Here is why I personally will not fly to a finish line again:
Last year during a regional contest the CD decided to set a finish line
to "allow for pictures to be taken". Finish direction was South to
North and explicitly announced and documented on the task sheet. The
classes had MAT and POST tasks with obviously different finishing
directions. When I announced my finish and FROM direction, no other
traffic had called in. I approached from the SW and "hooked" to the
North while crossing the finish line at about 100'. At exactly the
same time, a foreign competitor (happened to be a former World
Champion) finished direcly from the North at the same altitude. He was
less than 100' away from me and I just caught a glimpse of him, enough
to scare me to the bone. Some idiots on the ground cheered as my wife
told me later, they thought that was a fine stunt.
This could easily have resulted in two fatalities that - had they
happened - might have rendered this entire subject pointless for all to
see. To me, it is pointless and I just hope that those insisting on
having gliders converge on one point at max speeds at the end of a
tiring flight might come to see it the same way.
Herb Kilian, J7