On Jan 18, 8:34*am, Scott Alexander
wrote:
I figured this forum would be a great spot to ask some of the advanced
contest pilots about their personel strategies & tactics they use to
win. *

If you are a novice contest pilot you may be better off asking for
advice for appropriate for novices.

While the best contest pilots may start as late as possible, jump all
the gaggles of slower pilots, and then get home first, it may not work
for you.

A novice pilot starting late may not catch up with anyone and will
most likely be landing out because there was not enough day left to
complete the task at the best speed he could fly.

I don't know what your experience level is but if you are really new
to contest flying I'd suggest starting early, running with the fast
guys as long as you can after they catch you, and then making your own
way home after they leave you in their dust.

In the days when we ran start lines it was common practice to start,
find the first thermal, wait for others to come and mark it, and then
sneak back to start again. With the high start altitudes of GPS
cylinder starts the first thermal is not so important but people will
sometimes still try to lure markers out on course by calling a start
they have no intention of using. More likely though is that a fast
pilot will start alone and leave the start call as late as possible so
he won't be followed.

Andy