I like the free start height option. It goes nicely with open start times and will really reward pilots for finding and centering lift. Also may break up the pack and provide interesting tactics.

And sorry for the title of my thread but the beating IGC rules are taking on RAS and in other mediums from certain US pilots needed some balance ;-).

For the record, I felt OK? with this starting procedure although it was highly energized (airspeed and turning radius), often with a big pull up back into a climb after 2 minutes had passed. As long as all the pilots 'knew what was happening tactically' it was fine but occasionally I saw guys going 55 knots thermaling up thru guys going 140 knots descending and later pulling back up into the same crowded thermal....

The golden BB syndrome comes into play mixing gliders in this manner....a lot of chaos can develop in a hurry. So much so that I pulled off and went away once as I was growing concerned about the complexity of keeping track

Again, I think an unlimited or free height start might be safer. Cloud flying is not a concern of mine. It should be self policed. One thought is on days with clouds you could get still get packs waiting for each other to start under said cloud. At least they would not be mixing up and down and looking into their cockpits as often...and they would all be going roily the same speed, turning left, etc.

Sean
F2