These Awards are a complement to the
soaring Badges. The aim is to:
1) Be equitable to pilots, by handicapping
the flights according to glider performance. The current Badges are losing
their meaning of pilot achievement with the increasing performance of gliders.
And the Badges are more difficult to achieve for pilots with lower performance
gliders.
2) Stimulate the pilots by offering
limitless awards. After the Badges, pilots retreat a little bit – there isn’t
any more to be done. The Silent Challenge never ends, and there may be World
records, State records, Regional records, and Soaring Site records.
3) Confront the pilots with the
always-present demands of distance, height, speed. These variables are a
constant evaluation during every flight: “How far am I, what is my altitude,
how long will it take to get there” is the endless pursuit of every flight.
4) Favor comparisons between pilots and
between soaring sites. If you were able to reach the 500k Challenge, you are a few
steps ahead of another pilot at the 300k Challenge – and better than what you
were a few years ago. Soaring Sites records give a good idea of what is
achievable from that Site, and retribute pilots that cannot or want not go
other places.
5) Allow pilots in soaring sites with narrow
directions of flight to measure with other pilots of other soaring sites. In
many soaring sites, it is difficult to fly wide triangles or quadrilaterals -
there are limits of geography or atmospheric conditions that force to try long
flights only along a certain direction (often the north-south direction). The
formulas used for the minimum task dimensions reduce progressively the width of
the triangle or quadrilateral with increase in task length.
6) Entice the interest for the planning of
future flights. The study of the next task is an important aspect of the
gliding experience. And it keeps the mind focused on the sport during the
forced inactivity of the long winter months.
7) Establish a task that requires speed.
Speed is not considered in the Badges, while it is required in records and in
competition. Aiming for speed gives a particular flavor to the task, with
consideration of optimization of the path, elimination of time wastes,
rejection of slow climbs. It is a different atmosphere of conducting the
flight, which teaches the pilots the administration of time.
8) Encourage a
continuous effort to get the best out of oneself, by establishing limits
which are not absolute and so potentially unreachable, but relative to the pilot personal
performances.
THE SILENT CHALLENGE AWARDS
The
awards are given after completion of Challenges of nominal 100, 200, 300 km
etc. A “beginner” Challenge of 50 km is also given. Each Challenge is composed
by three tasks: Triangle, Quadrilateral,
Straight Line, described as follows.
The task length must be not less than Dh
= Dn / H where
Dh =
Handicapped Distance
Dn = Nominal Distance (50, 100, 200, 300 km etc.)
H
= CH coefficient of handicap
Triangle:
Select three turnpoints. The triangle geometry must
satisfy the formula:
___
Hmin > 2 Ö Dh where Hmin = minimum heights of the
triangle.
The speed of this task must be the greatest of the three
tasks, by at least 2%.
Quadrilateral:
Select four turnpoints. The convex quadrilateral
geometry (diagonals intersect, sides do not intersect, see Convex Shape
drawing) must satisfy the formula:
___
hmin > Ö Dh where hmin = minimum height of
the turnpoints above the diagonals.
The gain of height of this task must be the greatest of
the three tasks, by at least 4%.
Straight Line:
Select two turnpoints.
The distance of this task must be the greatest of the
three tasks, by at least 8%.
Turnpoints may be chosen before or after
completion of the flight. The pilot is responsible for specifying the chosen
turnpoints. Turnpoints must be turned like in the Soaring Badges, by the glider
reaching inside the 90° sector.
The pilot claims his/her Challenge by submitting contemporarily
all three flights of that Challenge. No
need to submit the flights one at the time.
All flights must be documented, either by barograph and Official Observer or by
GPS. A pilot can submit flights done in the past, provided there is
documentation.
Each Award is granted when all three tasks of that Challenge are completed. However, a flight can be used repeatedly for different Challenges.
IN-FLIGHT TACTICS
Because the only known condition is the
parameter of distance, while the other two conditions are relative to other
flights and so unknown, there may be the tendency to worry about how to conduct
the flight. However, in general the best approach is to make an effort to
execute each flight according to the intended challenge, which is: for the
triangle, try to be fast; for the quadrilateral, start low, or get a low point
along the route, followed by a
Go fast. Don’t be low when leaving the sector of the start point. If incurring in a low point, do the rest of the
flight avoiding getting too high.
Start low, or get a low point along the route, followed by a
Select a far enough goal, more than the minimum in case other flights become longer than anticipated. If it was easy to reach the far turnpoint, go a little farther. If it was easy to reach the finish point, go farther. If incurring in a low point, do the rest of the flight avoiding getting too high. If the flight happened to be too fast, wait around before landing. *
* Other options are available instead of waiting around: For example, extend the flight outside the finish 90° sector and enter the sector later so as to lengthen the time in the air, while the extra distance may be used for the OLC. Or, extend the flight inside the finish 90° sector, then come back, exit the sector and enter it again so as to lengthen the time in the air, while the extra distance may be used for the OLC. Or, if conditions are good at the far turnpoint, extend the flight and the extra distance may be used for the OLC or for a personal record. Finally, remember that the sector may be selected later in the most opportune location to choose among all these options, and also that the same flight can be used for different Challenges with different requirements. In conclusion: just fly, the flight can be used one way or another.
ON-THE-GROUND STRATEGIES
First go
examine past flights to see how high a Challenge one already has. Use GPS
traces, and log records of past flights checked by barograph and
Official Observer. Specify turnpoints as necessary to claim the highest
obtainable Challenge. If there are two good tasks valid for a high km Challenge
while the third is only good for a low km Challenge, it may be convenient
performing that task first and then claim directly the higher Challenge.
The
post-declaration of the turnpoints allows for several options, due to the turnpoints being chosen anywhere in the
flight path. As an example the same flight can be used
for a quadrilateral or a triangle or a straight line, just by selecting
different turnpoints. As another example a "Quadrilateral" flight
that is very large can be presented for a 300, a 400 and a 500 Challenge.
As an additional example, if a pilot did a 700 km flight "Straight
Line" at a high speed, he/she can select the turnpoints so as to get a
400, a 500 and a 600 km straight line, while the speed will be
lowered because all the time passed beyond the 90° sector adds to the total time of the
flight.
A task should be studied on paper before the flight: these
tasks do not lend themselves to be improvised.
It is
convenient to pre-declare the task always. If the flight is successful as
declared, there is no more to be done but send the trace. If adjustments are
necessary, turnpoints must be selected, distances calculated.
Try to schedule
the execution of the speed task before the other two tasks. This will give a
reference on the time required, and it is not difficult to prolong the flying time
of the other two tasks if needed.
Try
to schedule the execution of the altitude gain task before the straight line
task. This will give a reference on the altitude limitations.
Select a
far enough goal, possibly more than the minimum in case the other flights need
to be longer than anticipated. It can also be considered to set a goal far
enough to be valid for the higher Challenge. For example, a turnpoint may be
placed at 54 km - multiplied by the handicap - farther down the road, in case
the conditions are good. This task has the tendency to be subjected to
low-points, because often it covers previously uncharted territory. It also has
the tendency to be fast.