[NSRCA-discussion] How I became an expert Snap Judge (TIC)

[Bob Richards]

Well, what anyone's personal opinion on what a maneuver should look like should be irrelevant.   No one should judge based on their personal opinion(s), they should judge based on the rules criteria.  I know, I know, easier said than done. :-)
 
If the rules say a pitch break must occur, we must downgrade if it is not seen, whether we agree with it or not. When the snap occurs from level flight in a centered maneuver, the break is easy to see. From knife-edge or at the end of the box - not so easy to see, maybe impossible in some instances (certain light conditions, etc). 
 
At the last contest my son and I attended (his first contest, flying Sportsman) I noticed how difficult it was to judge the track of the vertical upline - a very easy maneuver to describe and to fly, but with the sun in our faces the only way to judge if the upline did not lean in or out was to wait until the model pushed over on the top.
 
That is part of what I am saying, the maneuver schedule should, if possible, be chosen to minimize the difficulty of a person to judge the maneuver. Don't make it any harder to judge than need be. Make it as hard to fly as you want, just don't increase the judging difficulty in the process.
 
A big part of the problem in judging snaps is that it occurs quickly, and there is not much time to think about what just happened because the snap is never the last element in a maneuver. You must continue counting and keeping track of point deductions. My short-term memory gets worse as I get older. :-(  In fact, my memory is about as long as my....  my.....  uhh... I forget....
 
Bob R.
 
 

--- On Tue, 10/13/09, verne at twmi.rr.com <verne at twmi.rr.com> wrote:




Is there anybody involved in this discussion that honestly can't recognize a snap when they see one? I'm just asking.....

Verne


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