Better times to come for F3J ?

by Colin Paddon

I rather liken F3J to football, it’s something we have given the world and then the whole world consistently
beats us at it. If you look at our results over the past four years at both European and World championships,
it would not have escaped anybody’s attention that our results at these major championships makes for pretty
dismal reading. (Just one senior flyer on one occasion made a Fly -Off).

Let me say straight away that I doubt very much that anyone else could have done any better than the flyers
who represented us and that the following is not intended in any way to be a criticism of their performance.

The simple truth however, is that presently; we simply aren’t good enough to mount a serious challenge at this
level of competition. For example, we don’t have a single league flyer who can nail the 100 points landing bonus
100% of the time in all conditions. Yet, we all know that this is what’s required if you want to be in a podium
threatening position. Whether this is healthy in what is primarily meant to be a “soaring competition” is another
matter all together.

I don’t pretend for one second to have all the answers or maybe even any of them. Or, that there are any quick fix’s,
there simply aren’t as far as I’m concerned. If you merely look at previous results to get an overall picture it would in
fact be misleading, as the gap between success and failure is comparatively small. If the worlds best are 100% then
I reckon we are about 97% of the way there already. So what can we do to gain this last 3 %, the so called “X” factor,
which will allow us to truly compete with the best in the world.

I believe we need to start looking at what measures we can put in place to provide a solid foundation upon which
we can move forward. Carrying on as we have for the last four years or so is really no longer an option, well not
if we want to leave the wilderness and have success at world level in the future. However it would be as well to
remember, that Rome was not built in a day.

There is no doubt in my mind that it is important that our league events should continue to be the main selection
criteria for qualifying points towards team selection, but this alone is not the answer. We need to address how
to determine which flyers are best equipped/capable of performing at the highest levels and then how to achieve
the elusive 3% performance boost required.

So, what can be done in the future to help us achieve what all of us want, ie; a top 3 placing at a major championship?
How can we move forward and raise the current standard by the required 3%? Having listened to various pilots
expressing concerns about the current position I have given this some thought over the past season.
wo specific areas of concern consistently come up, the format of our league competitions and the direct
impact it has on team selection.

Here, for what its worth are my personal conclusions:

1. We need to focus far more on identifying & rewarding out and out winning performance

We can only do this by ensuring that the best flyers have to fly against each other by introducing fly-off’s
(F/O) into all league events. This would then truly reflect out & out winning performance. The pilots’ performance
in the F/O would gain additional team qualification points on top of their pre-lim rounds score. I would suggest
that the weighting for this could be that the pre-lim rounds could count for 90% of your qualification score, with
the another additional 10% available for the F/O competitors, graded depending on as to how well they did in the F/O.
I would suggest four preliminary rounds followed by a two slot F/O would suffice. With the low average level of
competition entries we get these days at most soaring comps, (35 – 45 at best), this should easily be achievable
in a days flying. It would also still provide a good days flying regardless of whether or not you get to the fly-off.

Even if we only have 5-6 people in the F/O it would at least ensure that no one can avoid having to fly against
the best pilots on the day. However, having a fly-off at league events would only be achievable if the flyers
themselves are prepared to stay and help other flyers who might not necessarily be a member of their own team.
I know I would and would like to think others would.

Reason:

Currently it is solely down to the luck of the matrix or who you have in your own team as to whether or not
you have to fly against the best flyers. With the current low levels of competition entries, the matrix stands
no chance of performing the function it was primarily designed for. Its really annoying to find that you have
flown against the same person up to three times and others not at all. This, needless to say, is not conducive
to achieving the extra 3% performance gain we need to succeed at European/World level. Only by guaranteeing
that our best flyers have to fly against each other do we stand any chance of improving the overall UK F3J standard.
Additionally, trawling along through a season just doing “slots” is not at all reflective of the extra pressures
you face in a F/O situation. F/O’s tend to either bring the very best flying out of people or, more often, the worst.

F/O’s put entirely different and additional levels of pressure on flyers & unfortunately not everyone is capable
of thriving in these pressure situations. The very reason F/O’s have been in place since the start of Open/F3J
competition soaring has been to ensure that you have to face the best flyers on the day at least twice in order
find who really was the best flyer & true winner. Until the powers that be decide to include the prelim rounds
score with the F/O scores to determine the overall winner a simple fact remains. It is Fly-offs & fly offs alone
that decide major championship placings, the prior rounds are nothing more than PRE-QUALIFICATION for the
main event. Is it not stupid then, that we singularly choose to totally dismiss the most important part of the
competition as part of our own team qualification criteria?

2. Allow any Eurotour event to count as a team qualifying event.

Reason:

Unless you have flown at Eurotour events, particulary Hollandglide, (the biggest by far of the Eurotour F3J events)
you cannot begin to appreciate that the standard of competition is many levels above that of our own UK league events.
Many of the best flyers in the world come to fly at Hollandglide and it represents an unparalled opportunity to improve
and advance your own flying skills in an environment that is very similar to that found at major European/World competitions.
Currently however, we positively discriminate against any flyers who wish to attend these events as we do not allow
them to count as qualifying events for team selection purposes. For example, Hollandglide has for the last two years
occurred on the same weekend as the British Nationals. This year some 60% of the top ten F3J league pilots at that
point in time, (ie more than halfway through the season) decided to attend Hollandglide rather than go to the Nat’s,
as the standard of competition was so much higher. Lets face it, given the choice of flying against some 130 –150
top class pilots as opposed to a diminished & weakened field of 30 – 45, most pilots would choose the former.
This then not only disadvantaged those pilots attending Hollandglide by excluding them from a team qualifying
event, but it also considerably weakens the field at the British Nat’s. This can result, in dare I say it,
easier team qualification points for those flying at the Nats.

Obviously it would be wrong to discriminate against pilots who for whatever reason are unable to attend Eurotour events.
Equally though, those that are prepared to go and fly against the best with a view to improving themselves
shouldn’t be discriminated against either. In fact they should be positively encouraged. The chance of
obtaining a good league score at a Eurotour event is many many times more difficult than at one of our UK league
events. So those attending the UK events are still in a better position. I’m led to believe that some countries
already use Eurotour events as part of their team qualification process so this is not exactly a revolutionary suggestion.

With the present low level of comp entries we simply cant afford to loose any more F3J flyers, we need them all.
I believe its important therefore that we act “as one unified body” to put into place an improved system for
team selection. It’s the flyers opinion that counts in my book, and it is their views, which should be the driving force
on which team selection process should be used. It should be a system that the majority of the flyers feel is fair and
truly representative of outright winning performance. An improved team selection process would undoubtedly
help us achieve the missing 3% of performance that will make us “Championship Contenders” as
opposed to “Championship Also Rans”.

I hope this missive will, if nothing else, serve to stimulate further discussion & airing of views, particularly from
the flyers themselves. So come on, lets hear from other flyers as to how they feel we can best move
UK F3J forward to achieving that all important, and so far elusive, podium position.

The time for some creative forward thinking has arrived. We should not shy away from making the decisions
that ultimately may provide the key to future success.

Colin Paddon

BARCS 493 & UKF3J 33