Gary Ittner wrote in message ...

Gosh, a quarter mile? Have you never been in a big gaggle on an Assigned
Task and had another glider stick its belly 10 feet from your canopy?
Have you never been in a gaggle turning right, with another group
directly below turning left, and then seen the two groups merge because
the lower group was climbing slightly faster?

Yes, I have, and I prefer a threat I can see and moving in basically
the same direction to a threat I don't see going in the opposite
direction. One threat is skill related - and I know the skill of the
pilots I fly with most of the time. The other threat is almost
entirely a luck factor. I agree that gaggles can be dangerous, but if
I remember right one of the "selling points" of the TAT is that it is
safer because it reduces gaggles. Ok, but it may introduce a
different threat instead. I know I don't like it when an AST task is
called with only one turnpoint, so that head-ons are inevitable.

That's the same weak argument that was used for many years by famous
PST-haters like Bill Bartell and Alan Reeter. But have you ever heard of
a collision between racing gliders cruising in different directions on a
flexible task? I haven't. Gaggles are where collisions happen.

Actually, it seems that "safety" (or lack of) is used way too much in
justifying rule changes. Same with stats - what is the percentage of
Assigned tasks to Area tasks, with equivalent number of gliders
competing, etc.. Where were the gaggles - an area task with obvious
better routes will also have gaggles, etc...

I've heard of many collisions in gaggles during Assigned Tasks, usually
when one racer mis-judges his high speed entry into an existing gaggle.
Just off the top of my head I can think of 3 fatal ones: Ephrata '84,
Uvalde '91, Bayreuth '98.

If you're really worried about collisions in races, and not just trying
to use another weak argument to support an "Assigned Task only" minority
opinion, you'll become a big fan of flexible tasks that cause gaggles to
disappear, such as a MAT with zero assigned turnpoints or a TAT with
very large circles.

Actually, I'm not really very worried about collisions in races - I'm
more concerned when I lose situational awareness and let someone get
by without seeing him. I am concerned with diluting the purpose of
racing with all sorts of (in my opinion) dumbed-down tasks. Now I'll
be the first to admit I'm no threat to anyone on the national team,
but I do race enough to know what I like and don't like. And so far,
I like TATs less and less. And I absolutely hate "flexible tasks".
That's not racing, it's going cross country in a hurry! I guess you
can mark me down in the "Assigned Task only" minority.

So you all know what I'll probably call when it's my turn to be CD!

Kirk