In a few race-to-goal tasks recently, I've been surprised to see some pilots starting low and late - this puts them at an immediate disadvantage. Here are a few tips that I've collected for getting a great start: on the line, high, and well placed as the gun goes.
A good task starts with a relaxed pilot. Develop a routine for readying your gear so that you can prepare quickly and be sure not to forget anything. When the launch time comes, good launch skills allow you to be not intimidated by the launch but instead get away quickly and cleanly and focus on the race. Nervous launchers tend to focus all their attention on launching and see no further than the act of taking off, whereas confident launchers see taking off as just one natural step in the process and are already thinking beyond.
Launch early. You don't have to take off as soon as the window opens, but giving yourself plenty of time between getting into the air and the actual start gives you time to get comfortable, explore and put yourself in the best position. It's much better to spend a few extra minutes floating around at base waiting than be stuck on the ground in the launch queue. Generally speaking, the better pilots launch earlier so if you wait then you risk getting blocked behind a pilot who takes ages to take off. As a general rule, as soon as you know that you can stay up then you should launch.
In some tasks, the start can be several kilometres away. Factor this in to your planning. You need to allow time to fly the distance and climb to base. During the race you'll be averaging 30km/h or so, but pre-start you'll be slower. Personally, I try to give myself at least five minutes per horizontal kilometre and ten minutes per vertical kilometre. For example, if the start is 2km away and cloudbase is 1000m above launch then I want to take off at least twenty minutes before the start as an absolute minimum.
Early on you have time to explore and understand the real conditions of the day. Not all the pilots are in the air so you have a lot more flexibility. It gives you time to zip up your harness and check that all your gear is functioning correctly, for example I try to do at least a few seconds of gliding on full bar before the start to check that everything is working correctly. By doing this early, you have plenty of time to fix the problem or even top land if needed, and as the sky is less crowded it's much easier to do.
Here are some of the things that I assess in the air:
Airmass: How strong are the thermals? How well formed are they? At what altitudes is the best lift? What is the wind strength at different altitudes? What features are associated with the best lift? All this helps me plan my strategy for the task. What is my speed to fly? How do I climb most efficiently in these conditions? Do I do wide circles in well-formed thermals or should I to crank it round tightly in bullets? Can I climb up from low down (and therefore arrive low after transitions) or do I need to stay high?
Start point: You'll have already looked at the task in detail on the ground. On some days there will be a clear optimum start point, on others there will be many possible options. Now that you have more information about the airmass, you can determine the actual optimum start point for the day. Typically it is on the edge of the start cylinder closest to the first turnpoint, but wind can have a big effect: starting on the upwind side of the cylinder can be a significant advantage. Even a cross-wind glide is much better than a into-wind glide. Once I have identified the optimum start point I try to fly to that point and get a visual ground reference for it, such as a terrain feature, village, or bend in the road. If the start cylinder is very large, the optimum start point can sometimes be on the other side of the valley, and in very extreme cases the best place to start can be on the opposite side of the cylinder from take off!
First leg: If the start is still some way off, you may have time to test out all or some of the first part of the task. This can provide valuable information, including what the air between the thermals is doing. Too many pilots spend all the Window Open time only circling in the thermals. If you're in the air early you have time to explore and get back to base for the start.
Evolution of conditions: Being in the air for some time before the start not only gives you information about what the conditions are like now, but also how they are evolving. Are conditions getting stronger or weaker? What's happening along the course line? You can use this to predict not only what conditions will be like at the moment of the start, but also what they are likely to be like for the first part of the race. Sometimes this can open up new start options that you had not thought of before: maybe there's a cloud forming on the other side of the valley, upwind of the first turnpoint.
At the start you can rely on there being lots of other pilots in the area marking thermals. There is a constant feed of pilots from take off who will be marking thermals even low down. All this means that much less risky to explore well before the start: you have both ample time to get back to your chosen start point and a lot of information about where the air is going up.
As more and more pilots launch the sky becomes more crowded. Most of them will be thermalling lazily in wide circles. This crowding reduces your options: you don't have the freedom to fly as you did when there were fewer gliders. Now is the time to fly smoothly, fly predictably, be polite and go with the flow. Moving about the sky to explore takes time. If you glide somewhere before the start, you also need to factor in the time that it takes to regain the altitude that you have lost. On a typical competition wing, if there are 2m/s thermals about then you will spend about as much time climbing back up as you did gliding. This means that in five minutes you can fly about 2km and climb back to your previous altitude (assuming there's a 2m/s thermal waiting for you at the end of your glide, of course). Realistically, you have to be much more conservative and generally I try to be close to my optimum start point five to ten minutes before the actual start time. Here, the visual ground reference point that you identified earlier really helps: you can keep a look out instead of staring at your instruments.
