Drop a day option for US regionals

On Jan 22, 8:42*pm, wrote:
On Jan 21, 7:52*am, wrote:





Pilots all:

The US rules have for several years had the option of "drop your worst
day" scoring. So far noone has used it, but I for one would like to
give it a try.

Most of all, I think pilots will like it a lot. Yes, in the end
somebody has to win, but that horrible feeling of “now I’m screwed I
might as well go home” after a landout or a bad day will vanish,
making the contest a lot more fun.

I think it can help safety. I think pilots would more quickly give up
on awful days, choosing to take their “drop day” rather than press on
causing the usual landout damage we see on weak days. *I think it
would also help pilots to make that hard decision to abandon the task
in thunderstorms or clearly dangerous weather.

There is a bit of a counterargument. Perhpas pilots will strike out
and fly more aggressively knowing they can drop a landout. This might
get worse on the last day, and pilots might feel the need to do more
math and strategizing. I don't think this is true, but that's why we
need to try it in regionals.

I also our team selection also puts too much emphasis on avoiding one
bad day, and thus too much emphasis on flying lots of contests in lots
of different classes. Moving this to nationals and team selection will
take years of course, but if everyone thinks it's great that could
happen eventually.

The rule is rather carefully crafted. If you just “drop your worst
score” you might end up dropping the day you won, if it was devalued
to 500 points. *Instead you “get the winner’s score” on whichever day
that helps you the most. And it phases in, as it should for short
contests. The actual text is below.

I'm talking to one CD about trying this at a regional this year, and
will talk to more as the schedule gets finalized. *Certainly, a
groundswell from pilots of "hey, could we try the drop a day (or more
accurately, worst day adjustement) at this contest?" would give us
more chances to try it. So, I'm posting this in the hope that lots of
pilots will talk to the CDs of contests they plan to go to and
encourage them to give it a try, or that CDs will see the post
directly and get the bug. *In all fairness, the decision to use this
should be made early and well publicized.

John Cochrane
BB

11.4.4 † Worst Day Score Adjustment
If this is declared to be in effect, an adjustment is calculated and
added to the cumulative score of
each entrant.
11.4.4.1 † Worst Day Score Differential
For each entrant, WDSD is the greatest difference on any contest day
between the entrant's score
(before application of a Contest penalty) and the highest score
achieved by any regular entrant in
the class on that day.
11.4.4.2 † A Worst Day Score Adjustment is added to each entrant's
cumulative score, as follows:
After one official day: WDSA = zero
After 2 official days: WDSA = 0.25 * WDSD
After 3 official days: WDSA = 0.5 * WDSD
After 4 official days: WDSA = 0.75 * WDSD
After 5 or more official days: WDSA = WDSD

* * * * John, surprize, many know its been in the rules, for the last
several years. Trust me, all the CD's I know, do read the rules. But a
question, as this has to be declared before the contest starts. OK, so
a 5 day regional, that gets in 3 days, because of weather, now turns
into a 2 day regional and is devalued for seeding purposes??
Hmmm....... BUT, what about a 5 day regional, that declares this, only
gets in 2 days, now becomes a non contest. Seems like your chasing
your tail on this one. We get 2 days in, but drop one, and now no
contest. We write rules to allow a 2 day contest which then is
devalued for seeding and chooses a regional winner, but now, becomes a
zero because of the drop day? Wow.
* * * * Now, you haven't looked at how the scores would be effected
and yet think its a good idea? *So, the racers who are stable and turn
in a level performance lose because of the local hot jock with a bad
day.......hmmmmmmm.
* * * * My Feb. 2009 issue of Soaring magazine just came today. John,
today, is Jan. 21. The BOD hasn't even met yet at the general
membership meeting and your new half start anywhere is fully discussed
in your contest corner as a new rule. John, they did forgot your
drawings, so, maybe, you can get them posted on your website, as the
RAS really does't get to everyone.
* * * * What's the publishing deadline for submittion of articles into
the magazine? John, your just not stiring the pot, on RAS, to see what
kinda responce you'll get are you? *Naw, my bad, sorry about
that........I went to a west coast college. John, is your campus still
selling them road maps to the Kansas weed fields???

* * *Thermal tight,
* * *Soaring into 2009, with sandbox 101, (freeware @ Tucows.com)
* * *Before flight, join hands and chant, at the head of the
grid .."we are the fagareweesss"..........#711.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Tom
Clean your glasses. It doesn't eliminate contest days. It adjusts
scores. No days get eliminated.
I'm with Romeo on this one.
UH

I just re-scored my last 2 regionals with "drop a day" rules and I moved
from 2nd to 1st at Minden and from 4th to 1st at Air Sailing. Wow, I like
this rule, but to be honest would we be acknowledging the best
performance? The last day at Minden we flew in a 30 knot wind and I was
afraid to get on the rocks with the conditions I was experiencing, so I
came in slow in a close race and dropped to second place. Didn't the
winner show superior skill or balls by accurately assessing the conditions
and doing what it took to win? At Air Sailing I failed to go deep enough
into the Serrias and therefore didn't contact the lift feeding a ragged
line of Q's, ended up landing out on a 1000 point day. Didn't the guy
that correctly read the lift, deserve to win the contest?
JJ

On Jan 23, 6:52*am, wrote:
On Jan 22, 8:42*pm, wrote:





On Jan 21, 7:52*am, wrote:

Pilots all:

The US rules have for several years had the option of "drop your worst
day" scoring. So far noone has used it, but I for one would like to
give it a try.

