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Contest rules for 04
By the lack of discussion I assume that not many RASer have read the
Proposed Changes for Contest Rules For 2004. The proposed changes can be found at: http://www.ssa.org/contests/ContestRules.asp The pdf file has a date of 01/03/04 Some of you might even like some of the proposals. Lets have some discussion. Duane |
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"Duane Eisenbeiss" wrote in message news:djXSb.194193$I06.2144317@attbi_s01...
By the lack of discussion I assume that not many RASer have read the Proposed Changes for Contest Rules For 2004. The proposed changes can be found at: http://www.ssa.org/contests/ContestRules.asp The pdf file has a date of 01/03/04 Some of you might even like some of the proposals. Lets have some discussion. Duane I'll bite. My comments are, like the rules changes, tiny in overall impact. 1) For good or bad, rules changes 16 and 17 make weak PST days a slightly bigger crapshoot than they were already. There is the curious situation now that if you do 60 miles (one turnpoint) in a four hour PST on a booming day, you are guaranteed 600 points. That has been raised to 630 points in the new rules. He beats a guy who goes 400 miles but lands a few miles short. That's extreme of course. The more routine situation is that there's a half hour to go; lift is weak but not absent. You are in gliding range of the airport. Do you try to add another 20 miles or so, or do you land with a half hour or more still on the clock? You might add 30-40 points by going on, but if you land out, it will cost 400 at least, ending your chances in the contest. This is a BIG decision, and making it right is crucial for winning contests. Most pilots play it safe, and also realize that everyone else will make the same decision so that the day will be undervalued. The result is the mass of undertime finishes we see on PST and TAT days. These days are not unsoarable, and most pilots would continue on and make it on an assigned task. But once lift is down to the sketchy 1-2 knot range, they head for home. Raising the guaranteed points for "finishing" makes finishing way undertime more attractive. But lowering devaluation has the opposite effect. Now, the lone eagle will get a lot more points if he makes it. The net effect is probably not so much to make one strategy (finish way early, vs. perservere and try for the big win) more attractive, but it raises the number of points at stake; it makes this decision more crucial, and raises the effect on the overall contest of whether the lone eagle gets lucky or not. 2) You now get 1/10 of your time when you finish undertime. One intention was to stop smart guys from waiting around outside the finish circle so they don't contribute to day devaluation and get their full points for winning. But it doesn't really stop it, it raises the calculation bar. Say you get back 1/2 hour early, you've done all the turnpoints in the turn area task, and you know everyone is way behind you (John Seaborn, 2001 Region 7). Do you finish now, and get 1/10 of your time? Or do you wait and make sure not to devalue the day? Better get out your rule book and calculator! 3) The 20 meter class includes motorgliders, but bans water ballast. If the class ever gets serious, this means guys with the motors get to fly at a much bigger wingloading than guys without. Better yet, I guess, to be competitive you want a light pilot 1 and a range of guys in the back seat from 100 to 300 pounds. (Maybe give them a parachute so you can get rid of them when the lift gets weak!) Water ballast may be a pain, but it does even out wingloadings. 4) Rest In Peace the 15 minute time addition. Time to upgrade your software, and really learn to use it so you can nail the exact finish time. John Cochrane BB |
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"Todd Pattist" wrote in message ... (John Cochrane) wrote: 4) Rest In Peace the 15 minute time addition. Time to upgrade your software, and really learn to use it so you can nail the exact finish time. Or (putting it differently) slower pilots who nail the exact finish time, get more points than faster pilots who don't. Todd Pattist - "WH" Ventus C (Remove DONTSPAMME from address to email reply.) Is it just me, or are the competition rules becoming more like a sports car navigation rally instead of a race? Bill Daniels |
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In article ,
Bill Daniels wrote: "Todd Pattist" wrote in message .. . (John Cochrane) wrote: 4) Rest In Peace the 15 minute time addition. Time to upgrade your software, and really learn to use it so you can nail the exact finish time. Or (putting it differently) slower pilots who nail the exact finish time, get more points than faster pilots who don't. Todd Pattist - "WH" Ventus C (Remove DONTSPAMME from address to email reply.) Is it just me, or are the competition rules becoming more like a sports car navigation rally instead of a race? Bill Daniels One wonders, if the rules committee is largely unchanged from the year before, and they come up with new changes, aren't they saying they were too stupid to get it right the previous year? So why would they think they'd get it right the following year? Wouldn't the honorable thing be to simply admit you couldn't get it right, recuse yourself, and let in a whole new committee that at least has a chance of coming up with rules that are so good they might last more than a year with no changes? I personally think that would be best for the sport: the rules committee remains the same until they decide a change is needed, and at that point they go home forever and are all replaced by new members who come up with new rules. Eventually we'd come up with rules so good they'd never need changing, right? ;PPPP |
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Mark James Boyd wrote:
Is it just me, or are the competition rules becoming more like a sports car navigation rally instead of a race? Bill Daniels One wonders, if the rules committee is largely unchanged from the year before, and they come up with new changes, aren't they saying they were too stupid to get it right the previous year? So why would they think they'd get it right the following year? If only it were that simple! Rules change for several reasons. For example: 1) new technology 2) the contestants change their minds about what they like 3) someone comes up with a new idea (often a pilot not on the committee) 4) a problem is discovered with a previous rule that wasn't discovered in the initial, limited use If it were just stupidity, we'd eventually get the right guys on the committee, but my observation is changing the committee (which has happened over the years) doesn't change the amount of complaining, but just who is complaining. The tasks we flew 30 and 40 years ago were dramatically different than we fly now. Times change, people change, the rules change. It looks like noise if you watch just the year-to-year changes, but if you look over a period of several years, you can see significant changes related mostly to the 4 points I listed. -- ----- change "netto" to "net" to email me directly Eric Greenwell Washington State USA |
#6
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I am relatively new to contest flying I have been flying about 1
contest per year for the last six years mostly if 15meter and some Sports Class Contests. While there have been quite a few changes to the rules in the past 6 years there have really only been 3 or 4 changes that acutally affect how I fly the contest. 1. GPS is the biggest change which has changed both the start and finish quite a bit However the Start and Finish are an extremely small portion of a contest flight and it is much easier that it was when were using the Visual start finish gate. There have been (and probably still are) a few years while we figure out the best way to utilize GPS for the contests. 2. Only last year did the Turn points change much from the 1/4 mile to 1 mile cylinders. This makes the turnpoint easier but again is a relatively minor change in how the flight is flown. 3. The Post Task is gone replaced with the MAT Task. I personally like the MAT Task better and really is only a minor change 4. The Turn Area Task, The Jury is still out for me as to how well I like this task and is acutally the biggest change is how the contest is flown. Still overall the contest flying is pretty much the same as it was 6 years ago. While you should be familiar with all the rules the main points a 1. Figure out how and when to start. (keep it safe) 2. Go fast to the next Turn point (keep it safe) 3. Fly through the Turnpoint (TAT's are bit more complicated here) (keep it safe) 4. Repeat 2&3 as necessary (keep it safe) 5. Figure out (before the flight) how to finish (keep it safe) These are the exact same steps that I used 6 years ago to fly a contest and it still works today. You can research the rules and and look for ways to use them to improve your score but in the end is usually the guy that flys the fastest that wins. Unless you finishing in the top 10% of the Class you don't need to worry about using the rules to your advantage anyway. You need a lot more practice learning how to fly fast. You will learn a lot flying a contest, even if you come if dead last (and you probably will the 1st few times you fly one) But you might do more x-country flying in a week than many glider pilots do all year. Brian CFIIG/ASEL |
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