Competition Rules Season 2023

Paragliding World Cup Association
Competition Rules
Season 2023

Version 2023-04, 6 May 2023
Paragliding World Cup Office
20 Route d'Ombre, Marlens, 74210 Val de Chaise, France
Phone: +33 4 50 32 83 83
Email: pwca@pwca.org
Website: https://pwca.org
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Competition Rules Season 2023

Document History
Date
26.8.2011

Author(s)Jörg Ewald

26.10.2011 Jörg Ewald
18.3.2012

Ulric Jessop

18.5.2012

Jörg Ewald

15.02.2013
04.01.2014
05.04.2015
04.04.2016
14.05.2017
20.06.2018
14.08.2018
25.05.2019
27.04.2021
25.05.2021
14.03.2023
16.03.2023
18.03.2023
15.04.2023
06.05.2023

Ulric Jessop
Ulric Jessop
Ulric Jessop
Ulric Jessop
Ulric Jessop
Ulric Jessop
Ulric Jessop
Ulric Jessop
Ulric Jessop
Ulric Jessop
Ulric Jessop
Ulric Jessop
Ulric Jessop
Ulric Jessop
Ulric Jessop

ChangesCreated, based on the 2009 rules as well as work
done by Ruth Jessop, Xavier Murillo and Laura Sepet.
Updated based on input by Ulric Jessop and Maxime
Bellemin. Released for 2011 Committee Fall Meeting.
Work done during ACM merged in, and updated totake account of all comments.
Corrected section numbers, and some small
inconsistencies, mainly in Appendix C.
Updated with new rules from ACM 2012.
Updated with new rules from ACM 2013.
Updated with new rules from ACM 2014.
Updated with new rules from ACM 2015.
Updated with new rules from ACM 2016.
Updated with new rules from ACM 2017.
Updated dates in Appendix A
Updated with new rules from ACM 2018.
Updated with new rules from ACM 2019.
Fixed incorrect points/levels table A-2.
Updated with new rules from SCM 2023.
Fixed incorrect team pricing. Deleted Appendix G
Fixed inaccuracies in published scoring formulae.
Tidied up Appendix C charts plus minor corrections.
Fixed incorrect formula name to PWC 2023.

Terms and Abbreviations
Throughout this document, we use the following terms and abbreviations:
MD – Meet Director
PWCA – Paragliding World Cup Association
TA – Technical AssistantTD – Technical Delegate
World Cup – Paragliding World Cup
World Cup Association – Paragliding World Cup Association
RFC – Ready For Certification

Contents
1 Preamble ........................................................................................................................... 6
1.1 PWCA Contact ........................................................................................................... 6
1.2 Partners ...................................................................................................................... 6
2 Paragliding World Cup Competitions ............................................................................. 7
2.1 Duration...................................................................................................................... 7
2.2 Schedule .................................................................................................................... 7
2.2.1 Training Day........................................................................................................................... 7
2.2.2 Flying Days ............................................................................................................................ 7
2.2.3 Rest Time............................................................................................................................... 7

2.3 Participants ................................................................................................................ 7
2.3.1 World Cup Events .................................................................................................................. 806.05.2023

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Competition Rules Season 2023
2.3.2 Super Final............................................................................................................................. 8

2.4 Insurance ................................................................................................................... 8
2.5 Local Regulations ...................................................................................................... 8
2.6 Official Language ...................................................................................................... 8
2.7 Ecology ...................................................................................................................... 93 Pilot Equipment ...............................................................................................................10
3.1 Gliders .......................................................................................................................10
3.2 Harnesses .................................................................................................................10
3.3 Communication Equipment .....................................................................................10
3.4 GPS Receiver ............................................................................................................11
3.5 Live Tracking ............................................................................................................11
3.6 Protective Equipment ...............................................................................................11
3.7 Pilot Number .............................................................................................................11
3.8 World Cup Sponsors Equipment .............................................................................12
4 Rankings, Titles and Trophies ........................................................................................13
4.1 Number of Tasks for Competition Results..............................................................13
4.1.1 World Cup Events ................................................................................................................ 13
4.1.2 Super Final........................................................................................................................... 13

4.2 Team Ranking ...........................................................................................................13
4.2.1 Team Scoring....................................................................................................................... 13

4.3 Country Ranking.......................................................................................................14
4.4 Titles ..........................................................................................................................144.4.1 World Cup Events ................................................................................................................ 14
4.4.2 Super Final........................................................................................................................... 14

4.5 Trophies ....................................................................................................................144.5.1 World Cup Events ................................................................................................................ 14
4.5.2 Super Final........................................................................................................................... 14

5 Meet Director, Technical Delegate, Task Committee ....................................................15
5.1 Meet Director.............................................................................................................15
5.2 Technical Delegate ...................................................................................................15
5.3 Task Committee ........................................................................................................15
6 Briefings...........................................................................................................................16
6.1 General Briefing........................................................................................................16
6.2 Task Briefing .............................................................................................................16
7 Display of Results ...........................................................................................................17
8 Complaints, Protests and Appeals.................................................................................18
8.1 Complaints ................................................................................................................18
8.2 Protests and Jury .....................................................................................................18
8.3 Appeals .....................................................................................................................18
9 Flying and Safety Regulations........................................................................................19
9.1 Compliance with the Law .........................................................................................1906.05.2023

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Competition Rules Season 2023

9.2 Flight Limitations ......................................................................................................19
9.3 Damage to Equipment in Competition ....................................................................19
9.4 Fitness .......................................................................................................................19
9.5 Collision Avoidance .................................................................................................19
9.6 Aggressive Flying.....................................................................................................19
9.7 Cloud Flying ..............................................................................................................20
9.8 Altitude Control ........................................................................................................20
9.9 Ballast, Take-off Weight ...........................................................................................20
9.9.1 Weight control ...................................................................................................................... 20

9.10 Emergency Rules....................................................................................................21
9.11 External Aid to Competitors ..................................................................................21
10 Take-off ..........................................................................................................................22
10.1 Launch Procedure ..................................................................................................2210.1.1 Ordered Launch ................................................................................................................. 2210.1.2 Launch Window ................................................................................................................. 2210.1.3 Re-launch........................................................................................................................... 2210.2 Free Flyers and Wind Dummies.............................................................................22
11 Landing, Report-back and GPS Track Download ........................................................23
11.1 Mandatory Safety Report-Back ..............................................................................23
11.2 Check-in at Headquarters ......................................................................................24
11.3 GPS Track Download .............................................................................................24
12 Tasks ..............................................................................................................................25
12.1 Timed Tasks ............................................................................................................25
12.1.1 Race to Goal ...................................................................................................................... 25
12.1.2 Clock Start ......................................................................................................................... 25
12.1.3 Elapsed Time ..................................................................................................................... 25

12.2 Task Deadline .........................................................................................................25
13 Turnpoints, Cylinders, Start and Goal .........................................................................26
13.1 Turnpoints ...............................................................................................................26
13.2 Vertical and Horizontal ...........................................................................................26
13.3 Cylinders .................................................................................................................26
13.4 Start .........................................................................................................................27
13.4.1 Air Start .............................................................................................................................. 27

13.5 Goal .........................................................................................................................27
13.6 End of Speed Section .............................................................................................28
13.7 Crossing Times.......................................................................................................28
14 Task Evidence ...............................................................................................................29
14.1 Source .....................................................................................................................29
14.2 Valid GPS Data........................................................................................................29
14.3 GPS Software ..........................................................................................................29
14.4 Measurement of Distances ....................................................................................30
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14.5 GPS Checking Criteria ...........................................................................................30
14.6 Best Position...........................................................................................................30
14.7 Pilot’s Responsibility and Management of the GPS Receiver .............................30
14.8 GPS Receiver Models .............................................................................................30
15 Penalty and Compensation...........................................................................................31
15.1 Penalties..................................................................................................................31
15.2 Compensation Points .............................................................................................31
16 Task Validation ..............................................................................................................32
16.1 Launch validity .......................................................................................................32
16.2 Stopped Tasks ........................................................................................................32
16.2.1 Stopped Clock Start or Elapsed Tasks .............................................................................. 32
16.2.2 Altitude Compensation....................................................................................................... 32

16.3 Cancelled Tasks .....................................................................................................32
17 Score Sheets..................................................................................................................34
18 Prize Giving....................................................................................................................35
18.1 World Cup Events ...................................................................................................35
18.2 Super Final ..............................................................................................................35

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Competition Rules Season 2023

1 Preamble
1. The Paragliding World Cup Association (PWCA) is an association of pilots, thePWCA members.
2. The PWCA is a non-profit organization. All incomes are re-invested to improve
future competitions.
3. The pilots’ general assembly elects the PWCA committee according to the PWCA
statutes.
4. Each pilot becomes a member of the PWCA by paying an annual subscription feeof €42.
5. The purpose of the Paragliding World Cup is to provide safe, sportive and fair
flying, to determine the PWCA World Champions Overall, Female and Team.
6. All competition pilots in the world have the right to take part in World Cup events.
The selection is based purely on sportive aspects.
7. All pilots fly under their own responsibility.
8. All pilots accept, without restriction, to hold the Organizers, PWCA, its bodies andmembers harmless and waive all claims for compensation.
9. All pilots participating in a World Cup event accept these rules in their entirety.
In case of ambiguities, the spirit of the rule prevails.
10. Political and religious promotion is prohibited.

