New fun racing format

This past weekend the Arizona Soaring Association tried a new fun
racing format, and it was a blast!

A little background: The ASA runs a weekend racing series from April
to September, with a weekend race just about every third weekend.
Between races, the usual gang of suspects usually get together for
some serious XC, which often ends up being an informal race when
someone calls the first turnpoint... In the past, on occasion the
pack has flown what is essentially a group PST/AST, with the first
pilot to each turnpoint calling the next, and the pack racing around
until the concensus was that it was time to call the finish. Lots of
fun, but often the leader ended up having to call the whole task
himself, while the rest of the lazy leeching slobs sat back, smokin a
Lucky, and letting fearless leader do all the work of deciding where
the bad lift was over unlandable terrain.

So last weekend CH suggested that as a variation, the first pilot to a
turnpoint would instead pick which of the following pilots would have
to call the next turnpoint. After a little discussion, it was a go:
5 mile start cylinder, 6000' MSH, first turnpoint selected by
concensus on the ground, and each pilot would have to pick a turnpoint
if tagged, until all pilots had picked, up to 10 turnpoints.

On both days we had good 3-5 knot thermals, and the gaggle pretty much
started together - everybody wanted to get to the turnpoint first and
make somebody else sweat! (In fact on Sunday, it was a 6-ship
racehorse start out of the same start gaggle as we counted down the
time until the gate opened and everybody rolled our on course in
formation - neat!). While the task of choosing the course jumped from
pilot to pilot, the racing was close and a lot of fun - plenty of
"team flying" as everybody helped each other find and center lift, but
still a race as everybody tried to catch up and pass their friends and
be the next to tag someone. A lot of fun was had by all, some great
flying together (often ALL the gliders involved ended up in the same
thermal on course), and everbody knew where everbody was and how they
were doing all the time (instant, real time performance feedback).

When all the dust settled, we flew about 190 miles on Saturday with
the winning speed being 61 mph, and about 150 miles on Sunday at about
50 mph.
Not bad for October, and a really fun "non-contest" contest.

Kirk
66

That sounds awesome. That's an excellent idea.
"Kirk Stant" wrote in message
om...
This past weekend the Arizona Soaring Association tried a new fun
racing format, and it was a blast!

A little background: The ASA runs a weekend racing series from April
to September, with a weekend race just about every third weekend.
Between races, the usual gang of suspects usually get together for
some serious XC, which often ends up being an informal race when
someone calls the first turnpoint... In the past, on occasion the
pack has flown what is essentially a group PST/AST, with the first
pilot to each turnpoint calling the next, and the pack racing around
until the concensus was that it was time to call the finish. Lots of
fun, but often the leader ended up having to call the whole task
himself, while the rest of the lazy leeching slobs sat back, smokin a
Lucky, and letting fearless leader do all the work of deciding where
the bad lift was over unlandable terrain.

So last weekend CH suggested that as a variation, the first pilot to a
turnpoint would instead pick which of the following pilots would have
to call the next turnpoint. After a little discussion, it was a go:
5 mile start cylinder, 6000' MSH, first turnpoint selected by
concensus on the ground, and each pilot would have to pick a turnpoint
if tagged, until all pilots had picked, up to 10 turnpoints.

On both days we had good 3-5 knot thermals, and the gaggle pretty much
started together - everybody wanted to get to the turnpoint first and
make somebody else sweat! (In fact on Sunday, it was a 6-ship
racehorse start out of the same start gaggle as we counted down the
time until the gate opened and everybody rolled our on course in
formation - neat!). While the task of choosing the course jumped from
pilot to pilot, the racing was close and a lot of fun - plenty of
"team flying" as everybody helped each other find and center lift, but
still a race as everybody tried to catch up and pass their friends and
be the next to tag someone. A lot of fun was had by all, some great
flying together (often ALL the gliders involved ended up in the same
thermal on course), and everbody knew where everbody was and how they
were doing all the time (instant, real time performance feedback).

When all the dust settled, we flew about 190 miles on Saturday with
the winning speed being 61 mph, and about 150 miles on Sunday at about
50 mph.
Not bad for October, and a really fun "non-contest" contest.

Kirk
66


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