On Thursday, November 7, 2013 9:29:56 PM UTC-5, wrote:
Seems to me, that a safe and fair way to start a glider race is to climb out the top of a start cylinder. To make starting out the top an option that most pilots would choose, the top of the cylinder should be about 1000 to 1500 feet below cloud base and 2000 to 3000 feet above release height. I have been to several contests where the top of the start cylinder has been set very high or unlimited. While a high altitude top of the start cylinder seems to be popular, to me it seems to be unfair to late launchers, often seems to have starters flying very close to the VFR limit below the clouds, and in general placing a lot of gliders close together at the same altitude. I would like to have the opinion of others on this topic.



Bill Snead

6W

Rule requiring MSH to be at least 3500 AGL needs revisiting. Too restrictive in the South!
Thanks