1.1 PWCA Contact
Paragliding World Cup Office
Executive Secretary: Laura Sepet
20 Route d'Ombre, Marlens, 74210 Val de Chaise, France
Phone: +33 4 50 32 83 83
Email: pwca@pwca.org
Website: https://pwca.org

1.2 Partners
1. Partners support the Paragliding World Cup Association with a subscription
defined by the PWCA Committee.
2. Partners will be mentioned on the official rankings, on all results, on the backdrop
during prize giving ceremonies, on banners, in World Cup videos, on the
Paragliding World Cup web site, on each Email or document issued by the PWCA
Office and in potential magazine advertising. Other sponsorship opportunities areavailable.

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2 Paragliding World Cup Competitions
2.1 Duration
A World Cup event consists of one registration and training day, usually on Saturday,
followed by 7 competition days from Sunday to Saturday. The Super Final consists of
one registration and training day, usually on Tuesday, followed by 11 competitiondays from Wednesday to Saturday.

2.2 Schedule
1. All events must be advertised from the registration day to the last flying day.
For example, World Cup Ager, August 20th – 27th:
Saturday, August 20th = registration.
Sunday, August 21st = first task.
Saturday, August 27th = last task and prize giving.

2. The registration time is by default 17h-20h. These times may change fororganizational reasons.
3. The prize giving ceremony takes place on the last competition day or sooner incase of task cancellations.

2.2.1 Training Day
The Training Day takes place before registration is complete. Therefore, live tracking
and full safety backup/retrieval will not be available. It must be borne in mind that thisis a free-flying day, and the organisers participation will probably be limited totransport up the hill and possibly a limited retrieve service.

2.2.2 Flying Days
A flying day is a day when a task runs for more than half an hour after window
opening. All other days (rest days, cancelled days, etc.) are non-flying days.

2.2.3 Rest Time
1. A minimum rest period of 8 hours should be available to 90 % of the pilots
between GPS download after the task and transport departure to take off the nextday.
2. With one exception, there will be no more than 6 consecutive flying days in the
Super Final; the organizer must use a single rest day to enforce this. This rest day
cannot be set during the 4 first competition days.
3. If bad weather has prevented any flying days, then it is permissible to make the
4th day a rest day, leaving 7 consecutive potential flying days.
4. In the Super Final, in case of demanding flying conditions, an additional
requirement for a rest day can be added to the local rules.
For example: “After 15 hours of race time without a rest day for average pilots in goal, thefollowing day will be a rest day”.

5. The sum of winners’ times for any consecutive days should not exceed 20 hours.

2.3 Participants
1. All competing pilots must be qualified to meet the demands of an international
paragliding competition.
2. CIVL ID and FAI sporting licence are only necessary in order to be included in
CIVL rankings.

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2.3.1 World Cup Events
1. The maximum number of participants is 125 pilots. This number includes up to 4
wildcards for the organizer, wildcards/guestcards for the PWCA and any partner
wildcards. Partners are given one wildcard per year.
2. More than 125 pilots may be selected for overbooking reasons.
3. A minimum of 10% of the places are reserved for female pilots.
4. Places of pilots not showing up at the competition cannot be taken by other pilots,
except organiser wildcards.
5. The World Cup Office will carry out the selection process as described inAppendix A.2.
6. Applications for wildcards must be submitted to the World Cup Office at least 1
month before the competition.

2.3.2 Super Final
1. The World Cup Office will carry out the selection process as described inAppendix A.3.
2. All former PWCA and FAI XC Paragliding world champions (overall and female)are accepted but must sign up.
3. The current FAI continental champions (overall and female) are accepted but
must sign up.
4. Applications for wildcards as well as acceptances of Super Final invitations mustbe submitted to the World Cup Office at least 1 month before the Super Final.

2.4 Insurance
1. All participants must have third party liability insurance with a minimum coverageof €800,000 or foreign currency equivalent.
2. All participants must also be insured to cover all types of expenses in case of an
accident: search and rescue expenses, hospital expenses, medical expenses,
repatriation, etc.
3. Pilots must check the validity of their government-run or private insurance in the
country where the competition takes place. In some countries, it is strongly
recommended to know the insurance company’s local contact to avoid delays.
4. It is the pilot’s responsibility to ensure his or her own insurance coverage isadequate.
5. All third-party claims must be sorted bilaterally between pilots and their third-party
insurance. The PWCA, PWCA staff or local organizers cannot be held
responsible, and cannot be asked to act as mediators.
6. Pilots who have inadequate insurance, or who refuse to use it, will be excluded
from future competitions.

2.5 Local Regulations
1. Local regulations are the rules prepared by an organizer.
2. Local regulations must not conflict with PWCA rules.
3. Local regulations must be submitted at the time of the bid for approval by the
PWCA and the TD.
4. They will be published on the World Cup web site.

2.6 Official Language
The official language for all PWCA competitions is English.
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2.7 Ecology
1. The PWCA, pilots and organizers, are aware of the global ecological impact ofparagliding competitions.
2. To limit this impact, the World Cup format has been updated to reduce thenumber of international flights.
3. Other actions:- Pilots are encouraged to share transports when possible.
- When available, reusable plastic bottles will be offered to the pilots for free.
Organizers must inform about the water quality and the places to refill thebottles (this can save more than 1500 plastic bottles each week).
- If available, lunch packets should be prepared (possibly in the take-off area)with a minimum of disposable and packing material. Food should be sourced
locally, if possible.
- The quantity of printed documents must be reduced. For example, tourism
leaflets and brochures must be made available to pilots only on request andreturned when not used.

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3 Pilot Equipment
3.1 Gliders
1. Pilots are responsible for the choice and maintenance of their flight equipment.
2. Pilots must fly with the same glider during one event. In special cases (lostluggage, damaged equipment, etc.) the TD can allow a glider change to one ofequal or lesser certification during the event. Any pilot who changes their glider
without notifying the TD will incur a penalty of zero for the day.
3. Only certified gliders up to CCC (single size acceptable) or EN 926 or LTF 91/09,
but with tolerances on lines and risers as defined in Appendix E: Glider Checking
Procedure, are allowed in World Cup competitions. Wings certified in both EN and
CCC before Sep 30, 2016 may only be flown in the later configuration.
4. As an exception to 3, but not in the Super Final, it is permitted for up to two test
pilots from a partner manufacturer to fly a glider that conforms entirely to CCC,
but is not yet certified (RFC). The glider must be fully documented, may not be
modified in any way during the competition and must be correctly trimmed.
5. The PWCA reserves the right to reject any application for RFC status.
6. It is not permitted for the pilot to modify the glider outside of permitted tolerance,
except for the length of the brake main line.
7. The pilot must fly in the homologated weight range.
8. On registration, pilots have to specify the model, size and colours of the glider tobe flown during the competition.
9. Gliders will be checked after a complaint or according to some predetermined or
random selection schedule. In addition, the MD or TD can request that any pilot’s
glider be checked.
10. Every pilot must give his glider to the organisation for checking or comparing
immediately upon any such request.
11. The TD will nominate a qualified person to perform glider checks according to the
published procedure (see Appendix E: Glider Checking Procedure).
12. Results from all glider checks will be published on the Championship information
boards and on the World Cup website at https://live.pwca.org/checks.

3.2 Harnesses
1. Pilots must fly with the same harness during one event. In special cases (lostluggage, damaged equipment, etc.) the TD can allow a harness during the event.
Any pilot who changes their harness without notifying the TD will incur a penalty
of up to zero for the day.
2. Harnesses must come with mandatory EN or LTF certified protection and EN or
LTF certified harness structure.
3. Partners will be allowed to present 2 RFC Harnesses during a World Cup event(No Super Final).
4. Harnesses must be equipped with two reserve parachutes.
5. Harnesses must not be equipped with any form of mechanical propulsion.
6. Electrical fans used to inflate fairings are allowed up to a power rating of 10W as
long as the fairing has no rear-facing exhaust. This rule does not apply toharnesses already in existence on 18/03/2023.

3.3 Communication Equipment
1. Radios (2 metre band) are mandatory for all pilots and must be used for safety
purposes only.
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Competition Rules Season 2023

2. All pilots’ radios must be switched on and tuned to the safety frequency
announced at the task briefing.
3. The use of voice-activated microphones (“VOX”) is prohibited.
4. All pilots must carry a mobile telephone with them while flying.
5. Pilots not fulfilling these requirements can be grounded or penalized.

3.4 GPS Receiver
1. GPS is the only evidence used for flight verification in Paragliding World Cup
events.
2. All pilots should be equipped with at least one GPS receiver with GPS altitude
recording capability. Only some specific models are accepted (see section 14.8
and Appendix F: GPS Receivers).
3. It is the pilot’s responsibility to have at least one working GPS receiver, and to set
it up with the right parameters.
4. Pilots should bring their GPS receivers to report-back after each task in order todownload their flight tracks, if necessary.

