On Tuesday, August 14, 2012 3:26:02 PM UTC-5, soartech wrote:
Evan says:



I see a 500' zoomie.



What is a "zoomie" and what's so bad about it?

I'm assuming he finished 500' below the finish cylinder edge and zoomed up to kill speed and gain altitude for getting to the pattern. In previous tasks they've declared a 15k cylinder with a 3,000ft minimum altitude base. They do this because weather had forecasted a gust front from approaching T-storms to the north of Uvalde. They want to give the pilot the option to get a valid finish then break off a glide to the airport should the gusts get strong. The breakoff would then be a decision to landout or go to another air strip. Hitting the 15k cylinder and keeping yourself at 3,000agl+ is tricky as most have never done final glides to a target like that. The "zoomie" is dangerous at any finish cylinder because you're zooming up at what might be the majority of gliders finishing above the floor limit. Hence the penalty points.