US Rules change needed for devaluation of contest day

At 12:56 22 August 2014, Evan Ludeman wrote:
Everything we've done to make racing easier has been accompanied by a
drop
in participation.

Evan Ludeman / T8


I use to have a blast at contests, bring back the finish line, it was the
best
part about completing a task.

Golf Lima

At 12:56 22 August 2014, Evan Ludeman wrote:
Everything we've done to make racing easier has been accompanied by a
drop
in participation.

Evan Ludeman / T8


I use to have a blast at contests, bring back the finish line, it was the
best
part about completing a task.

Golf Lima

Ironically, I used this rule in Ionia (R6N) all 3 years I ran it. I might have been the first to use it actually. So I have some relevant experience with the rule and with the reaction competitors have had to it. Oddly, nobody has asked me about the experience at the SSA.

We advertised the rule usage and promoted it to potential competitors. People seemed to respond positively to the idea (many though it was the ability to throw out a worst day score) although I think it had more to do with locals being able to miss a day for work rather than having a bad flying day and therefore have no chance of scoring well in the contest.

Personally, disagree with the concept of throw outs in sailing or soaring. Especially soaring as we often have so few flying days constituting a competition. I think ALL races should count 100% in a competition. The most consistent pilot is the champion. Not the most consistent pilot with a mulligan. I'm commenting on the rule favorably only in terms regarding the "science experiment" of attracting more "competitors" by making the sport more forgiving via rules (wide radius TAT tasks, worst day score adjustment, etc).

I like the idea of having more competitors but rules like this, compromises in task quality (TAT, MAT) also negatively impact the overall competition quality. We need to be careful that we do not "water the sport down" so much that the people who actually care about serious competition are left disenchanted.

Sean

A lot of thought went into the design of this and some of the features are quite clever in terms of avoiding unintended consequences. Re-scoring of past contests is informative as far as it goes, but it doesn't answer any of the basic questions about how pilots might behave differently - the theories are all over the map in this regard. Having a trial at a regionals with some real pilot feedback on the experience and how it affected their contest strategy would answer many of the critical questions.

One purpose of regionals is to broaden the appeal of glider racing. Some feel that being knocked out of contention on a single, perhaps fluky day makes some pilots enjoy contests less while others argue that not everyone deserves a ribbon and fluky days are the real test of racing skill. These little innovations in the rules are attempts to address the first effect while not generating too much of the second effect. Finding the right balance also requires some real world trials.

9B

On Saturday, August 23, 2014 11:51:46 AM UTC-7, wrote:
A lot of thought went into the design of this and some of the features are quite clever in terms of avoiding unintended consequences. Re-scoring of past contests is informative as far as it goes, but it doesn't answer any of the basic questions about how pilots might behave differently - the theories are all over the map in this regard. Having a trial at a regionals with some real pilot feedback on the experience and how it affected their contest strategy would answer many of the critical questions.



One purpose of regionals is to broaden the appeal of glider racing. Some feel that being knocked out of contention on a single, perhaps fluky day makes some pilots enjoy contests less while others argue that not everyone deserves a ribbon and fluky days are the real test of racing skill. These little innovations in the rules are attempts to address the first effect while not generating too much of the second effect. Finding the right balance also requires some real world trials.



9B

Maybe some information would help.

What year was the rule adopted?
How many times has it been used in a regional contest?
Was the question asked on the Pilot Opinion Poll and if so the results?


Richard
www.craggyaero.com.

Earliest I can find it in a rulebook at the SSA site is 2008 Sport Regionals. No mention in the proposed changes for 2008 document

On Saturday, August 23, 2014 4:31:44 PM UTC-7, Ron Gleason wrote:
Earliest I can find it in a rulebook at the SSA site is 2008 Sport Regionals. No mention in the proposed changes for 2008 document

Maybe it is time to adopt the rule or dump it.

Richard
www.craggyaero.com

"Oddly, nobody has asked me about the experience at the SSA. "

Actually the ssa rules committee (me) talked to you a lot and to other pilots, and discussed lessons learned at the meeting, reflected in the minutes

John cochrane

On Saturday, August 23, 2014 2:51:46 PM UTC-4, wrote:
A lot of thought went into the design of this and some of the features are quite clever in terms of avoiding unintended consequences. Re-scoring of past contests is informative as far as it goes, but it doesn't answer any of the basic questions about how pilots might behave differently - the theories are all over the map in this regard. Having a trial at a regionals with some real pilot feedback on the experience and how it affected their contest strategy would answer many of the critical questions.



One purpose of regionals is to broaden the appeal of glider racing. Some feel that being knocked out of contention on a single, perhaps fluky day makes some pilots enjoy contests less while others argue that not everyone deserves a ribbon and fluky days are the real test of racing skill. These little innovations in the rules are attempts to address the first effect while not generating too much of the second effect. Finding the right balance also requires some real world trials.



9B

If the goal is to broaden the appeal for entry level or "recreational" competition guys, how about making it a Sports Class thing?

-Evan Ludeman / T8

I suppose that is true.