3.5 Live Tracking
1. The PWCA provides a Flymaster Live SD or Mini Tracker for each competitor as asafety measure to know at all times where they are whilst flying. As well as being
a fully fledged flying instrument, the Flymaster Live SD provides one-second
resolution live tracking, and in-flight communication between the organisers andthe pilots (level calls, task cancellation, etc.)
2. Each competitor must take the Live Tracker at take-off, and he must carry it on
his person whilst flying and whilst being retrieved.
3. Any competitor that does not take his Live Tracker will be deemed not to be flyingthat day and will not score any points.
A pilot who does not return his Live Tracker may not be displayed on score
sheets until it is returned.

3.6 Protective Equipment
Every competitor must wear a certified protective helmet, EN or LTF certified harness
protection and carry two emergency parachutes during all flights.

3.7 Pilot Number
1. Each glider must be equipped with a competition number which is black, has avertical height of 500 mm and a line width of 50 mm, fixed in the centre of thelower surface near the leading edge.
2. Only the TD can allow a number of different colour, size, or fixed in a different
place. Stickers for numbers are provided free of charge at the first registration.
3. The numbers 1 to 199 are reserved for pilots that competed in the previous Super
Final and are taken from the pilot’s position.
4. Above number 199, pilots will be assigned a number when they are selected andwhen they have paid.

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Competition Rules Season 2023

5. A pilot can request a different number until 3 days before the first event in which
they are competing. To do so, log in, go to https://pwca.org/account and fill up the“Next Season Number” field in the Information tab.
6. Once a pilot has competed in an event, their number is fixed for the remainder ofthe season.
7. A pilot flying a borrowed glider may request the TD to use a number other thantheir competition number on the glider for that competition only. In that case hewill continue to use his original assigned competition number for report back,trackers, etc.

3.8 World Cup Sponsors Equipment
1. The PWCA may provide logos or equipment (for example speed arms, stickers,etc.) to promote World Cup partners or the Paragliding World Cup itself.
2. In this case it is compulsory to wear this equipment, without covering these logos
on purpose. In case of conflicts with personal or team sponsors, exceptions canbe given by the TD for a single event or by the Committee for the whole season.
3. This equipment is provided by the World Cup Office, free of charge, after paymentof the PWCA membership fee.

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4 Rankings, Titles and Trophies
4.1 Number of Tasks for Competition Results
4.1.1 World Cup Events
1. Overall and female rankings will be scored with the Fixed Total Validity scoring(FTV), as described in Appendix D: Fixed Total Validity (FTV).
2. The FTV “reject rate” is set to 25% (equivalent to the former discard system with 1
discard out of 4 tasks).
3. Overall and female rankings will be computed to one decimal place of precision.
4. Team and country results are calculated as the sum of the scores in this event.

4.1.2 Super Final
1. Overall and female rankings will be scored with the Fixed Total Validity scoring(FTV), as described in Appendix D: Fixed Total Validity (FTV).
2. The FTV “reject rate” is set to 25% (equivalent to the former discard system with 1
discard out of 4 tasks).
3. Overall and female rankings will be computed to one decimal place of precision.
4. Team and country results are calculated as the sum of the scores in this event.

4.2 Team Ranking
1. “Team” stands for PWCA partners’ or any other team entering a World Cup event.
This must not be confused with national teams.
2. A team is composed of 4 pilots plus one possible reserve pilot. These pilots canchange from one event to another. One pilot can only participate in one teamduring a competition.
3. The entry fee for a team is €500 per event or €750 for the Super Final. PWCA
partners can enter one team for free. Additional teams for PWCA partners are€250 for a single event, or €500 for the Super Final.
4. Incomplete teams can enter an additional pilot during a competition. Injured teampilots can be replaced. New pilots score only from the day they are added to theteam. Team composition must be submitted before the task is flown.

4.2.1 Team Scoring
1. The position in the overall task ranking of each team’s second pilot will decide theteam ranking.
2. The winning team in a task receives 20 points. The last team receives 1 point.
3. The distribution of points between those positions depends on the number ofteams entered in the competition, as defined in Table 1.
4. The competition result is the sum of the team’s points for all tasks in the event
regardless of task validity.
5. The overall Partner season ranking is the sum of the team’s points for all tasks inthe season regardless of task validity.

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Competition Rules Season 2023
Teams 1st 2nd 3rd
1 - 10
20
17
15
11
20
17
15
12
20
17
15
13
20
17
15
14
20
17
15
15
20
17
15
16
20
17
15
17
20
17
15
18
20
17
15
19
20
17
15
20
20
17
15
Table 1: Points for Teams

4
13
13
13
13
13
13
13
13
13
13
13

5
11
11
11
11
11
11
12
12
12
12
12

6
9
9
9
9
9
10
11
11
11
11
11

7
7
7
7
7
8
9
10
10
10
10
10

8
5
5
5
6
7
8
9
9
9
9
9

9
3
3
4
5
6
7
8
8
8
8
8

10
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
7
7
7
7

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

1
2
3
4
5
6
6
6
6
6

1
2
3
4
5
5
5
5
5

1
2
3
4
4
4
4
4

1
2
3
3
3
3
4

1
2
2
2
3
3

1
1
2
2
3

1
1
2
2

1
1
2

1
1

1

4.3 Country Ranking
1. The task result of a nation is the sum of the 3 best pilots’ scores flying for thesame country.
2. The competition result is the sum of the country’s points for all tasks regardless oftask validity.
3. There is no podium or trophy for the Country Ranking, but it will be displayed on
the PWCA website.

4.4 Titles
4.4.1 World Cup Events
The winners of World Cup events are awarded the following titles:“Event” World Cup Winner“Event” World Cup Female Winner“Event” World Cup Team Winner“Event” Best Country (only on the website)

4.4.2 Super Final
The winners of the World Cup Super Final are awarded the following titles:
PWCA World champion
PWCA Female World champion
PWCA Team Super Final Winner
PWCA Team World Champion
PWCA World best country of the year (only on the website)

4.5 Trophies
4.5.1 World Cup Events
Trophies for the first 3 pilots, the first 3 female pilots and the first 3 teams for each
event are awarded at the event.

4.5.2 Super Final
Trophies for the first 3 pilots, the first 3 female pilots and the first 3 Super Final andSeason teams are awarded at the Super Final.

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5 Meet Director, Technical Delegate, Task Committee
5.1 Meet Director
1. The Meet Director’s first prerogative is to manage ALL sportive aspects during theevent.
2. He is responsible for applying the rules.
3. He must consult with the Technical Delegate at all times.
4. He shall present the task chosen by the Task Committee at the Task Briefing.
5. It is the responsibility of the Meet Director to inform himself as fully as possible ofthe issues affecting all safety elements during the task.

5.2 Technical Delegate
1. The Technical Delegate is responsible for controlling all sportive aspects of thecompetition
2. The Technical Delegate has a right of veto on sportive grounds
3. The Technical Delegate ensures that the rules are applied correctly
4. The Technical Delegate is a member of the Task Committee.
5. The Technical Delegate can initiate a penalty and inform the meet director before
application.

5.3 Task Committee
1. The Task Committee consists of:a. The Meet Director (MD)b. One pilot elected by the competition pilots
c. One pilot proposed by the organisers and approved by the PWCA
d. One pilot appointed by the PWCA
e. The Technical Delegate (TD)
2. The elected pilots should have sufficient knowledge of the flying site and theWorld Cup rules. They must submit their candidature no later than the start oflocal registration.
3. If there are less than two applicants, the Technical Delegate has the right toappoint two pilots from the pilot list.
4. The task should be unanimously agreed by the Task Committee.
5. The TD or MD have the right to veto a task.
6. In the event of a pilot leaving the task committee, the PWCA will appoint a
replacement.
7. The Task Committee chooses take-off areas and the task of the day according tosafety, meteorological, technical and sportive criteria.
8. All Task Committee members will have priority at launch.
9. Task Committee members will be given thanks and recognition at the prize-giving
ceremony.

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6 Briefings
All briefings must be in English only.

6.1 General Briefing
1. All competitors must be present at the general briefing, which will take place asannounced by the Organizer.
2. The main information given at this briefing must also be displayed in English on
the official board.
3. The mandatory General Briefing, including the safety briefing, will take place
before the first task briefing.

6.2 Task Briefing
1. The task briefing is held at the take-off area. All technical data specified during
this briefing is displayed on the task board.
2. To avoid stress and to guarantee good and fair preparation for all pilots,
provisional tasks should be displayed as soon as possible.
3. There must be sufficient time (minimum 15 minutes) between the task briefing
and the window opening. When necessary, taking into account all otherparameters (start time, unchanged provisional task, conditions, etc.), the window
may be opened earlier.
4. The task briefing should contain, in this order: Relevant information about the previous day (protests, incidents,
infractions, etc.)
 Winners of the previous day’s task (overall, female, team) Weather forecasts for the day (winds, forecasted cloud base, general
quality of the day) Important information about the day (new waypoints, altitude limits,
restricted areas, etc.)
 Task setting for the day.
 Timings (window, start, closing)

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7 Display of Results
1. A provisional results list must be put on the website as soon as possible. Smallerrors should be submitted for correction as soon as possible to the score keeper.
2. By default, the results timing is:a. As soon as possible: display of the provisional results.
b. By 10h00 the following day: written complaints (in English) handed to theMeet Director.
3. This timetable can be adjusted by each organizer.
4. The official task & competition results are displayed when all complaints havebeen dealt with.
5. The maximum time window for complaints on the last competition day is 30
minutes after the publication of provisional results.
6. In the event of a time-consuming complaint and protest, the organisation has theright to run a prize-giving ceremony with provisional results.