Thermals are cyclic, and it's not unusual to find yourself optimally placed several minutes before the start, and then have the cloud that you were waiting under dissipate into nothing. It's another good reason to try to be high ten minutes before the start. At minimum sink you lose about 50 metres per minute - this is not too bad and often means that it's worth staying where you are rather than risking losing a lot of altitude at the last moment by flying somewhere else.
As the start approaches, you should concentrate on getting as high as possible where you are. Generally speaking, you will have more information if you are further back than higher, than if you are out front and low. Of course, it goes without saying that you should try to be out front and higher. That all said, don't sweat it! All the competitors will be flying now and the sky will be crowded. Chill out: a few metres height difference will be quickly wiped out on the first glide.
Judging crossing the line at the right moment is a learned skill. It's better to be a few seconds late than half a second early - crossing the line ahead of the start will typically score you zero for the day, unless you turn round and go back for it which can be hard as the rest of the field are flying at you fast in the opposite direction! Modern instruments help a lot, and have different ways of telling you whether you're going to be early or late. However, there are some simple rules of thumb that can help you get a perfect start even with a simple GPS.
At trim speed, you fly at about 36km/h, which is 10m/s. So, in one minute you will fly 600m. So, when you look at the countdown, if the distance to the edge of the cylinder is ten times the number of seconds to the start then you should fly at trim speed (or just a bit slower) to be at the start at the perfect time. For example, with 30s to go you should be at 300m, at 10s to go you should be at 100m, and so on. If needed, you can always slow down to avoid being early. Full bar is less than twice your trim speed, so if you are at 200m with 10s to go then you can fly full bar and be sure not to cross the line early. Ideally you'll get the timing perfect, but if there are a lot of pilots in your start gaggle then you may have to wait your turn as the gaggle "unwinds" to head to the start line. Once again fly cool: this may make you a few seconds late, but you'll have the advantage of being higher.
Immediately after the start is a critical period. It is at this time that you have the most information: there will be 100+ pilots showing you what that air is doing around you! The gaggles are already starting to form: the lead gaggle will be made up of those who push full bar on the first glide, and a few who where very, very high at the start who glide in to join them. Later gaggles will be made up of those who pushed less bar. Thermal cycles tend to accentuate this effect: if the lead gaggle gets a cycle that the rest miss then you will not see them again until goal. If the cycle is large enough that slower pilots also catch it then it will take longer for the faster pilots to get away. Since there are 100+ pilots, there will inevitably be pilots above you, below you, in front of you and behind you. With so much information now is the ideal time to push full bar.
If your competition is using GAP lead-out points then it's worth knowing that these are mainly won early in the race (people who are ahead at the end are compensated with time or speed points instead). So, getting a good start and pushing on early can win you points - and you get the satisfaction of stealing them from whoever crosses the line first (sorry Wagga!). PWC scorer Ulric Jessop explained that, if you want lead-out points, then it's much better to push hard and then glide slowly than to glide slowly and then push hard.
There are a few pilots who I've seen who really master starts. Here's what they do, if only I could tell you how they do it!
Russ Ogden and Mads Syndergaard are amazing climbers. They're able to climb to the top of the gaggle and stay there, even as the thermals weaken and conditions change. Now I'm getting the hang of being the right place at the start, but they always seem to be above me. This puts them in a position of immediate control from the first glide.
Bruce Goldsmith and Mark Graham are brilliant at spotting the optimal start points. You see them launching early and then only at the start do you spot them 5km away on the upwind side of the cylinder. They're usually the first to arrive at the first turnpoint.
At the PWC Turkey I saw Luc Armant do something very strange. Conditions were getting weaker, we'd climbed together in one gaggle, and were gliding towards another which was closer to the optimum start point. Suddenly, Luc turned left ninety degrees, away from both gaggles! I didn't understand why - had he seen something? - but I couldn't see what it could be so I glided on to the gaggle I'd chosen. Our thermal died shortly afterwards and me and that entire gaggle lost several minutes. Later I quizzed Luc about it decision. He explained that he'd been unsure which gaggle would do better. So, by choosing to fly between them at min sink he had kept his options open and been able to pick and choose later once the answer was clear. Of course, he wouldn't be the best placed in the gaggle he chose, but he did guarantee that he'd be in the best one for the start. Luc demonstrated just how much it is possible to exploit the information available at the start.
Launch early and explore then chose your start point and get high. Cross the line at the right moment, push hard and go for it!