2007 US Contest Rules Poll and Meeting Minutes

The results of the 2007 Contest Rules Pilot poll and the minutes of
the SSA Competition Rules Subcommittee Meeting are posted at
SSA.orgSailplane RacingRules &Process.
Proposed Draft Rules will be available for review 12/22/07.
H Nixon
SSA Competition Rules Subcommitte Chair

You guys done good, thanks for doing a thankless job, well.
JJ

On Dec 16, 2:00 pm, wrote:
The results of the 2007 Contest Rules Pilot poll and the minutes of
the SSA Competition Rules Subcommittee Meeting are posted at
SSA.orgSailplane RacingRules &Process.
Proposed Draft Rules will be available for review 12/22/07.
H Nixon
SSA Competition Rules Subcommitte Chair

Thanks for the "headsup" on the postings Hank. Unfortuanately I've not
been able to access any of that data from the SSA website as
indicated . Anyone else having difficulty ?

Ron (ZA).

No problem here, SSA page, then click on Sailplane Racing, then click
on Rules, then open 2008 Proposed Rule Changes PDF.
With the proposed changes, the guy that hits the finish circle 50' low
will loose 2 points / 10' (2 X 5= 10 points), sounds good to me. I
also like the straight forward way to deal with sailplane
"Modifications", add a wing fairing, loose 1%, add winglets, loose 1%
(no more measuring winglet heights), add zig-zag, loose 1%. This
sounds fail and it gives the CD firm guidance to deal with modified
ships. Looks like I will get tagged with a 2% reduction to the
published .939 for my Genesis 2 which becomes .920 due to wing fairing
and zig-zag additions. That sound just about right, the fairing got it
to climb in a 1 knot thermal and the zig-zag slowed down the thermal
speed to 45 knots. She will now climb with most ships and it always
did run like sting. This is a major change, so it won't take affect
until 2009.
Good on you guys,
JJ


On Dec 17, 2:19 pm, " wrote:
Thanks for the "headsup" on the postings Hank. Unfortuanately I've not
been able to access any of that data from the SSA website as
indicated . Anyone else having difficulty ?

Ron (ZA).

I'm writing a few "contest corners" for Soaring magazine to explain
this year's rule changes. The explanation for the new cylinder finish
penalty is on my webpage at

http://faculty.chicagogsb.edu/john.c...h_cylinder.htm

This will be in Feb Soaring, and more will follow.

John Cochrane

On Dec 18, 9:29 am, JJ Sinclair wrote:
No problem here, SSA page, then click on Sailplane Racing, then click
on Rules, then open 2008 Proposed Rule Changes PDF.
With the proposed changes, the guy that hits the finish circle 50' low
will loose 2 points / 10' (2 X 5= 10 points), sounds good to me. I
also like the straight forward way to deal with sailplane
"Modifications", add a wing fairing, loose 1%, add winglets, loose 1%
(no more measuring winglet heights), add zig-zag, loose 1%. This
sounds fail and it gives the CD firm guidance to deal with modified
ships. Looks like I will get tagged with a 2% reduction to the
published .939 for my Genesis 2 which becomes .920 due to wing fairing
and zig-zag additions. That sound just about right, the fairing got it
to climb in a 1 knot thermal and the zig-zag slowed down the thermal
speed to 45 knots. She will now climb with most ships and it always
did run like sting. This is a major change, so it won't take affect
until 2009.
Good on you guys,
JJ

On Dec 17, 2:19 pm, " wrote:



Thanks for the "headsup" on the postings Hank. Unfortuanately I've not
been able to access any of that data from the SSA website as
indicated . Anyone else having difficulty ?

Ron (ZA).- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Minutes and poll results are shown as of now. Text of proposed changes
will follow in a few days.
Items you mentioned will all be effective for contest year 2008.
I had no trouble viewing Tue AM.
UH

Looks like an excellent change to the circle finish procedure.

Sure wish it had been in effect last year! ;)

Good work, guys.

Kirk
66

Same comments as others. I can live with this.

Thanks to John Cochrane for the discussion on his Web page. One
question: could a pilot who's low on final glide enter the finish
cylinder below the floor, land out just short of the contest site, and
receive distance points MINUS a low finish penalty? That seems a bit
harsh but is how I interpret John's statement, below. I could be
mistaken:

"If there isn't even a weak thermal [on a marginal final glide that
winds up inside the cylinder but just short of the contest site], the
70 points you will lose on the finish, combined with the new larger
distance points, mean that there is less to be lost by landing in
that last nice field on this side of the trees."