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8 Complaints, Protests and Appeals
1. Any pilot participating in a PWCA event can make a complaint, a protest or an
appeal.
2. Complaints, protests and the related decisions must be displayed by the event
organization on the official information board, with the display time clearly marked
on each document.

8.1 Complaints
1. Complaints must be made in writing, in English, and must be handed to the Meet
Director.
2. Complaints must be made within the fixed timetable after the announcement of
the provisional results (see section 7 Display of Results).
3. The Meet Director deals with complaints in consultation with the TD.

8.2 Protests and Jury
1. If the complainant, or any participant in the PWCA event impacted by a complaint,
is not satisfied with its outcome, he has the right to protest.
2. Such a protest must be made in writing, in English, and be handed to the MD witha protest fee of €100 (or equivalent in local currency) within 2 hours (30 minutes
for the last task) of the publication of the decision regarding the complaint.
3. The jury will deal with the protest and may decide to refund the protest fee.
4. The jury is composed of all World Cup Committee members present at thecompetition, except the PWCA President and those Committee members involvedin the protest.
5. The TD has a consultative voice in the jury.

8.3 Appeals
1. Any pilot participating in a PWCA event can make an appeal concerning any jury
decision.
2. The appeal must be made in writing, in English, and sent to the World Cup officewithin one week, together with a €300 appeal fee and accompanied by any
documents relevant to the case.
3. The Appeal Committee will deal with the appeal and may decide to refund theappeal fee.
4. The Appeal Committee will consist of the World Cup President and TD plus atleast 3 PWCA members (committee members or former committee members)
appointed by the President, none of them being from the parties involved. The
President and TD will have a consultative voice only.
5. All interested parties may be present at the hearing. They must be given notice of
the appeal in good time and shall have the right to call witnesses, their absence
shall not hold up the appeal.
6. The Appeal Committee has full power to make the final decision.
For example, the Appeal Committee’s powers include, but are not restricted to:- Change ranking lists in case of obvious errors- Invalidate a task for an overall ranking in case of severe infringement of World Cup rules- Change a jury decision in case of an appeal lodged against a jury decision as well as making
a decision in case of jury failure- Decide on refunding any of the deposit and the apportionment of the costs of the appeal

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9 Flying and Safety Regulations
9.1 Compliance with the Law
Each competitor is required to conform to the law and rules of the air of the country inwhich a PWCA event takes place.

9.2 Flight Limitations
1. All gliders must be flown within the limitations of its manufacturer’s specifications.
2. Any manoeuvre hazardous to other competitors or third parties is prohibited.
3. A pilot can be prohibited by the MD or the TD from competing or flying for safety
reasons.

9.3 Damage to Equipment in Competition
1. Any replacement parts must conform exactly to the original specifications.
2. Equipment may only be replaced if permission is given by the TD. Reasons for a
replacement are damage, loss or theft beyond the control of the competitor.
3. The TD may allow resumption of the original equipment after it is retrieved or
repaired.

9.4 Fitness
1. A pilot may not fly unless he or she is fit.
2. Any injury, drugs or medication taken which might affect the competitor's
performance must be reported to the Meet Director before flying.
3. The MD in accordance with the TD will decide if the pilot will be forbidden fromflying.

9.5 Collision Avoidance
1. Circuit, turn directions and landing patterns given at the briefing must be compliedwith. Usually, the turn direction is right on even, left on odd days.
2. International collision avoidance regulations must be obeyed and proper look-out
be kept at all times.
3. A glider joining another glider in a thermal shall circle in the same direction as that
established by the first glider in the thermal, regardless of height separation.
4. A glider joining another glider in a thermal at the same height shall join thethermal from the outside and must not attempt to turn inside the existing glider.
5. A competitor involved in a mid-air collision must not continue the flight if thestructural integrity of the glider is in doubt.
6. Pilots found to be infringing the above rules will be penalised (see section 15.1
Penalties).

9.6 Aggressive Flying
1. Aggressive flying is extremely dangerous and, when identified, will be penalised(see section 15.1 Penalties).
2. Any pilot involved in a collision whilst violating the Collision Avoidance rules
above will automatically be deemed responsible.
3. Acts of collective aggression, such as a large group of pilots flying straight at asingle pilot established in a thermal are extremely unsportsmanlike and will be
penalised (see section 15.1 Penalties).

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9.7 Cloud Flying
1. Cloud flying is prohibited (see section 15.1 Penalties).
2. Cloud flying is defined as any part of the glider or the pilot disappearing from theview of observers or pilots close to him or her.
3. If the TD determines that a pilot has been cloud flying, then it will be up to the pilot
to furnish proof that he was not actually in cloud, otherwise he will be penalised.
4. It is the responsibility of the competitors to report cloud flying to the MD.

9.8 Altitude Control
1. Altitude control will be done using GPS Altitude.
2. A progressive penalty will be set (see section 15.1 Penalties).

9.9 Ballast, Take-off Weight
1. A competing glider may carry jettisonable ballast only in the form of fine sand or
water.
2. A competitor must avoid dropping ballast in a manner likely to affect othercompeting gliders or third parties.
3. Pilots must fly within the certified weight-range of their glider.
4. Pilots must be fit to fly with their chosen quantity of ballast. Any pilot experiencing
difficulties launching will be required to stand aside and may not be allowed to fly.

9.9.1 Weight control
1. Pilots may check their weight (at registration or on take-off) and adjust theirweight. Also, when being systematically weighed at a launch gate, pilots may
adjust their weight, if necessary.
2. Pilots may be checked as they are about to take off or after landing, and thischeck will be definitive.
3. If their all-up weight is out of their glider’s weight range, they will be penalized
without tolerance on the measurement.
4. The weight measurement machine will be located close to the launch gate;
5. The organiser must provide an inflexible horizontal platform with a minimum sizeof 100cm x 100cm.
6. The Organiser or TD must have a list of pilots at the take-off with the weight rangeof their wing.

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9.10 Emergency Rules
1. A new rule may be introduced at any time during an event to address unforeseen
problems which are deemed by the MD, TD and PWCA committee memberspresent to pose a major threat to pilot safety.
2. Any such rule must be written down and referenced on the task board each daythat it is in force.
3. Any such rule will not be retroactively applied.
4. The PWCA committee reserves the right to ground any wing or pilot if it isdeemed to be in the interests of pilot safety.

9.11 External Aid to Competitors
1. The organisation can broadcast pertinent information, such as wind conditions atgoal, to all pilots. This is both to improve safety and to eliminate the value of suchinformation passed to individual pilots to provide an unfair advantage.

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10 Take-off
1. The organization assumes that all registered pilots will fly each task.
2. All pilots intending to fly must take a live tracker. Pilots who do not take a live
tracker are deemed not to be flying the task and will not score for the day.
3. If a pilot decides not to fly, he or she must notify the organizer as soon as
possible, and before the mandatory safety report-back deadline. Failure to do so
may result in a pilot penalty as defined in section 15.
4. A pilot who decides not to fly should hand back his live-tracker at launch. If this is
not done, normal check-in procedures at Headquarters must be followed.
5. All pilots must be able to perform safe and controlled launches. If a pilot does not
succeed in launching in a reasonable time, he or she may be removed fromlaunch by the TD/MD.

10.1 Launch Procedure
10.1.1 Ordered Launch
1. When necessary, a priority system can be used: all pilots must enter through adesignated gate in the order of the last available ranking (Top 30, 40, 50, etc … or
one by one if necessary). This will be defined by the Task Committee anddisplayed on the Task Board.
2. Pilots who do not enter the take-off area when they would be allowed to, keep
their right to enter at any later time.

10.1.2 Launch Window
1. Window Opening and closing times are announced at the task briefing anddisplayed on the task board.
2. The window should be as long as possible, to allow all pilots to take off even incase of a temporary window closing (e.g. for a helicopter rescue) or to give time
to repair broken lines.

10.1.3 Re-launch
1. In the case of a problem occurring immediately after take-off, a pilot may ask
permission from the Meet Director or the TD to land, resolve the problem, andtake off again.
2. In the case of a re-launch, pilots do not lose their priority rights in an ordered
launch.

10.2 Free Flyers and Wind Dummies
1. Free flying is allowed, but those pilots may be asked not to take off during shorttimes for safety reasons.
2. Wind dummies must be ready to take off before the window opening on organizer
request.
3. Free flyers and Wind dummies must not provide voluntary help to competitors forreasons of fairness (see section 9.11 External Aid to Competitors).

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11 Landing, Report-back and GPS Track Download
1. During a task, touch and go and take-off after landing are forbidden. If a pilot
wishes to re-fly, then he must ensure that the correct flight is used for scoring.
2. All pilots must pack their glider immediately after landing. A glider lying open on
the ground means “I need help” (see Appendix B: Rescue Actions inCompetitions).

