On Monday, September 22, 2014 1:08:31 AM UTC-7, Jim White wrote:
Practising in the same conditions as expected in the worlds is very

important. A bit off track but...if you want to win the worlds you also

have to be good at working as a team. This mutual skill takes time to

develop and requires that both pilots going to the Worlds have flown

together a lot, and in top competition.

US team is working well on team flying. And all the top pilots have hundreds of hours in all sorts of conditions. Northern Europe isn't that different from Midwestern US.

IMHO, lack of practice at the delicate gaggling tactics required at WGC is the most important thing the US team is missing. That's because we don't fly by world rules. And we don't fly by world rules because we don't want to turn US contests into mass land out affairs where the few who still come ends up buying motors and bringing full time crew as they do in Europe.

And playing the start roulette gaggle game isn't a lot of fun. Much of the competition for contests in the US is with the crowd who wants to fly OLC. Run euro-contests in the US, and I bet a large number abandon contests and just fly OLC. It's bad enough to wait for the tows and start to open, but if you've got to stick to some huge gaggle and fly right through the thunderstorm, it will get old fast. Tough nut to crack.

I hope all who bemoan the lack of US practice under world conditions, and how we should practice under world rules will show up for Sarah's pan-Americans.

John Cochrane