UH very well said, thanks for a well thought summary.

Krasn states:
"No-one flies competitions making decisions whether to "live or die". We try to find out who is the best athlete without risking our lives. There are rules that dictate how we measure performance, and then there should be rules that prevent us from doing something stupid in the heat of race."
I think this mentality that Krasn presents that is the very problem right here. In reality we DO make decisions minute by minute regarding life and death during a task. How close to thermal next to a ridge, how close do I get to that guy in a thermal, do I want to exit this gaggle cause there is a crazy guy thermalling in there, how close do I cut this final glide, etc etc. these are ALL life and death decisions. When a guy has this fact in mind, then it acts as a natural "tempering" to the dangerous "gotta win at all costs" mentality that wants to spring up during a race.

The very fact that you are looking to rule makers to dictate how safe you fly is what creates the problem in the first place. This "nanny state" mentality is actually creating the problem, where guys think if they follow the published rules then they are flying "safe". How wrong we have seen this to be.

Place as many "disinsentives" to unsafe flying as you like in the rules and guys will still be running into ridges, stall/spinning and acting crazy in a gaggle. Once again, it is personal decision making and personal limits that create safety. It is an INTERNAL issue (mindset), not an external (rules) one.