On Jan 7, 7:20*am, "HL Falbaum" wrote:

If I read this correctly, the scored first leg distance is unknown until the
first turn is made?

No, while that is true, it is not the point I wished to make.

To understand the issue you need a picture of the task I described
showing the tangent points and the arcs that intersect the start
cylinder. Since I can't provide that you will need to draw it
yourself.

The point I wished to make is that the area of the start cylinder that
will give full credit for first leg distance is dependent on the
position of the first turn area control fix (the pilot selected turn
point). Since the position of that control fix is unknown when the
start point is selected, the pilot takes a risk when starting in some
areas in the front half. The no risk area of the start cylinder is
not the "front half" but an area that may be considerably smaller than
the "front half". That no risk area is defined by the area of overlap
between the two arcs drawn from the turn area tangent points.

Note that no start penalty will show on the score sheet, you just lose
distance that you thought was part of your first leg. This makes it a
hidden penalty and most pilots would not even realize they had lost
points as a result of the chosen start point.

This will be of particular interest to SW pilots that often start out
of the top and needs to be understood by anyone flying at R9 Parowan
unless the proposed rule change is abandoned.


Andy