On Jan 9, 12:48*pm, wrote:
snip Those who launch last will
have a disadvange on certain days due to with the old start rules,
they knew where to look for the prestart gaggles. Now, launching last
will not give the opportunity to search the start cylinder for the
bigger climbs that earlier starters have found. Of course, the launch
does rotate, but some will again have better luck than others.

Interesting point Tom. That is something we can actually measure by
looking at flight logs to see what the distribution of first climbs is
in 2007 versus 2008. I certainly felt the pressure to get a good climb
out the top last year, but with an MSH that is high enough, if you
don't find a good climb through the top of the cylinder, you would
think you could head out on course and have enough range to get a
reasonable sample of lift on course. It's still a valid strategy to
head out on course, mark a good thermal and come back for a start.

Under the old and new rules there has always been a bit of a
statistical disadvantage to late launchers. I'm not sure I see a magic
solution to the tradeoff between spreading pilots out to decrease
gaggles and bunching them together to make sure everyone gets a more
equal start. It depends on which you think is more important. I think
it's more important to spread them out - within reason.

I guess you could increase the time between last launch and gate
opening, but you start putting pressure on the length of the soaring
day in some cases.

Andy