Most of all, I think pilots will like it a lot. Yes, in the end
somebody has to win, but that horrible feeling of “now I’m screwed I
might as well go home” after a landout or a bad day will vanish,
making the contest a lot more fun.

I think it can help safety. I think pilots would more quickly give up
on awful days, choosing to take their “drop day” rather than press on
causing the usual landout damage we see on weak days. *I think it
would also help pilots to make that hard decision to abandon the task
in thunderstorms or clearly dangerous weather.

There is a bit of a counterargument. Perhpas pilots will strike out
and fly more aggressively knowing they can drop a landout. This might
get worse on the last day, and pilots might feel the need to do more
math and strategizing. I don't think this is true, but that's why we
need to try it in regionals.

I also our team selection also puts too much emphasis on avoiding one
bad day, and thus too much emphasis on flying lots of contests in lots
of different classes. Moving this to nationals and team selection will
take years of course, but if everyone thinks it's great that could
happen eventually.

The rule is rather carefully crafted. If you just “drop your worst
score” you might end up dropping the day you won, if it was devalued
to 500 points. *Instead you “get the winner’s score” on whichever day
that helps you the most. And it phases in, as it should for short
contests. The actual text is below.

I'm talking to one CD about trying this at a regional this year, and
will talk to more as the schedule gets finalized. *Certainly, a
groundswell from pilots of "hey, could we try the drop a day (or more
accurately, worst day adjustement) at this contest?" would give us
more chances to try it. So, I'm posting this in the hope that lots of
pilots will talk to the CDs of contests they plan to go to and
encourage them to give it a try, or that CDs will see the post
directly and get the bug. *In all fairness, the decision to use this
should be made early and well publicized.

John Cochrane
BB

11.4.4 † Worst Day Score Adjustment
If this is declared to be in effect, an adjustment is calculated and
added to the cumulative score of
each entrant.
11.4.4.1 † Worst Day Score Differential
For each entrant, WDSD is the greatest difference on any contest day
between the entrant's score
(before application of a Contest penalty) and the highest score
achieved by any regular entrant in
the class on that day.
11.4.4.2 † A Worst Day Score Adjustment is added to each entrant's
cumulative score, as follows:
After one official day: WDSA = zero
After 2 official days: WDSA = 0.25 * WDSD
After 3 official days: WDSA = 0.5 * WDSD
After 4 official days: WDSA = 0.75 * WDSD
After 5 or more official days: WDSA = WDSD

* * * * John, surprize, many know its been in the rules, for the last
several years. Trust me, all the CD's I know, do read the rules. But a
question, as this has to be declared before the contest starts. OK, so
a 5 day regional, that gets in 3 days, because of weather, now turns
into a 2 day regional and is devalued for seeding purposes??
Hmmm....... BUT, what about a 5 day regional, that declares this, only
gets in 2 days, now becomes a non contest. Seems like your chasing
your tail on this one. We get 2 days in, but drop one, and now no
contest. We write rules to allow a 2 day contest which then is
devalued for seeding and chooses a regional winner, but now, becomes a
zero because of the drop day? Wow.
* * * * Now, you haven't looked at how the scores would be effected
and yet think its a good idea? *So, the racers who are stable and turn
in a level performance lose because of the local hot jock with a bad
day.......hmmmmmmm.
* * * * My Feb. 2009 issue of Soaring magazine just came today. John,
today, is Jan. 21. The BOD hasn't even met yet at the general
membership meeting and your new half start anywhere is fully discussed
in your contest corner as a new rule. John, they did forgot your
drawings, so, maybe, you can get them posted on your website, as the
RAS really does't get to everyone.
* * * * What's the publishing deadline for submittion of articles into
the magazine? John, your just not stiring the pot, on RAS, to see what
kinda responce you'll get are you? *Naw, my bad, sorry about
that........I went to a west coast college. John, is your campus still
selling them road maps to the Kansas weed fields???

* * *Thermal tight,
* * *Soaring into 2009, with sandbox 101, (freeware @ Tucows.com)
* * *Before flight, join hands and chant, at the head of the
grid .."we are the fagareweesss"..........#711.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Tom
Clean your glasses. It doesn't eliminate contest days. It adjusts
scores. No days get eliminated.
I'm with Romeo on this one.
UH- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Then.....HANK

Stop holding back and say what you think.
Hold it in long enough, you will explode.