11.1 Mandatory Safety Report-Back
1. It is each pilot’s responsibility to report back every task day, whether they fly or do
not fly.
2. The primary means of reporting back is via the Flymaster Live Tracker:
 Live SD: Five minutes after landing, the live tracker will make an audible
signal and display a menu of options to report back. The pilot can choose themost appropriate option, which will silence the alarm. The pilot can open thisReport Back menu at any time by pressing the top-right button on the device.
 Mini Tracker: The pilot can press the SOS button three times in quick
succession in order to report back that he is safe. The centre three LEDs will
start flashing regularly. If the pilot needs assistance, then he must press andhold the SOS button for five seconds until the centre LED starts flashing in the
Morse Code for SOS.
3. An acknowledgement will eventually be displayed on the Live Tracker. At thispoint, the pilot is reported back. If no acknowledgement is received, then the pilot
cannot consider himself reported back.
 Live SD: Confirmation of the option chosen will be shown with a brief siren.
 Mini Tracker: In the event of reporting back safe, the outer two LEDs will flash
regularly. In the event of needing assistance, the middle three LEDs will flashin the Morse Code for SOS.
4. If the pilot moves (or his situation changes) he must report back again byrepeating the report back procedure above and selecting the appropriate option.
5. If the pilot chooses "Need assistance", this is treated as an emergency, and theemergency services could be immediately engaged without any further notice. If apilot selects this mistakenly, it can be cancelled as follows: Live SD: The pilot can go back to the Report Back menu on the device andchoose a different option.
 Mini Tracker: The pilot can press the SOS button for five seconds until theLEDs at the top are extinguished.
6. A false "Need assistance" report will be penalised (see section 15.1 Penalties).
7. If reporting back via the Live Tracker is impossible, it is possible to report back by
SMS instead. Report-back must be done immediately by SMS to the number
given during briefing and indicated on the task board.
8. The format of the message is as follows:<pilot number(s)> <UTM coordinates> <optional message>
Example: If pilot 174 wants to report landing, together with 3 other pilots (21, 73 and 411), themessage would be: “174 21 73 411 0725738 5020845 waiting at the bar”

9. An acknowledgement will be sent back to the pilot by SMS. Again, if noacknowledgement is received, then the pilot is not yet reported back, and if thepilot moves (or his situation changes) he must report back by SMS again to givean update.

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10. Other possibilities to report back will be indicated at the briefing and on the taskboard. These may include telephone, radio, or physically at take-off, at
headquarters and in goal.
11. All pilots must report back as soon as possible, even before packing his glider(usually within 20 minutes after landing), including the ones landing in goal. The
later a pilot lands, the faster he must report back.
12. GPS track download is not a way to report back.
13. A pilot can be penalized for reporting back late. In case of unnecessary searchand rescue operations caused by a pilot reporting back late or by falsely reporting"Need assistance", the penalty can be up to disqualification from the event andpossible S&R costs at the expense of the pilot.

11.2 Check-in at Headquarters
1. All pilots who fly the task must hand in their Live-Tracker immediately on returning
to Headquarters.
2. Pilots who have their own retrieve MUST return their Live-Tracker to
Headquarters before doing anything else.
3. Handing in the Live-Tracker constitutes check-in and is the organisation’s
guarantee that the pilot has safely returned to base.
4. If a pilot fails to return their Live-Tracker in a timely fashion, he may be penalised
or not scored for the task.
5. When a deadline is set (e.g. on the last competition day), pilots returning their
Live-Tracker after this deadline may not be scored for the task.

11.3 GPS Track Download
1. Once a pilot’s Live-Tracker is handed in and scanned, pilots are free to connect
another instrument for downloading if there are any problems with their result.
2. A maximum of 2 GPS receivers to be checked for pilots reaching goal with noproblem in their recorded track log may be enforced.
3. Tracklogs produced by Smartphone Apps are not accepted for downloading
unless there is a problem with the pilot's normal flying instruments.

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12 Tasks
The World Cup uses five task formats.

12.1 Timed Tasks
1. In all timed tasks the course is the same for all pilots.
2. The course starts at take-off, passes around zero or more turnpoints, andterminates at the goal.
3. Part, or all, of this course is designated as the speed section.
4. The objective is to fly around the course and, in the process, along the speed
section in the shortest time.
5. The task distance is the shortest distance around the course.
6. If a pilot fails to complete the course, then the distance awarded to the pilot is thetask distance minus the shortest distance from his best position around any
remaining turnpoints to goal.

12.1.1 Race to Goal
1. A Race task uses a single start time.
2. The first pilot to complete the speed section has the shortest time.
3. A Race to Goal task may have a back-up start to act as a safety net in the eventof bad launch conditions which prevent pilots from taking off in time to reach thestart.

12.1.2 Clock Start
1. A Clock Start task uses multiple start times, normally at fixed intervals.
2. A pilot’s start time is defined as that start time after which he starts the speed
section for the last time, to continue and fly the task.

12.1.3 Elapsed Time
1. An Elapsed Time task gives an individual start time to each pilot.
2. A pilot’s start time is taken when he crosses the start for the last time, to continue
and fly the task.
3. A start opening/closing time and last start time can optionally be set.

12.2 Task Deadline
1. A task deadline is set to give enough time for search and rescue at the end of theday, or to avoid forecasted bad weather.
2. If any pilot is still flying after this deadline, his best position up until the task
deadline will be used for scoring.

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13 Turnpoints, Cylinders, Start and Goal
13.1 Turnpoints
1. All turnpoints are given as GPS coordinates.
2. Turnpoints should be obtained from the PWCA website immediately before thecompetition.
3. Organizers can change or add co-ordinates during the event. In this case thechanges will be announced at the task briefing and displayed on the task board.
4. The official map datum is WGS84, and position format is UTM. For safety reasonsand to facilitate communication, pilots must set their GPS receivers to WGS84
and UTM to be able to provide coordinates in the right format at any time. This
also avoids mistakes when manually entering new coordinates.

13.2 Vertical and Horizontal
1. A vertical line is defined as a straight line that is perpendicular to the surface ofthe WGS84 ellipsoid at the point that the line (or its projection) crosses theellipsoid.
2. A Horizontal Surface (of height v) is defined as a curved surface with a constantvertical separation (v) from the WGS84 ellipsoid.

13.3 Cylinders
1. Cylinders are defined as a circle on the WGS84 ellipsoid, projected verticallyupwards to an infinite altitude.
2. Cylinders are drawn around a central point which is a turnpoint specified by thetask-setters.
3. Cylinder radius can vary for each cylinder, even within the same task when aturnpoint is used multiple times. Defining the cylinder sizes is part of task setting.
4. A cylinder can have an opening time and a closing time. A cylinder can only bevalidated after the opening time and before the closing time.
5. Each cylinder can either be an entry or an exit cylinder. An entry cylinder isvalidated when a pilot enters it, and an exit cylinder is validated when a pilot
leaves it.

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13.4 Start
1. All information concerning the start definition will be announced during the task
briefing and displayed on the task board.

13.4.1 Air Start
1. An air start is either an entry cylinder or an exit cylinder.
2. An entry start cylinder is used when the next turnpoint is inside the start cylinder.
3. An exit start cylinder is used when the next turnpoint is outside the start cylinder.
4. In the case of a race to goal task, the start cylinder opens at a pre-determined
time. The start cylinder is validated as follows:a. In the case of an entry cylinder, the pilot must have at least one point in his
tracklog outside the cylinder after the opening time (and before the closing
time, if applicable).
b. In the case of an exit cylinder, the pilot must have at least one point in his
tracklog inside the cylinder after the opening time (and before the closing
time, if applicable).
c. If the pilot does not satisfy these requirements, then the pilot will be scoredback to the start cylinder.
5. In the case of a clock-start or elapsed time task, if the start cylinder has an
opening or closing time, then it is validated in the same way as in a race task. But,in addition, the pilot’s individual start time is determined as follows:a. A pilot’s individual start time is calculated from the last time the pilot
crossed the cylinder in the direction defined by the task (enter or exit).
b. If there is no valid recording of a pilot’s start time, then the pilot will bescored back to the start cylinder.
c. A last start time may be set. In this case, if the pilot crosses the start for thelast time after this time, his individual start time will be set to the last starttime.

13.5 Goal
1. By default, the World Cup goal is a goal line.
2. The default virtual goal line extends to 100 m each side of the GPS goal
coordinates, to a total of 200 m, and is perpendicular to the line between the goal
point and the previous turnpoint coordinates.
3. The default virtual goal line is validated when there is a point in the pilot’s tracklog
inside a 100 m radius semi-cylinder whose flat face is coincident with the virtual
goal line and whose interior is on the opposite side of the virtual goal line to theprevious turnpoint. In the case of an arrival from an exit cylinder containing thegoal, the interior is on the same side of the virtual goal line to the previous
turnpoint.
4. If present, a physical line should be at least 50 m long and 1 m wide. If less than
50m, the physical line will be deemed to extend to 25m on either side of thecentre of the actual line.
5. The physical line should match the virtual line but should be entirely contained
within the semicircle forming the goal area.
6. The physical line is provided only as a visual reference.
7. In the event of the physical goal line being incorrectly placed, causing pilots to not
cross the virtual line, the topology of the goal may be adjusted to accommodate
this and avoid cancelling the task.
8. Pilots not crossing the virtual goal line will not score time points.
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9. For safety, or other reasons, a cylinder may be used instead of a goal line; thismust be explained at the briefing and displayed on the task board. In this casethere is no physical equivalent
10. Pilots should not take any risk to cross the goal line. Not crossing a goal line for
obvious safety reasons will be considered in favour of the pilots.
11. Organizers should use physical lines as often as possible for several reasons(goal visualisation, safety, public, media, etc.).

