Having Electric Comps Count Toward Existing SAP -- no matter what the merits, ITS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN -- EVER. It would require a supermajority of LIVING Level IV's and Level V's to APPROVE. Every non-respondent is a NO. No matter what we might wish for, it cannot happen.
Retaining The 8 hour Slope Task -- I don't much care one way or another. There are good arguments for and against. In the context of the existing SAP it is a bit of a non-starter for people like me who are 250 or so miles from the nearest usable slope. We have hills where I live, just not hills which are not wooded on top to the extent that they are pretty well unflyable. On the other hand, with an electric launch, it is more likely that there are places with enough of a clearing near the bottom to launch and land on -- and you can erect a bit of a wind break and fly with the wind to your back:-).
Enhancing The Flight Tasks -- There seems to be a mentality in some of these posts that we are bound to duplicate the tasks in the existing SAP. Some of this seems to me to derive from a desire to "prove the point" that we are "equals" to the traditional flyers. In the infamous words of a previous Secretary of State, "Who Cares?" Some of you are letting these leatherbacks get into your heads with their assertions that eSoaring is not the real deal. The guys who make these assertions and the guys who respond to them need to get a life. I strongly recommend that everyone who "thinks" they know what the LSF is all about read the delightful history that is posted on this web site. When the tasks were originally conceived they were intended to be doable -- but difficult. In 1969, a thermal flight was UNEXPECTED according to none less than Harley Michaelis. Just finding lift was exceptional. That evolved to where "working" the lift that was found was exceptional. And today, the skill that is expected is to "know where the lift is." Times have changed. Planes have changed. And even beginners skills have changed. Whether or not we recognize it, even beginners can get many more attempts during any particular period than the guys did when they had to shag their hi-starts between every flight. Equipment is far, far better (you should look at what was being flown in 1969) and the learning curve is much steeper.
If eSoarers can get away from the self-imposed inferiority complex that drives them to "prove" that they are "real" relative to traditional soarers, they might look at the opportunities that the ESAP offers to be more interesting. I have no quarrel with continuing the Contest Requirements as they stand, but the Flight Tasks at any particular level are not in any way balanced any more with the time and skill required to fulfill the Contest Requirement. At the very best, contest requirements take a minimum of six days (three weekends) to complete. I suspect many of us require double that number or more. And most of us do not have contest opportunities every week. The Flight Tasks through Level IV can easily be fulfilled on two or three flight days. The Flight Tasks for Levels III and IV can be accomplished with as little as three flights. And I think an honest person evaluating the skill to complete the Flight Tasks at any particular level through Level IV would conclude that those skills do not in any way reflect the level of skill required to meet the corresponding contest requirements. At any given level, by the time a person completes the contest requirements, the flight tasks are really trivial.
Modest changes to the existing Flight Tasks might go a long way toward making them more interesting and toward elevating them to the level of skill and effort required to complete the respective Competition Requirements. First, and maybe most useful, would be to require that each Flight Task attempt be declared before launching and that only one attempt be allowed per task per calendar day. This reduces the completion of tasks which merely reflect a random opportunity offered by "running into" a thermal -- and it rewards the necessary contest skill of "knowing" where the thermals will be (a skill that was not imagined in 1969 when the "good guys" flew search patterns).
Since we have the unique ability to limit launch altitude, there would be some value in reducing the launch altitude to make any particular time. Or perhaps increasing the task times or number of required flights. When I fly and practice, I seldom fly more than 10 or 15 minutes for a flight. For hard core practice, I set the switch at 100 meters and work to complete as many CONSECUTIVE 10 minute maxes (with landings in between) as possible. This, for me, is a gut buster. But with the switch set at 200 meters it is both doable and difficult to get three or four in a row. (BTW: I do this whether I am flying the Maxa or the Radian). For someone seeking to meet the Level II Competition Requirements, the more or less equivalent Flight Task might be to complete three consecutive 8 minute flights completed with landings inside a 2 meter radius circle. Level III might have to complete three consecutive 10 minute flights with landings inside a 1.5 meter radius circle. These tasks are definitely doable, they are doable by people who are capable of completing the respective Competition Requirements and they are doable without an expensive plane. Yes, they are more difficult than the current tasks. But they are interesting and entertaining. They would offer participants something interesting and educational to do while they are completing their Competition Requirements.
The Flight Tasks in the current SAP up through Level IV adopted as a new ESAP, with today's planes and skills, are trivial when set beside the Competition Requirements.
Happy Landings,
Don
