On Sunday, December 31, 2017 at 1:22:19 PM UTC-5, wrote:
Folks,
Please share your opinions with the rules committee before January 10. Here is my feedback:

Hank,
Happy New Year.

The 2018 rules changes look good with the exception of the finish penalty which is only a minor improvement over the previous -200ft land-out scenario from a competition fairness perspective.

With the proposed rule the following penalties apply to the maximum 600 speed points:
100ft low - 25 points
200ft low - 50 points
300ft low - 225 points
400ft low - 400 points
401ft low - 600 points (on a 1000 point day)

Any big non-linearity in the scoring acts as a big deterrent, for those impacted, to return to future contests. The FAI system of a linear penalty to the ground is far more favorable and in my case a major reason to favor a transition from the SSA to the FAI scoring approach sooner than later. A 400 point low finish penalty will often control the results of the contest for a pilot when, in climb, it's often only 2 minutes of additional circling - this doesn't feel balanced.

I hope you and find a way to adopt a more balanced and ideally linear finish penalty in 2018.

Thanks again for all your efforts over the years.

Cheers,
Bob Fletcher 90

Yes, and to make sure there is philosophical consistency between the circle and line finishes please implement a graduated penalty for the line finish where you doen't lose all your speed points for landing 1 mi short of the line.

Sarcasm intended.