On Dec 23, 1:16*pm, wrote:
Andy and others:

This is really great, and thanks for starting up this thread. The RC
really needs this kind of feedback, and make sure to tell us how
things work out during the season.

I read Andy's story this way: The rule is working pretty much as
intended -- it's spreading everybody out as they fish around through
75 square miles looking for a rocket ride out the top. In one sense
this is good news because we worried that "start anywhere" would just
move the gagglle to a different spot and not change anything.


I think that's bacically correct - at least out west where all the
thermal are 10+ kts to 17,500' g The cylinder is big enough that
someone finding a boomer genreally draws at most a smallish gaggle of
gliders from the immediate vicinity at that time. Things tightened up
a bit if the cylinder had clear areas of more versus less favorable
lift. In any event I felt the size of the gaggles was reduced as was
some of the bunching up on course - although Parowan doesn't suffer
from bomber formation task flying anyway.

I didn't see lots of gaggle-bumping, but in my case I saw climbs
through the top that generally topped out thousands of feet above MSH
- making bumping thermals a very different proposition from what the
RC concerned about. I can't recall anybody taking a start out the side
of the cylinder - though I can't say categorically it didn't happen.

I would think the experience in a contest where pilots can't reach MSH
might be quite different. Anybody?

9B