First, I have to say the "dumb-ass" is my own description of the 15-minute
rule, but I think it fairly accurately represents the opinion of the
majority who I fly with in the ASA series. Some are neutral, some are
opposed and some are just plain furious. Most think it's a bit dumb and
adds complexity while subtracting from comprehensibility.

I don't believe it can be a good rule if it takes so much explaining! Rules
should be simple. We don't want something that resembles the US tax code!

My main complaint about the "start height penalty" , if I can call it that,
is that it treats all pilots the same, even though actual start height is
different. I have actually started a task lower than a colleague, flown
faster cross-country than him, then been beaten by him as he converts his
extra height into distance! We both received the same height (time)
penalty, even though I started lower.

You might ask, why didn't I take the extra height and start at the top like
others? First, it's crowded at the top of a start cylinder. Second, we
often get cyclical thermals that go higher than others and sometimes one
group of starters gets higher than the others. The lower group just can't
get up there!

If you want to level the playing field on start height (and I'm not going to
argue that it's unreasonable), then why not use each individual pilot's
actual start height? It's on the logger, and it means you don't have to add
an arbitrary fixed time (or height) to everyone.

The big problem, in my view, is that the decision making has been made more
complicated than under previous rules. Before, when you got final glide, if
you were getting home over minimum time, you just flew to the finish as fast
as possible. (It is a race, after all!) Under the new rule, when you get
final glide, you have to decide the optimum speed and how much of that
height to allocate to speed and how much to distance. Your flight computer
won't tell you! At a critical part of the race, you're having to do mental
arithmetic instead of concentrating on flying.

Anyway, I'd be happy to share opinions with the rule-making committee from
me and my colleagues who have quite a bit of experience flying with them in
local contests. There are some other rule changes we're not delighted about
either.

The discussion on www.asa-soaring.org
is under "Scoring" in the Forums section.

Mike

ASW 20 WA