2015 15/Standard US Nationals (Elmira, NY)

[Sean Fidler]

Yesterday looked frustrating. Results for Day 1:
http://www.ssa.org/ContestResults.asp?contestId=2256&ContestDetailId=10650&ContestName=Standard+and+15+Meter+Nationals&ContestDate=7/26/2015&ResultsUpdate=True
Notice the task - 1 turn MAT (15 mile radius). Ugg.

Today looks to have lift to 8-9k and rather strong. Should be a good day for flying. Looking forward to watching the trackers.

[[email protected]]

On Monday, July 27, 2015 at 11:56:15 AM UTC-4, Sean Fidler wrote:
> Yesterday looked frustrating. Results for Day 1:

> Notice the task - 1 turn MAT (15 mile radius). Ugg.

I thought MAT's had by definition a 1 mile radius for the turnpoints. TAT's can have greater than 1 mile turn radii, but only as designated by the CD. I do not think this applies to MAT's.

Perhaps I am mistaken?

[[email protected]]

Seems like a glitch in the task definition. Also note that really
it's a 2 turn MAT (the last turnpoint is required to be to the SW
to keep out of the ELM traffic). It looks like a lot of the "landouts"
skipped that last turnpoint and just went home.

Net result: Hail Mary pass on 1st play after opening kickoff. ;)

Matt

[Sean Fidler]

On Monday, July 27, 2015 at 10:13:03 AM UTC-6, wrote:
> On Monday, July 27, 2015 at 11:56:15 AM UTC-4, Sean Fidler wrote:
> > Yesterday looked frustrating. Results for Day 1:
>
> > Notice the task - 1 turn MAT (15 mile radius). Ugg.
>
> I thought MAT's had by definition a 1 mile radius for the turnpoints. TAT's can have greater than 1 mile turn radii, but only as designated by the CD. I do not think this applies to MAT's.
>
> Perhaps I am mistaken?

Ill be honest, I have no idea. I also do not care. I cringe when a MAT is called at a contest. I think they (US CD's) can pretty much do whatever they want nowadays. With a zero turn MAT (thats right, ZERO) being a valid competition task in the USA, does it really matter? ;-)

That said, I do think they had difficult day to task. 1.5 hours and that amount of land outs paints a good picture. But if you cant go around a set track, it is really a valid competition day? Is it really a competition?

Obviously, I dislike the MAT task...but I am not alone in that thinking.
http://www.ssa.org/Contests?cid=2302&show=blog&id=3942&ContestName=18+Meter,+Open+and+US+Club+Class+Natio nals

We have fairly "successful" OLC "camps" now. I think we should stop doing MATS in real contests. Especially US NATIONAL contests.

Looking forward to better weather and a good task today. Perhaps even an Assigned Task! Fingers crossed. Good luck all.

And there is always this US held FAI Contest to consider for next year...

FIRST SAILPLANE GRAND PRIX USA

http://sgp.aero/usa2016.aspx

July 24-31, 2016
Ionia, MI

20 Pilots
15M Class
Assigned Tasks - PERIOD
Regatta Start
First pilot back to finish line wins.

Register here: http://sgp.aero/usa2016/event-information/pilot-entry-form.aspx?contestID=15898

:-)

[Craig Reinholt]

Don't take the drop down task on the SSA results page as gospel. Glitches / errors can happen. We had an AST this year that somehow got large TAT circles assigned to the turnpoints. The scorer and CD tried to get the circle diameters changed to 1 mile, but they couldn't get that corrected.

[John Godfrey (QT)[_2_]]

On Monday, July 27, 2015 at 11:56:15 AM UTC-4, Sean Fidler wrote:
> Yesterday looked frustrating. Results for Day 1:
> http://www.ssa.org/ContestResults.asp?contestId=2256&ContestDetailId=10650&ContestName=Standard+and+15+Meter+Nationals&ContestDate=7/26/2015&ResultsUpdate=True
> Notice the task - 1 turn MAT (15 mile radius). Ugg.
>
> Today looks to have lift to 8-9k and rather strong. Should be a good day for flying. Looking forward to watching the trackers.

This is a behavior that occurs when you start out with a TAT defined and then e.g. change it to a MAT with the same turnpoints.

The solution is that before you change the task type, put all the turnpoint radii back to 1 sm and save the task.

QT