Some simple Guidelines for international F3F competition

 

Below, you find a small guide line, that was composed by St. Ferriol / Laurac organizers team. It is not a rigid rule neither prentends to be complete or perfect. It is just a summary of good practicies that has been oberserved during international contests like the VKR in Rügen in 2004 or in Barcelona and La Muela in this year 2008. It is further used during our own contest of St. Ferriol / Laurac and it is up to the pilots to decide whether we are able to follow our own guide lines ;-) And in the end, if good weather joins a good organization, good F3F sport will be the consequence and for sure a nice atmosphere on the slope.

 

Andreas and his team.

 


 

Download the guidelines under word format:

 

Foreword:

The below guidelines have the intention to help organizers in preparation and to give some ideas of good and simple practices that have been successfully used in past.

1.         Spirit

For an international contest, competitors might travel from all over the world and will spend a lot of efforts and budget to participate. So in order to respect all motivated pilots, as much as possible rounds should be flown in a fair and sportive way, inline with FAI rules.

 

 

2.         Organization and preparation:

The below listed ideas and comments will sound certainly obvious for many organizers but in the past, some contrary examples have lead to disappointed competitors.

2.1       Prepare slopes and get authorization for all wind directions! If you have a slope but no wind, the organizer has done what he could!! If it is the contrary, pilots will not be happy at all!

 

2.2      In order to eliminate or reduce the variation of meteo influence on the results, an organization should try to accomplish 8 rounds during the competition. Consequently, it is advised to limit the number of competitors and to plan a sufficient number of competition days. For example 50 competitors for a 2 days event and perhaps max. 70 competitors on a 3 days event. Anyhow, a Contest-Eurotour competition should last at least two days. Based on experience in the past, an international contest should last three days because even in regions that are prone to wind, trouble has be noticed especially when the global weather situation is changing, one or two days with no wind or rain was easily observed and the third day gives a good chance to have spend all the money (for organizers and competitors) for a contest that could be validated.

 

2.3       Slopes should be suitable for F3F and sharp edge contour is preferred, in order to fly fast times. The selected slopes should offer space for safe landing (in a marked area) and allow competitors to put their planes and material. Access to the slope should be reasonable (not more than 30 minutes of walk) and permit as well the access for slightly handicapped persons. Take into account that each competitor might carry 3 gliders with ballast, some tools, food and his radio!

 

2.4      In order to help competitors with inscription, accommodation (hotels), starters list, criteria for participation, the proposed slopes (with some kind of maps and pictures), contact addresses for the organization committee of the competition, allowed frequencies, local rules, tourist information for the family etc., it is advised to install a home page. Communication towards competitors and to Contest-Eurotour committee is very important and must be organized in advance.

 

3.         Equipment:

3.1       Equipment for F3F time measurement should be reliable and in most cases simple! A complex and automatic system does not provide very much flexibility and might fail at the day of competition and a lot of valued time could be lost during troubleshooting. So a back-up system must be available and should be possible to be put in place quickly. It is for sure possible to ask other countries or competitors for support and help with a back-up system! In VKR2004, simple (but multiple) stopwatches were successfully used because the operational test of the automatic system revealed too many problems. Test your selected system or method some days before the competition!

 

3.2       A wind force measuring device must be put in place in an appropriate position on the slope and in case of wind being close to FAI limits (below 3 m/s or above 25 m/s) one judge must be able to observe the wind speed and check that conditions during the competitors run were in line with FAI rules. A chronometer or alternative means for 20 sec time limit check should be used.

 

A wind-vane should be visible for wind direction and as well observed during each run. A manual observation of the wind parameters has proven to be sufficient in the past.

 

4.         Judges:

For an international contest, independent base and timer judges and course director should be prepared in order to guarantee a faire competition. It is proposed to have a dedicated judge for the safety line and a loud horn for example to inform all pilots that the safety has been crossed and that the responsible pilot is exposed to the associated penalty. An independent jury must be available in case of protest. A briefing on FAI rules should be held for these officials and judges before the competition starts.

 

 

5.         Organization on the slope:

Before the competition starts, hold a briefing with basic elements: FAI rules, safety line, landing field, preparation area, time limits, frequencies (especially when double), re-flight rules, pilot numbers shift between rounds or days, respecting the environment and leaving the slope properly, respecting tourist visitors….

ñ                All competitors must permanently and visibly wear the start numbers

ñ                The starting order of pilots must follow the start numbers for easy orientation of all pilots

ñ                The competitor who starts the competition might be decided on the slope (randomly), but then, the start numbers must be followed

ñ                The starting list with pilot name and frequency should be visible on the slope for all pilots. Double frequencies should be announced during the briefing and marked and the starters list.

ñ                During launch and landing phase a helper to the pilot is useful, in order to announce the remaining preparation time for launch and the 30sec. climb phase in the appropriate language and to assure safe landing.

ñ                Group scoring rules must be announced before the competition as well as start number shift after each round (if planned) or after each day of competition.

ñ                The landing field and the safety line must be indicated to the pilots during the briefing and should be visibly marked on the ground to avoid any discussions.

ñ                Preparation time for each pilot should be kept to minimum. 30 seconds has been successful in the past.

ñ                Preparation and starting area should be marked on the ground.

ñ                A safe means of frequency control must be in place at the slope. Drying clamps (peg board) have been efficient in the past as well as removing emitter antennas like in VKR at Rügen. A frequency check with a scanner at the beginning of the competition and during the competitors run is increasing the safety tremendously. Collection of radio emitters requires a lot of infrastructure and is fairly time consuming.

ñ                In order to permit and easy follow up of the competition and the actual rankings, intermediate results should be printed out and shown on the slope. At the end of a contest (three rounds before the end for example), this could be stopped on order to keep the final winner confidential and to leave some atmosphere in the competition

 

6.         Local Rules:

Should be announced in advance (for example through the home page of the competition) and repeated on the slope during the briefing. These rules might be adapted to the individual slope characteristics.

 

 

Summary:

This small guide is for sure not complete but gives some essential ideas. If any one has further ideas how to organize an efficient and friendly contest, he is invited to send his comments!! This guide for sure cannot supersede FAI rule that are the sportive code for all F3F competitions within Contest-Eurotour.