Stupid Winter Musings...

So I was talking to a fellow vintage glider pilot from Wichita (we'll leave Tony unnamed here), and go to wondering if it were possible to set a distance day using current sports class rules. Would one turn point 1000km radius TAT work?

Pete

On Wednesday, February 6, 2013 1:47:00 PM UTC-6, vontresc wrote:
So I was talking to a fellow vintage glider pilot from Wichita (we'll leave Tony unnamed here), and go to wondering if it were possible to set a distance day using current sports class rules. Would one turn point 1000km radius TAT work?



Pete

Fun question. Alas, (or maybe not!) turn area radii are limited to 30 miles.. Also current rules still give a big bonus for finishing back at the airport, so the smart cookie does out and return distance not straight distance.

Better, I think for the long-suffering crew, (do you really want to land everyone out 300 miles downwind?) you can very easily call "cat's cradle" distance, harking back to the 1960s rather than the 1950s. An unrestricted MAT with a 8 hour minimum time would do the trick. The scoring formulas would alas devalue it because everybody would end up MT15, but that might be fixed if anyone were interested.

The strategy would in any case be to leave the minute the start gate opens, go for all the distance you can, try to turn 40 miles upwind of the home airport just as the last thermal of the day dies, and glide quietly home just before sunset.

To make it really fun, you could limit it to three turnpoints, no buzzing around the airport. Or require an FAI triangle...

A lot fun tasks can be called with today's rules and a little creativity.

John Cochrane