So if the US were finally to get serious about properly prepping and
selecting Pilots for Club Class WGCs Assigned Tasks should be the norm
and not the exception, tasks on a good day should be in the 300 to 500
km range with flight times possibly getting close to 5h on a booming
day... And then there is the issue of team flying being illegal in the
US while having been developed to an art especially by the Germans,
British and French...

Markus Graeber

Some comments:

1. Long tasks. The US rules already strongly encourage long tasks.
Nothing hurts like taking two weeks off of work and going to a
contest, only to sit on the ground under a great sky after a short
task call. See the rules below. The CD can and should call 5 hour plus
tasks whenever possible, under current rules. If CDs aren't, you don't
need a new class, and you don't need new rules. You need to complain
to the CD and tell him to follow the current rules!

Note also that assigned tasks and long tasks work counter to each
other. Assigned task guidelines says don't land out more than 25% of
the fleet. You can call a much longer time-limited task than you can
call an assigned task!

2. "Preparation for the team." We have to remember that the main
function of US contests is NOT to train pilots for the world team. Why
not? If we focus only on that goal and in so doing make the whole
operation unpleasant for everybody else, nobody else shows up. If
nobody else shows up, you don't have a contest in the first place.
Already, many nationals are only attracting 20-30 pilots and are on
the edge of being financially viable and able to attract volunteers to
run them. If it becomes unpleasant for the bottom of the scoresheet,
the whole thing dies. The argument "do X because that's how it's done
in the worlds" with no further justification that it makes any sense
is always going to fall on deaf ears for this reason.

I've long been a fan of the idea of a "US Team Camp" which could
follow world rules exactly, and do any nutty thing the IGC dreams up
for the next worlds -- start gates with altitude limit and no speed
limit, tasks in which the right strategy is to dive for the ground 150
mi downwind of home at 3:00 exactly and then try to limp home, final
glides straight in to the airport over unlandable terrain, scoring
systems that make sticking with the gaggle mandatory even if that
means doing start gate roulette all afternoon and landing back at the
airport, tasking that lands everybody out, launching in the rain, you
name it. Along with team flying, ground weather support, extensive
pre- and post-flight briefings and the other things missing in our
contests. And along with a club class whose rules eliminate two thirds
of the gliders that currently show up for sports class nationals.
Events like that might support themselves f by hefty entry fees from
wannabees like myself. That's the right answer for "prepare pilots for
the worlds." I like it almost enough to get off my butt and organize
it myself! Hopefully someone more devoted to the "prepare for the
worlds" concept will have more energy.

10.3.1.1 † Task Parameters
....
• Standard Task Time: 4.0 hours

10.3.1.3 Normal Task - Tasks should make as full use of the available
soaring weather as is practical...
10.3.1.5 Maximum Task - Tasks should be set such that the total time
on course of the highest-scoring flights on any two consecutive days
is less than 10 hours. But, consistent with this and as conditions
allow, it is it is appropriate for the CD to set occasional tasks that
are substantially longer than the Standard Task Time.


A10.3.1.1 The minimum time is supposed to be a minimum, not a
target..... A longer task is desirable if the weather will allow it.

A10.3.1.2 Task-calling considerations for the CD General ...- Try to
use the full day, not merely the best part of it.

John Cochrane BB