13.6 End of Speed Section
1. The end of speed section may be:a. An entry (or exit) cylinder centred on the goal coordinates (1000m by
default). In this case, the pilot’s finishing time is taken when he enters (orexits) the cylinder. After that, the pilot must validate the goal to complete
the task.
b. Another turnpoint. In this case, the pilot’s finishing time is taken when hevalidates that turnpoint. After that, the pilot must validate all subsequent
turnpoints and the goal to complete the task.
2. The end of speed section may, in certain circumstances, have a minimum altitude
to be validated.

13.7 Crossing Times
1. Crossing times of SSS/ESS cylinder boundaries and goal lines are determinedfrom the pilot’s tracklog.
2. The actual crossing time is found by interpolating between the timestamps of thelast tracklog point before crossing and the first tracklog point after crossing.

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14 Task Evidence
14.1 Source
1. Data will be taken from the Live-Tracking system.
2. In the event of a problem with a pilot’s result, data can be collected directly from abackup GPS receiver.
3. IGC files are also accepted if they are digitally signed by the GPS unit itself.
4. Only valid GPS data will be considered as true evidence. Data may also becollected from data loggers, but in such case, a GPS receiver may also berequested to verify the data logger’s data validity.
5. No copies of files, or files from any other source will be accepted as evidence fora flight.
6. Track log data is public.

14.2 Valid GPS Data
1. To be considered as valid, the track log must satisfy the following criteria:
a. The track log must show at least 2 minutes of data and at least 5
continuous track points prior to and after the track log points used to verify
a turn-point or start.
b. The track log must show at least 2 minutes of data and at least 5
continuous track log points prior to landing.
c. The track log must have valid and consistent time stamps as well as GPS
altitude recording.
d. A continuous track log is one where each consecutive point is 1 second
from its predecessor.
e. Partial tracks from several GPS receivers can be combined to create avalid track.
2. GPS data validity is verified by the GPS software.
3. In order to fully benefit from Leading Points (see Appendix C: PWCA Scoring
Formula), it is recommended to record entire flights.
4. In some particular cases, where forbidden or dangerous areas exist, the Meet
Director can require the pilots to provide a continuous track log that shows thatthey did not fly into the unauthorized area.

14.3 GPS Software
1. The GPS software used by the PWCA is CompCheck®.
2. The software is able to check positions in relation with times.
3. The software is also able to checka. Departure time during starts
b. Cylinder crossing for air start and turnpoints
c. Landing placed. Arrival Timee. The best position reached by the pilot during the flightf. Best positions at a fixed time (when stopping a task in the air)g. Airspace infringements
h. Reserve deployments

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14.4 Measurement of Distances
1. All geographical points (turnpoints and tracklog points) are projected onto a plane
using the Transverse Mercator projection of the WGS84 ellipsoid with a scaling
factor optimised for a task area 100km wide.
2. Distance between points is simply obtained by using Pythagoras’s Theorem. Thisis within a metre of precise geodetic calculations over a 100km wide task area.
3. All other geometrical calculations are carried out using simple planar
trigonometry.

14.5 GPS Checking Criteria
1. For the start cylinder, at or after the start time, the track log must show at least
one point outside the cylinder in the case of an “Enter” cylinder, or at least one
point inside the cylinder in the case of an “Exit” cylinder.
2. For each turnpoint claimed, the track log must show one of the following:a. At least one point inside the cylinder for “Enter” cylinders, or at least one
point outside the cylinder for “Exit” cylinders
b. A pair of consecutive points (in a continuous tracklog) whose connecting
line passes through the cylinder.
3. Manually marked waypoints (Mark + Enter on Garmin GPS receivers, forexample) are not considered as track evidence.
4. A tolerance of 0.1% is applied to all cylinder radii to deal with different formulas
used in GPS receivers and computer software to calculate distances.
Example: On a 50 km cylinder, this gives a 50 m tolerance.

14.6 Best Position
1. Pilots will be scored for their best position reached in the task. The best position
can be the landing place, or a better position reached in the air.
2. Definition of the Best Position: The tracklog point with the shortest optimal route
through all remaining cylinders and to goal (not necessarily the one closest to thenext turnpoint).
3. In the case of a stopped task, the altitude bonus for each tracklog point will betaken into account when determining the best position.

14.7 Pilot’s Responsibility and Management of the GPS Receiver
1. Pilots can have multiple GPS receivers and data loggers as backup.
2. Pilots need to set their GPS receiver and data logger to the right parameters torecord their flight correctly.
3. Each pilot certifies that he provides his or her own track log in the event that abackup is required. The organization may cross-check several track logs.

14.8 GPS Receiver Models
1. Only GPS receiver models listed in Appendix F: GPS Receivers, or devices
compatible with those, are accepted by the PWCA.
2. GPS receivers used in the World Cup must be capable of recording GPS altitude,and must include this information in the track download.
3. USB-based GPS receivers are only accepted if they comply with the USB Mass
Storage standard and can produce a signed IGC tracklog.
4. Upon request, all pilots must be able to provide a cable for downloading tracks
from their particular GPS receivers.

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15 Penalty and Compensation
15.1 Penalties
1. Modified glider: zero points for the task, disqualification from the event on asecond offence.
2. All-up weight outside certified weight range: zero points for the task,
disqualification from the event on a second offence.
3. Cloud flying: points according to the Soft Airspace Infringement formula (seeAppendix C.8: Airspace Penalties); disqualification from the event for persistentoffenders.
4. Aggressive or dangerous flying: progressive penalty up to disqualification from theevent.
5. Airspace infringement, horizontal or vertical: points according to the Hard or Soft
Airspace Infringement formula, depending on the legal status of the airspace.
6. Track log missing or non-continuous track log when continuous track log isrequired: zero points for the task.
7. Failure to report back, or late report-back after a task: up to disqualification fromthe event and possible recovery of S&R costs.
8. False "Assistance needed" report: If dismissed by the organisation, 1 point,
otherwise up to disqualification from the event and possible recovery of S&R
costs.
9. No number, wrong number or number not meeting the requirements: 100 points
penalty per task.
10. Failure to wear official sponsor logos or equipment: up to 100 points penalty pertask.
11. Change of equipment during competition, if the TD is not notified of the change,
then zero points for the day.

15.2 Compensation Points
1. Pilots taking part in a rescue action will be awarded compensation points.
2. This compensation is evaluated by the MD and TD according to the position of
the pilot at the time of the rescue and what results he could have achieved.
3. In case this evaluation is not possible, for example at the beginning of the task,
the pilot’s ranking in the previous tasks (or eventually in the next tasks) will betaken into account. In any case, the pilot must not lose any ranking because of his
rescue action.

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16 Task Validation
Task validity is mainly dealt with by the scoring formula (see Appendix C: PWCA
Scoring Formula), taking into account the number of pilots who launched, thedistances flown and the time spent in the air.

16.1 Launch validity
1. In addition to the launch validity calculated by the scoring formula, a task is only
considered valid if the launch window was open for more than one minute perenrolled competitor and per simultaneous take-off possibility (decided by MD and
TD and declared at the beginning of the competition).
2. Enrolled competitors in this context means all originally enrolled less thosedisqualified or officially withdrawn.

16.2 Stopped Tasks
1. The Meet Director and/or the Technical Delegate can stop a task for safety
reasons.
2. Task stopping is announced on the radio safety frequency.
3. The Task Stop Time is 5 minutes before the task stop announcement.
4. For a stopped task to be scored the Task Stop Time must be at least one hour
after the start for Race to Goal, or one hour after the Last Start Time for all otherrace types. The Last Start Time is the time that the last pilot started or the Last
Start Time defined for the task, whichever is the earliest. If a Last Start Time is
not defined, and some pilots have not started, then the task cannot be scored.
5. Valid stopped tasks will be scored taking into account “Stop Validity” (seeAppendix C: PWCA Scoring Formula).
6. Pilots who were at a position between End of Speed Section and Goal at the timea task was stopped will be scored for their complete flight, including the portion
flown after the Task Stop Time.
7. If a task cannot be scored correctly, it will be cancelled.
8. When a task is stopped, all competition rules still apply until each pilot is checkedin at headquarters.

16.2.1 Stopped Clock Start or Elapsed Tasks
1. In the case of a Clock Start or Elapsed Time task, pilots will be scored with theirbest position after the “minimum available flying time”.
2. “Minimum available flying time” is the time between the Last Start Time and theTask Stop Time.
Example: In a Clock Start task, some pilots use the last start at 14:00. The task is stopped at 16:12,
giving a Task Stop Time of 16:07. The “minimum available flying time” is 2 hours 7 minutes. Therefore,
pilots who took the start at 13:30 will be scored for their best position reached up until 15:37.

16.2.2 Altitude Compensation
1. In stopped tasks, pilots receive altitude compensation, based on their GPS
altitude during their entire flight.
2. The glide ratio used to calculate altitude compensation is 4:1.
3. For scoring, the best position before the Task Stop Time is used taking account of
any altitude compensation due at that point in the pilot’s flight.