.............711.

On Jan 23, 6:15*am, John Sinclair wrote:
I just re-scored my last 2 regionals with "drop a day" rules and I moved
from 2nd to 1st at Minden and from 4th to 1st at Air Sailing. Wow, I like
this rule, but to be honest would we be acknowledging the best
performance? The last day at Minden we flew in a 30 knot wind and I was
afraid to get on the rocks with the conditions I was experiencing, so I
came in slow in a close race and dropped to second place. Didn't the
winner show superior skill or balls by accurately assessing the conditions
and doing what it took to win? At Air Sailing I failed to go deep enough
into the Serrias and therefore didn't contact the lift feeding a ragged
line of Q's, ended up landing out on a 1000 point day. Didn't the guy
that correctly read the lift, deserve to win the contest?
JJ

The interesting thing for me is how much the final standings are
locked in by the morning of the final day. This is because on the last
day you can only catch up on another pilot by the largest number of
points they were out of first on any prior day less the number of
points you are out of first on the last day. If you beat them by more
than this they will simply drop the last day by rule.

I re-scored R9 2007 and 2008 for 15-meter. In 2008 there were only two
pilots in the running to catch up with Gary Ittner going into the last
day and the second of these would have had to beat Gary by 158 points
AND score within 21 points of the winner on the final day to do it. In
2007 there were three pilots in the running to challenge next-to-last
day leader John Seaborn and one would have had to score at least 979
points on a 1000 point day to do it. You can imagine a circumstance
where the leader would have the option not to fly on the last day - or
simply have to follow a single pilot around on the final day.

As a practical matter it's not all that different from today - it just
takes circumstances from a strong probability to a mathematical
certainty.

9B

On Jan 23, 9:55*am, wrote:
On Jan 23, 6:15*am, John Sinclair wrote:

I just re-scored my last 2 regionals with "drop a day" rules and I moved
from 2nd to 1st at Minden and from 4th to 1st at Air Sailing. Wow, I like
this rule, but to be honest would we be acknowledging the best
performance? The last day at Minden we flew in a 30 knot wind and I was
afraid to get on the rocks with the conditions I was experiencing, so I
came in slow in a close race and dropped to second place. Didn't the
winner show superior skill or balls by accurately assessing the conditions
and doing what it took to win? At Air Sailing I failed to go deep enough
into the Serrias and therefore didn't contact the lift feeding a ragged
line of Q's, ended up landing out on a 1000 point day. Didn't the guy
that correctly read the lift, deserve to win the contest?
JJ

The interesting thing for me is how much the final standings are
locked in by the morning of the final day. This is because on the last
day you can only catch up on another pilot by the largest number of
points they were out of first on any prior day less the number of
points you are out of first on the last day. If you beat them by more
than this they will simply drop the last day by rule.

I re-scored R9 2007 and 2008 for 15-meter. In 2008 there were only two
pilots in the running to catch up with Gary Ittner going into the last
day and the second of these would have had to beat Gary by 158 points
AND score within 21 points of the winner on the final day to do it. In
2007 there were three pilots in the running to challenge next-to-last
day leader John Seaborn and one would have had to score at least 979
points on a 1000 point day to do it. *You can imagine a circumstance
where the leader would have the option not to fly on the last day - or
simply have to follow a single pilot around on the final day.

As a practical matter it's not all that different from today - it just
takes circumstances from a strong probability to a mathematical
certainty.

9B

Under the proposal, the range of scores narrows by 30-40% it would
appear. For the 2007 contest mentioned above, the point spread from
1-5 went from 573 to 361 and from 1-10 went from 1286 to 913. The
average number of points between places went from 143 to 101. You
appear to get more tightening in the top few places than further down
the scoresheet - though I'm not sure this is generally true.

9B

On a side note, could the rules committe leave the rules alone for a
few years !!! Just let us have 2 to 4 years in a row with the same
rules. This constant experimenting annoys the rats.

Todd Smith
3S

I'll second THAT!!!

J4

On Jan 23, 11:54*am, wrote:

I wonder if we can refer to this as "enhance a day" or "save a day",
or even "inflate a day", rather that "drop a day" which seems to be
misleading.

Andy

On Jan 24, 8:20*am, Andy wrote:
On Jan 23, 11:54*am, wrote:

I wonder if we can refer to this as "enhance a day" or "save a day",
or even "inflate a day", rather that "drop a day" which seems to be
misleading.

Andy

Yeah, sort of like "climate change", or "Patriot act', or "strategic
hamlet", or "advance to the rear". Oops

The Bungle Booster (tm)

On Jan 24, 11:10*am, Pat Russell wrote:
The Bungle Booster (tm)

"Redeem-a-day"

Come to think of it, you get 1000 points typically on the day you mess
up the worst - so, do you get to give the talk at the pilot's meeting
the next day?