On Jan 11, 6:31*am, PMSC Member wrote:
Do the benefits of "start anywhere" outweigh the disadvantages?

My impression is that most pilots who have flown with start anywhere
hae liked it. The discussion here has been mostly about the proposed
modification that the RC is proposing before the rule goes into effect
for Nationals in 2009. The focus of the discussion is whether the
change addresses a real problem.

I took a look at the first day at Region 9 in 2008 to try to
understand at least one example of pilot behavior under the start
anywhere rule.

In Std, 15M and and 18M (all using the same start cylinder) 29 pilots
started through the top of the cylinder, 5 started out the side -
mostly close to the courseline. Roughly 2/3 of the pilots started in
the front half of the cylinder, but starts were distributed all over
the cylinder with the largest "gaggle" of starters comprised of 4
gliders.

Climb rates for out the top starters were as follows: 6 at1.8-3.9kts,
9 at 4-4.9 kts, 5 at 5-6 kts, 5 at 6-7 kts and 4 at 7-8 kts. A number
of the start climbs were for more than 4,000' gains. There appeared to
be pretty good correlation between higher climb rates at the start and
pilots at the top of the scoresheet at the end of the contest, so
perhaps the difference in climb is more a result of strategy than
luck. I'll take a look at some more contest days time permitting.

Overall there's nothing of concern and some potential strategic
insights that might be useful here.

9B