LFSD West Coast Challenge
Long Flights On Short Days
Updated 12/5/2019 (for 2020 calendar year)

Our South Coast Flying is some of the best to be had on short days.  To demonstrate, we offer a challenge to all un-powered foot launched aircraft on the West Coast.
Note: The Challenge had been dormant since early 2006 because the promoter's focus was redirected (house payments and kids), but is being resurrected in 2020

The leaders will be determined by the formula:
miles times z

• Where
  • Miles = Total straight line miles (SLOFD) between two points over-flown by an unpowered aircraft that was foot launched from anywhere in one of the USA states that borders the pacific ocean (California, Oregon, and Washington)
    • Miles will be rounded to an accuracy of  no more than 1 decimal place for use in the calculator
    • SLOFD is an acronym for Straight Line Over-Flown Distance
      • If a GPS track is supplied, distance will be measured between the two furthest apart grand track points via Google Earth's Measuring Tool
    • Unassisted & non-mechanized movement on the ground is permitted (land, hike, and re-launch), but re-supply other than naturally occurring items is not permitted.
  • "Z" is a calculated adjustment factor to devalue longer days and is [calculated] by an [expression] that was frozen for 2020 on 12/31/04
    • Note: the spread sheet expression includes the current year as part of the formula, so you must use the Excel file for the corresponding year.
  • Final Scores (Miles x Z) will be rounded to the nearest whole integer with no decimal places.

• Rules:
  • Aircraft: any un-powered aircraft, but the launch method for the flight must be unassisted foot launch (no wheeled launches or towing, but you may use people for launch and landing assistance without the aid of mechanical devices).
  • Entry Fee: None
  • Registration or prior declaration: None Required
  • Documentation:  A reasonably descriptive article must be posted to the SCPA or the SBSA flight discussion forums.
    [http://scpa.info/bb/forum] >  Flight Discussion [http://scpa.info/bb/forum/viewforum.php?f=1]
    Flight articles must be posted by January 15th after the relevant year, however, for flights in December, only a notification of the flight needs to be posted by Jan 15th with an actual flight article due by January 25th.
    • GPS data files are not required, however, if no GPS track record is available, the SBSA members present at  the February meeting will need to vote in the majority to accept the submission.  GPS files by themselves are insufficient documentation.  Submissions must be accompanied by a "reasonably descriptive article" which is a little vague, but we want to keep it simple?
  • Contest Period: From Jan 1st through Dec 31st

• Awards: To be announced and presented at the February SBSA a general membership meeting (attendance not required)
  • Plots are encouraged to submit multiple flights.  Awards are based on flights, so a single pilot can capture multiple "places" in the standings along with the associated awards.
  • Cash awards from a [LFSD 2020 GoFundMe Campaign] are distributed for a number of flights depending on the "pot" size/value
    • 1st place will be awarded 1/2 of the total pot and each subsequent place will awarded 1/2 of the remainder (rounded up to whole dollar amounts), until the pot has been depleted to an amount less than $11.  Awards less than $11 dollars will not be distributed.  Any amount remaining in the pot after distributing all the cash awards will be seed money for the next season.  As an example, to pay out to 5 places will require a "Pot" size of at least 11x32 = $352.  To award cash prizes of at least $11 to 6 places would require a pot size of at least 11x64 = $704.  For a pot somewhere in-between, like $500, payouts would be:
    • 1st place awarded 1/2 of the total pot | 500/2 = $250
    • 2nd place awarded 1/4 of the total pot | 500/4 = $125
    • 3rd place awarded 1/8 of the total pot | 500/8 = 62.5 rounded to $63
    • 4th place awarded 1/16 of the total pot | 500/16 = 31.25 rounded to $32
    • 5th place awarded 1/32 of the total pot | 500/32 = 15.625 rounded to $15
      • this totals to $485, so $15 would remain as seed money for the next season...
      • $15 may seem like a trivial prize, but it pays for a few bus rides up the hill? or a 12 pack of beer?