I think this all depends on exactly what the basis for the argument to change the scoring system is. Safety? That has some short term merit with the 2 collisions here, but the better safety arguement is probably 1 glider per country and half the total number of gliders. Half the gliders is a major break with WGC traditions however and has not been adopted despite years of effort by several distinguished parties. I personally think this is the smartest solution. If the arguement is fairness, that is going to be hard to close as well. Rules are relative. Everyone here is playing under the same rule system and this is how world championships have been scored for decades. Start gaggle games are clearly enjoyable to many from a tactical perspective. Most here feel gaggles are fine, they just get out of hand in the blue from time to time. As I have often expressed, flying around alone injects an element of luck into the game. This is why gaggles exist, to counter that risk. Don't forget, we still have large pre-start and on course gaggles in the US under our experimental rule system (how it is perceived by other countries) and system of no racing tasks (OLC timed task only) culture. So our safety arguement is already quite flawed in my opinion.

All I will say is that the gaggle "tendency" is very strong here. The reason is, partially, that many pilots have the confidence that they can A) stay with the gaggle and B) pass the gaggle and outscore it. But in reality most who are playing the gaggle well here fly with the same group all the way around (such as yesterday). Anything that can be done with scoring or general organization to de-incentivize this sounds good for safety. But this will have to go to an extreme to successfully break up gaggles here (or at home in the US). Also, the need for scoring system change is not the opinion of the majority here. Gaggles are clearly accepted as part of the sport. Most I have takes too do not fully believe that slight changes in scoring ratios will have much effect. This is the feeling I get at least. They seem to favor pleading with the pilots to behave :-).

As I recently demonstrated, along with several others in other classes, this scoring system does make it very hard to catch up once significant points are lost after an A) slightly slow day (1kph is typically worth 20 points, 5kph 100 points on slower days around 100 kph for the winner). In other words, it is very easy to lose points, but extroidinarily difficult to gain points back in terms of scoring scenarios. A landout with the main gaggle finishing is literally game over (not saying that's entirely wrong but, yet again, taking risk to fly alone is "sorta" punished twice). All this equals a huge tactical incentive to stay in touch with the gaggle. This is part of the sport of soaring as flying alone can create huge anomalies in scoring. The best pilots/teams here are experts at controlling risk.

One other idea that I personally love is a 25-75 km from start "bonus points steering turn" (say 50 points for the first pilot, 30 for second, 20 third and so on. Something the gaggle will have to "let go" to play the typical 20-30 minute behind the early starters game.

The truth is that it's unlikely that the IGC is going to make a major change in scoring formula. The political power to keep this system appears strong. I for one think many changes are necessary.

Why not some concrete, comprehensive safety rules? For example: a pilot who gets within 100 feet of another gets a penalty. This seems reasonable, no? If being in a close gaggle meant several 10 point penalties, the gaggles would be dangerous for points! Hmmm?

Some number crunchers here did some interesting analysis on which pilots (in each class) were flying in closest proximity to others. This produced a bar chart which was displayed on the big theatre screen at the pilots meeting for ALL to see. It appeared to be fairly accurate (happily, I was among the lowest "closeness" in 18m) in my opinion from what I had witnessed. Peer pressure like this is fine but without actual penalties, gaggles will remain aggressive as it is a skill to use others visually as our vario and try to gain competitors in all gaggle thermals. This effort to climb better than others in the gaggle is what makes them risky.

Looks like no fly today here.

Sean