun.

ted/2NO

"Ted Wagner" wrote in message
news:1113884285.a78fd29b709c0208118e60bfb2ea8e41@t eranews...
The whole handicap thing remains a mystery to this racing sophomore. If I
had to fly my glider in soft conditions I would feel more advantaged, with
low sink rates and good L/D below 65 knots (but not the advertised 44:1,
which is a joke). When the conditions get strong (I fly in Arizona), my
competitors disappear into the horizon when I find myself having to find
my
next thermal. Often this means they get to the next thermal and I don't.
So
a glider's handicap seems to have quite a different affect in different
parts of the country!

It's a impossible task to make ONE coefficient to correct the
multi-dimensional problem field...

There are many scenarios that make unfair compensation:

1. Too long glide (for more-handicapped glider), I go to a field, others get
average speed
2. (Mr. Cochrane With lesser performance, I have to use weaker lifts, less
average speed as compared to flying the same McCready performance ratio
3. If clearly less performance, others fly together, me alone - almost fatal
in blue days and severely affects also in others.

To compensate the unfairness:

4. Rain wall, tough upper cloud or equivalent on the task: I win, because
everybody stops on the (almost) same spot.

Hmmm.. probablility: (1..3)/4 is approximately 25:1 (subjective guess)

I am accustomed to German handicap system (flying mostly 0.96 against
1.04-1.08) and admittedly being less of a pilot as well, I still feel
squaring the handicaps might make it even a bit closer (doesn't help 1.,
though)

2, and especially 3 are prevalent in most of the days

This evaluation is based both flying in (last 5 years) and scoring the
gliding competitions (last 10 years). Maybe the handicap system works better
when each pilot flies alone.

regards, hannu

Anybody want to write a dynamic handicapping system ... something that
would take all the flight logs from a contest to analyze task length,
thermal strength, height and working band, spacing, wind strength (all
by time of day) ... and come up with a 'fair' handicap for the day.

KK

Ken Kochanski (KK) wrote:
Anybody want to write a dynamic handicapping system ... something
that
would take all the flight logs from a contest to analyze task length,
thermal strength, height and working band, spacing, wind strength
(all
by time of day) ... and come up with a 'fair' handicap for the day.

KK

The Soaring Society of South Africa has come up with a dynamic handicap
system. It is based on three senarios - weak, intermediate and strong.
The senario applied will be based on the top speeds of the day. The
whole system is normalised to the ASW 20. An example of how it works is
that an ASW 17 will fly off a handicap of 109% to the ASW 20 on a weak
day but only 102% on a strong day. An ASW 27 will fly of a 106%
handicap to the ASW 20 on a weak day but 113% on a strong day. The
system is still very new but has been used in the last Nationals and at
the Gauteng Regionals and will be used at the North West Regionals at
the end of this month. More details can be found on the SSSA website
(sssa.org.za)

Clinton
Lak 12