I actually had trouble finding the part in the Rules where it says you
have to land back at the contest site to get speed points. You get a
finish time just by entering the cylinder without regard to where you
land:

10.9.3.3 The Finish Point, radius, and minimum height define a three-
dimensional Finish
Cylinder. A finish occurs when a sailplane enters the Finish Cylinder;
at least one fix must lie
within the cylinder. The finish time is taken as the interpolated time
the sailplane first
entered the Finish Cylinder.

But a later paragraph finally says you have to land back to complete
the task:

11.2.2.4 Task completion - If all turnpoints are valid, yield a scored
distance (Rule 11.2.3)
not less than the Standard Minimum Task Distance and the pilot
obtained a scored start
time, a finish time prior to finish closing and landed at the contest
site, then the pilot has
completed the task. Otherwise the task is incomplete.

OK, flying is over for me until next spring. I just don't want to be
worrying about this low on final glide next year.

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"
U.S.A.

On Dec 18, 12:00 pm, Chip Bearden wrote:
Same comments as others. I can live with this.

Thanks to John Cochrane for the discussion on his Web page. One
question: could a pilot who's low on final glide enter the finish
cylinder below the floor, land out just short of the contest site, and
receive distance points MINUS a low finish penalty? That seems a bit
harsh but is how I interpret John's statement, below. I could be
mistaken:

"If there isn't even a weak thermal [on a marginal final glide that
winds up inside the cylinder but just short of the contest site], the
70 points you will lose on the finish, combined with the new larger
distance points, mean that there is less to be lost by landing in
that last nice field on this side of the trees."

I actually had trouble finding the part in the Rules where it says you
have to land back at the contest site to get speed points. You get a
finish time just by entering the cylinder without regard to where you
land:

10.9.3.3 The Finish Point, radius, and minimum height define a three-
dimensional Finish
Cylinder. A finish occurs when a sailplane enters the Finish Cylinder;
at least one fix must lie
within the cylinder. The finish time is taken as the interpolated time
the sailplane first
entered the Finish Cylinder.

But a later paragraph finally says you have to land back to complete
the task:

11.2.2.4 Task completion - If all turnpoints are valid, yield a scored
distance (Rule 11.2.3)
not less than the Standard Minimum Task Distance and the pilot
obtained a scored start
time, a finish time prior to finish closing and landed at the contest
site, then the pilot has
completed the task. Otherwise the task is incomplete.

OK, flying is over for me until next spring. I just don't want to be
worrying about this low on final glide next year.

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"
U.S.A.

Chip, this could get interesting! What is the definition of "the
contest site"? Out west, you could find an old WW2 airfield and
almost have the one mile finish circle within the airport boundaries.

Do you have to land on a designated runway? What about Ionia, where
landing on the infield (between paved runway and taxiway) is allowed?
Or landing on a ramp/taxiway/clear area after floating across the
fence?

Still a good start. Come on spring!

Good stuff for discussion around the virtual fireplace, while
consuming a non-virtual adult beverage...

Kirk
66

On Dec 18, 1:00 pm, Chip Bearden wrote:
Same comments as others. I can live with this.

Thanks to John Cochrane for the discussion on his Web page. One
question: could a pilot who's low on final glide enter the finish
cylinder below the floor, land out just short of the contest site, and
receive distance points MINUS a low finish penalty? That seems a bit
harsh but is how I interpret John's statement, below. I could be
mistaken:

"If there isn't even a weak thermal [on a marginal final glide that
winds up inside the cylinder but just short of the contest site], the
70 points you will lose on the finish, combined with the new larger
distance points, mean that there is less to be lost by landing in
that last nice field on this side of the trees."

I actually had trouble finding the part in the Rules where it says you
have to land back at the contest site to get speed points. You get a
finish time just by entering the cylinder without regard to where you
land:

10.9.3.3 The Finish Point, radius, and minimum height define a three-
dimensional Finish
Cylinder. A finish occurs when a sailplane enters the Finish Cylinder;
at least one fix must lie
within the cylinder. The finish time is taken as the interpolated time
the sailplane first
entered the Finish Cylinder.

But a later paragraph finally says you have to land back to complete
the task:

11.2.2.4 Task completion - If all turnpoints are valid, yield a scored
distance (Rule 11.2.3)
not less than the Standard Minimum Task Distance and the pilot
obtained a scored start
time, a finish time prior to finish closing and landed at the contest
site, then the pilot has
completed the task. Otherwise the task is incomplete.

OK, flying is over for me until next spring. I just don't want to be
worrying about this low on final glide next year.

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"
U.S.A.

If you don't land on the contest site as defined by the CD, you get
disatnce points.
You get speed points by:
Finishing in the cylinder with plenty of energy like a "good boy:.
Or landing on the contest site after missing the bottom of the
cylinder
and getting speed points less the penalty fopr missing the bottom.
The
good news is that if you miss there is no reason to rush the landing
or do something
stupid, you just land safely. This is the essence of the change John
suggested.
UH