16.3 Cancelled Tasks
1. After the last landing time, a task can only be cancelled by a jury decision. The
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TD and/or the MD can ask for a jury decision on the validation of a task.
2. A complaint can be made to ask for task cancellation.

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17 Score Sheets
1. The Organizer publishes a score sheets for all competing pilots.
2. The score sheet must show at least:a. Name of pilot, nationality, glider, harness, team (except in case of due
invoices) and sponsors
b. Distance flownc. Start timed. Time when reached the End of Speed Section
e. Duration of flight inside the Speed Section (between Start and End of
Speed Section)f. Sum of points awarded to one decimal place for task and overall results.
3. Score sheets will be produced in several categories including, but not necessarily
limited to: Overall, Women and Teams (event and season).
4. Score sheets will be published immediately on the internet as soon as they areavailable.

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18 Prize Giving
18.1 World Cup Events
1. It is mandatory for World Cup pilots to be present at the prize giving ceremony ifthey achieve a top 10 position.

18.2 Super Final
1. Taking part in the Paragliding World Cup Super Final is an honour and a great
achievement.
2. Prizes and trophies will be awarded to the winning teams and pilots.
3. For media and marketing reasons, presence is mandatory for all podium pilots.
4. Such pilots who do not respect this rule may lose their prizes and risk not being
selected for the next Super Final.

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Appendix A: Registration and Selection
A.1 How to Enter a World Cup Event
A.1.1 Registration
1. A pilot wishing to participate in a World Cup event or in the Super Final must register and apply
online on the World Cup website: https://pwca.org
2. The first step is to log in (using your username and password) or create a new account byclicking on “CREATE NOW” and following the account creation process.
3. After logging in, you must complete your personal data in order to gain a pilot’s role. As soon
as you are upgraded from ordinary user to “pilot”, you will be able to declare results and sign
up for events.
4. All dates and deadlines relating to an event are in UTC.
5. The registration deadline is 90 days before each World Cup event. In special circumstances, a
new deadline can be set by the Committee members and communicated to the pilot
community.
6. Any pilot applying after the registration deadline will be placed in the waiting list.
7. A pilot can apply at the beginning of the season for all Paragliding World Cup events.
8. All pilots taking part in a World Cup event are automatically registered for the Super Final.
9. To ensure that World Cup events are filled, overbooking may be used.

A.1.2 Cancellation of a Registration
1. Pilots who want to cancel their registration should do it as soon as possible.
2. A pilot who cancels at least 45 days before the event can ask for:a. His or her entry fee to be used for the next event where he or she will be selected.
b. A refund of the entry fee (an administrative fee of €20 will be deducted).
3. Cancellations received less than 45 days before the event will be refunded 50% of the entryfee.
4. Cancellations received less than 15 days before the event will not be refunded.
5. Any cancellation is final. Any reintroduction into the selection list will be recorded as a newsignup. If a pilot has been partially refunded, he will be charged the remaining part of his entry
fee + late signup fee.
6. In the case of injury, and where a medical certificate is supplied, refunds will be decided on acase-by case basis by the World Cup Committee.
7. Other circumstances beyond the pilot’s control will be considered by the World Cup Committee
when deciding on refunds.
8. If a cancellation is less than 7 days before the event, then the organiser part is not refundable
under any circumstances.
9. It’s the pilot’s responsibility to claim the return of his or her entry fee. Requests for refunds forfees paid must be made before December 31st of the same year.

A.1.3 Entry Fee
1. The Entry fee for World Cup events is €300 per event.
2. The Entry fee for the Super Final is €400.
3. The fee covers, but is not limited to:a. Transport to all flying sites
b. Retrieval on main roadsc. A map of the area with all necessary documentationd. GPS co-ordinates of turnpoints (to be loaded onto the GPS receivers)e. GPS track download and task scoring
f. Live Tracking during all tasks
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g. Emergency rescue and first aid medical service
h. Local license or feesi. Possible extras (accommodation, dinners, parties…)

A.2 Selection Process for World Cup Events
1. In every PWCA selective competition, pilots can obtain a qualification letter (A, B, C,…)according to the competition’s level (see Table A-3) and their rank in that competition.
2. For every World Cup event, the World Cup Office selects pilots according to their two bestcompetition results from the previous season, by comparing their two highest letters.
3. All selective results from the 2021 season are devalued by 2 letters, except for World Cup
events, including the Super Final, which are devalued by 1 level from their original level.
4. Results from 2020 or earlier count as X.
5. Pilots are ranked according to the two best letters gained during the 2022 season, but the best
devalued letter from 2021 (or before) can replace the weakest letter from the 2022 season.
6. Letters that are declared after the registration deadline of an event, and that do not come froma World Cup event, cannot count for this event except if the selection process reaches thebottom of the waiting list. In that case, result declarations of XX ranked pilots will be manuallyreviewed. The PWCA offers the opportunity for late-declared letters to count for an event upon
payment of an administration fee of €50.
7. 90 days before each event, pilots are ranked by their two letters in the selection list and, if notselected, in the waiting list (e.g., when pilots with DF are selected, pilots with DG are first in thewaiting list).
8. Only registered pilots who were selected and who confirmed their participation by paying will
be accepted, even if fewer than the nominal number of pilots fulfils this requirement.
9. When new places become available due to cancellations of selected pilots, the first pilots in thewaiting list are selected.
10. Pilots are ranked by their first letter and then by their second letter when the first letters areequal.
11. In case of a tie, the precedence is given to the pilots who have not participated in Paragliding
World Cups before. In case of a second tie, the precedence is given to the younger pilot.
12. The selection process can be followed on the PWCA Web site at https://pwca.org/events

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Competition Rules Season 2023

90 days before thebeginning of theevent

6 days later

Selection deadline for all pilots
1. Confirmation of selection will be sent by Email toeach pilot 90 days before each competition (or someother date due to special circumstances) and theselection lists will be published on the web site
https://pwca.org/events
2. A selected pilot must pay his Registration fee to theWorld Cup Office within 5 days.
3. Any selected pilot not paying within 5 days will begiven a reminder, and will be able to keep his placeby paying the entry fee plus an administration fee of€20 within the next 2 days.
4. When the selected pilot has paid his Registration
fee, he is considered a confirmed pilot.
5. The selection list on the PWCA website will show:
confirmed pilots – pilots with payment in progress –waiting list – wildcard/guestcard pilots
Payment deadline
1. Pilots who have not paid their registration fee by thisdate are removed from the selection list.
2. The list will be filled up with the best-ranked pilots on
the waiting list. Those pilots have 5 days (plus afurther 2 days if they pay an administration fee of€20) to send their payment to the World Cup Office.
3. If necessary, this procedure is repeated as manytimes as necessary until the entry list is filled.

Table A-1: Selection Process for World Cup events

A.2.1 Additional rules
1. Female pilots are selected using their results in overall rankings, not the female rankings.
2. The previous season's Super Final, if fully valid, is selective for the current Super Final in thesame way as a fully valid World Cup event.
3. All World Cup Champions are always selected with “AA” qualification letters.
4. The results of the current season are not used for selection, except Paragliding World Cup
events.
5. Qualification letter upgrade due to good results during the season in World Cup events will be
accepted on pilots’ request. If the upgraded letters are higher than the highest letters in thewaiting list, such pilots will be put at the beginning of the waiting list.
6. A competition can only be used once for selection. For example, when a competition is at thesame time an Open and a national championship, a pilot can only submit the better of his two
results from that competition.
7. If a pilot is not able to provide good enough competition result for selection, he cannot
participate unless he is granted an organizer or PWCA wildcard.
8. Pilots with a ranking below the letter “N” get an “X”.
9. XX ranked pilots are never selected unless they receive a wildcard, even if the event is not full.
10. Pilots registering after the registration deadline will be placed at the end of the waiting list, but
before pilots with qualification letter “X”. The PWCA offers the opportunity for a late-registeredpilot to recover their place according to their qualification letters upon payment of an
administration fee of €50.
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Competition Rules Season 2023

11. In the case of late registration and late results declaration, only a single fee of €50 is payable
to recover the pilots place and to allow the results to be used.
12. If a pilot was injured, or was otherwise unable to compete, the previous year and submits
appropriate documentation to the World Cup Office, the World Cup Committee may take into
account results of the season previous to the one where the injury occurred. If the pilot was outof action for two seasons, then any results so used will be devalued by one letter. If the pilot
was out of action for more than two seasons, then previous results cannot be used.
13. PWCA Wildcards are granted by the PWCA Committee for the following reasons:a. In recognition of outstanding service to the PWCA,
b. If the applicant is acknowledged as a paragliding “Hero”,
c. In the case of special circumstances.

