A fair opportunity to compete?

On Jul 18, 4:50*pm, John Cochrane
wrote:

OK, time to move drop a day to its own subject.

Let's start by getting the facts straight. You don't drop a day of the
whole contest, as if it were rained out! *Each individual pilot gets
to drop his worst score. Let's read the rule:

(good explanation snipped...)

John, thanks for clarifying the rule - but if it isn't "dropping a
day", perhaps we should call it something else!

Personally, I don't agree with your assumption that it will change the
way most pilots will compete - I think most will still try as hard as
they can and not even think about being able to get a WDSA added to
their score. Ow, my head hurts!

And the rule seems to go against the fact that short contests are more
luck prone, while longer contests allow mistakes to be made up (or
gives other pilots a chance to make mistakes...).

Like the old "add 15 minutes" rule, I'm not convinced this option
fixes anything that needs fixing.

Kirk
66

On Jul 18, 6:19*am, JJ Sinclair wrote:
Andy wrote?

The 5 minutes comes right from the master, Charlie Spratt. Its an
acknowledgment that some are in trouble, but we're here to race and
race we will. Probably done more as an answer (in advance) to any
potential Parowan type protests that might be lurking out there.


Got it. The 5 minutes is just lip service - not my preferred approach,
by probably effective most of the time.

I do think in this case the CD would have been justified in not
opening the Sports Class gate at all - as disappointing as that may
have been for several dozen pilots. Opening the gate makes an implicit
statement that the CD believes everyone in the class has been given a
fair opportunity to get a start. This should probably be made more
explicit - either in the rules or in the guidance given to CDs. We
should also consider making it more explicit that the CD should take
whatever measures s/he thinks are necessary to ensure that
opportunity, including raising the release altitude and/or changing
the drop zone (changing the drop zone in particular is tricky, because
changing ANYTHING can lead to griping and protests).

9B

Well said Andy. Your comments underscore the importance of the task
advisors (perhaps we should call them "task and gate advisors"). The
rules indicate how these individuals should be well respected, fair,
and experience. Using their input more is less likely to generate
protests. I'll throw in my earlier comment here that in a big contest,
we probably need more task advisors to get an accurate "sample."

4Z
(on hiatus in 2009)

On Jul 19, 8:01*am, Chad wrote:
Well said Andy. Your comments underscore the importance of the task
advisors (perhaps we should call them "task and gate advisors"). The
rules indicate how these individuals should be well respected, fair,
and experience. Using their input more is less likely to generate
protests. I'll throw in my earlier comment here that in a big contest,
we probably need more task advisors to get an accurate "sample."

4Z
(on hiatus in 2009)

The tension in raising release altitudes is that it delays the launch,
but when conditions are deteriorating the CD may be forced with a
choice between getting the current class launched AND started versus
getting the next class launched at all. Not an enviable situation, but
sometimes you gotta make the tough call. I think once the majority of
a class is in the air, making sure they can all get a chance at a
start takes priority over commencing the launch for the next class.

See you at the 2010 Sports Nationals Chad?

9B