On Monday, July 28, 2014 12:17:12 PM UTC-7, Sean Fidler wrote:
Here is a crude but accurate Google spreadsheet summarizing the 2013 "Task Mix" in the US (SSA sanctioned).

Some of this depends on exactly what the goal is (besides "more ATs!" - what is the underlying gliding experience you are going for). To some extent it's also a function of what you are willing to sacrifice to get to that goal. We have come to the current structure as a tradeoff among a series of objectives - some of them conflicting, like "use as much of the soaring day as possible" and "make sure most pilots get home". CDs also have a set of tradeoffs and are trying to manage in the face of a lot of uncertainty.

ATs generally force the field together more. Noel's point is also important here - you're not really together unless you are together in space AND time. You can go for a grand prix start to compress the field even more and replace the 1 mile cylinders with 45 degree sectors (the old FAI and photo-style). The conflicting goals to this format are not landing out a bunch of gliders, not making the thermals too crowded when the field gets bigger than a certain size and not congesting the finish and landing. Those things can be managed by calling conservative/shorter ATs with smaller groups of gliders so that the beginning and end of the day are well within the margin of error for forecasting or pilot/glider capability and not calling them when the weather isn't highly predictable.

I think the honest assessment is that many CDs are trying to call more ATs or Long MATs. But there are a lot of days that you would just call off rather than be forced into an AT when you have no idea whether the weather is going to work. I think many CD's would rather call a 3-hour TAT than a 2.5 hour AT. In my experience most CDs don't call no-turn or one-turn MATs out of stupidity or laziness - they are trying to get a contest day in highly uncertain weather. I remember in the old AT-only days taking a start and watching 50 gliders struggle in the rain for 30 miles ultimately to meet a muddy fate.

Long MATs are essentially the same as ATs without the requirement to land out if the day doesn't go exactly as forecast. (Sean - you should call out "long MATs" in your stats as I think you will see that they are starting to get used more). The last day at 15M/Open Nats this year was a pretty good long MAT, but a little shift in the weather would have changed things substantially as four of the legs required long glides through the blue - mostly over open desert. The later Open Class starters had more challenges with the last couple of turnpoints, so the ability to go home without being landed out can be a useful option.

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