A.2.2 World Cup Selective Events
1. The following events are World Class events:a. All World Cup events
2. The following events are World Cup Class 1 events:a. National championships (national ranking)b. National leagues
c. Open national championships (open ranking)d. Other international Open competitions (CIVL), as decided by the World Cup Committeee. Pre-World Cup events
f. Asian Tour events
3. All PWCA Class 1 events must be announced on the PWCA calendar, see
https://pwca.org/events
4. Dates, information and results must be sent as soon as possible to pwca@pwca.org.
5. Each nation is allowed to submit two rankings, usually championship and league. This is toguarantee that all competition pilots from all active paragliding countries in the World have thepossibility to have at least two qualification letters.
6. The previous season’s league and championship results must be submitted by the organisers
to the World Cup Office for pilot selection.
7. The PWCA may not accept events that are not advertised in advance on the PWCA calendar,
or events for which the results are not submitted to the PWCA office in time.
8. The PWCA does not accept events that restrict access to CCC gliders, such as serial-class or
sports-class events.
9. The PWCA Committee reserves the right to devalue, replace or not use a ranking that does notallow a fair comparison between different pilots.
10. All selective events, excluding leagues, with less than 1350 points for the overall winner, after
discards, will be devalued by one level, and those with less than 825 points will be devalued by
two levels (see A.2.3 Nation Levels).
11. All selective events using TBS with 1 task or less than 3 hours winner’s time will be devalued 1
level, and with 1 task and less than 2 hours winner’s time will be devalued 2 levels (see A.2.3
Nation Levels).
12. Pre World Cup events are level 3 but are devalued by one level if there are less than 50 pilots
present, and by a further level if there are less than 30 pilots present, as well as any
devaluation due to the winner’s points.
13. If a national championship could not take place, the World Cup Office will take into account theresults of the previous year’s championship, devalued by one level (see A.2.3 Nation Levels).
14. For open national championships, the overall open results are taken into account for all foreign
pilots. The national ranking is taken into account for all pilots of the hosting nation.
15. When a national championship consists of several open competitions flown in foreigncountries, and with at least 10% foreign pilots, open results of individual events or the overall
championship results - whichever are better - are taken into account for the foreign pilots.
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Competition Rules Season 2023

16. When an open competition includes several national championships, the level of this Open forforeign pilots is the one of the best-classed country. For National pilots, only the pilots from thatcountry are considered, and their own country level is used instead of the Open level. Pilots will
receive the best letter gained by considering their Open result or their National result; clearly
the pilot may not use both the Open and National results.
Example: Nordic Open: Norway (4) + Sweden (5) + Denmark (5) + Finland (6) = Level 4 for foreign pilots.

17. In case of multiple national championships or league results from a single country (e.g. Japan)
the PWCA Committee will decide the level for these results.
18. If a country does not organize a national championship, the PWCA Committee can select amajor Open event as a replacement.

A.2.3 Nation Levels
1. To be able to compare national results from all over the World, countries are ranked from level
1 to level 7.
2. Level 1 is the highest. Countries without any results are ranked level 7, and countries cannot
be devalued to be worse than level 7.
3. The nation level table is calculated using the sum of rankings of the best three pilots of eachcountry who have scored during the previous season in any World Cup event, and the sum of
rankings of the best three pilots in the last FAI World Championship.
4. When a nation does not have three pilots ranked, the gaps are filled with the number ofcompetitors in the competition (in the case of the World Cup, the number of competitors in the
biggest event) plus 1.
5. The nation score is computed with a factor of 2 for World Cup results and 1 for FAI results, in
relation to the maximum possible rating, normalised to 1000 points.
6. The nation scores of nations with fewer pilots at the FAI World Championship than in the PWC
events of that season are lowered by 50 points for each pilot.
Example: Three pilots count for Andorra in the PWC, but only one pilot from Andorra competed in the FAI WorldChampionship. Therefore, Andorra’s nation score is lowered by 100 points.

7. The nation rating is updated every year at the end of the season.
8. The points required for each level are given in Table A-2.
Level Points from Points to
1
0
100
2
101
260
3
261
400
4
401
500
5
501
730
6
731
870
7
871
1000
Table A-2: Points required for Levels

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Competition Rules Season 2023

9. The 2022 nation rating table, valid for the 2023 season, is given in Table A-3.
FranceSwitzerland
Germany
BrazilUnited Kingdom
Czech RepublicHungary
Korea
Slovenia
PolandSpain
Japan
Macedonia
Russian Federation
United States
Italy
Argentina
Austria
TurkeySlovakia (Slovak Republic)
Iran (Islamic Republic of)
NorwayBelgium
Australia
SerbiaRomania
MexicoVenezuela
Bulgaria
Portugal
Chile
Croatia
UkraineColombia
Bolivia
Viet Nam
New Zealand
Peru
IsraelSwedenSouth Africa
Finland
Philippines
Lithuania
CanadaEcuador
Cuba
Netherlands
GreeceIreland
Costa Rica
Luxembourg
Iceland
Bosnia and Herzegovina
BelarusDenmark

Level
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
4
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
5
6
6
6
6
6
6
6
7
7
7
7
7
7

PWCA
3
7
17
19
38
27
27
11
51
51
29
24
39
37
19
5
37
63
48
50
61
104
86
67
86
141
150
144
135
225
114
194
168
203
154
217
188
220
204
223
247
284
283
288
279
289
309
322
326
323
351
357
393
376
376
393

# PWCA
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
3
2
3
3
3
3
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
0

FAI WC
9
58
46
50
22
54
80
167
89
94
156
185
157
198
236
453
231
224
453
453
453
209
453
452
322
453
453
422
384
147
376
215
453
204
432
453
453
347
453
387
405
284
323
428
453
453
453
453
453
401
453
414
348
453
453
450

# FAI WC
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
0
3
3
0
0
0
3
0
1
3
0
0
1
2
3
3
2
0
3
1
0
0
1
0
1
1
3
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
2
1
0
0
1

Nation Score
12
58
65
71
79
87
108
153
154
158
173
188
190
220
221
224
246
282
293
296
314
337
354
373
399
443
458
473
478
482
487
487
487
492
497
566
569
585
595
622
676
688
718
760
766
782
814
835
842
845
882
910
915
923
923
998

Table A-3: Nation Levels

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Competition Rules Season 2023

A.2.4 Qualification Letter Table
The Qualification Letter Table shows the achieved letter for each ranking based on a competition’slevel. It is given in Table A-4.
Ranking

1

2

3

4-5

6-7

8-10

Last Super Final
Last Female SF
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

A
A
A
A
A
A
A
B
C
D

A
B
A
A
A
A
B
C
D
E

A
C
A
A
A
B
C
D
E
F

A
D
A
A
B
C
D
E
F
G

A
E
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H

A
F
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I

1115
B
X
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J

1620
B
X
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K

2125
C
X
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L

2630
C
X
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M

3135
D
X
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N

3640
E
X
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
X

4145
F
X
I
J
K
L
M
N
X
X

4650
G
X
J
K
L
M
N
X
X
X

5155
H
X
K
L
M
N
X
X
X
X

5660
I
X
L
M
N
X
X
X
X
X

6170
J
X
M
N
X
X
X
X
X
X

7180
K
X
N
X
X
X
X
X
X
X

8190
L
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X

91- 100100 110
M
N
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X

Table A-4: Qualification Letter Table

A.3 Selection Process for the Super Final
1. The immediate selection will be published at the end of each World Cup event.
2. The waiting list will be published on a date still to be determined.
3. The selection process starts on a date which will be announced.
4. A selected pilot must pay his entry fee to the World Cup Office within 7 days.
5. Any selected pilot not paying within 7 days will be given a reminder, and will be able to keep
his place by paying the entry fee plus an administration fee of €20 within the next 2 days.

A.3.1 Selection
1. The 100 best pilots of the year are selected for the Super Final.
2. The 10 best female pilots, as a minimum, are selected for the Super Final.
3. Additional pilots, such as the Paragliding Legends (as defined by the PWCA Competition
Rules), are also invited.
4. The selection is based on each pilot’s best result in the season’s World Cup events and theprevious year's Super Final (Immediate Selection).
5. The overall winner of any fully valid task from the season or previous Super Final will be also
immediately selected.
6. Pre-World Cup winners are selected, based on the Overall results, but only if the competition
has not been devalued by more than one level for any reason.
A.3.1.1 Immediate Selection
1. For each World Cup event, and for the previous year’s Super Final, the top ranking pilots haveguaranteed Super Final selection.
2. For each World Cup event, and for the previous year’s Super Final, the top ranking female
pilots have guaranteed Super Final selection.
3. The numbers of top ranked pilots being selected per event depend on the competition’s Flying
Quality, and are given in Table .
4. An event’s Flying Quality is determined by adding up the Day Quality for all tasks flown in thatcompetition.
Flying Quality Overall top Female top
FQ < 0.7
00
0.7 ≤ FQ < 1.551
1.5 ≤ FQ < 2.0
102
FQ ≥ 2.0
15
3Table A-5: Immediate Selection

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Competition Rules Season 2023

A.3.1.2 Waiting List
1. If the pilots selected through Immediate Selection do not fill the Super Final, or in case of
selected pilots not being able to participate, a Waiting List is created and used to select further
pilots using the 7 day cycle as described in A.3.
2. The Super Final Waiting List is organized in pilot blocks.
3. Each block contains the next-ranked pilots for all World Cup events:
a. 0 pilots for events with Flying Quality below 0.7
b. 1 pilot for events with Flying Quality between 0.7 and 1.49
c. 2 pilots for events with Flying Quality between 1.5 and 1.99
d. 3 pilots for events with Flying Quality above 2.0
4. Each female block contains the next-ranked female pilots for all World Cup:a. 0 pilots for events with Flying Quality below 0.7
b. 1 pilot if the block number is a multiple of 3 plus 1 for events with Flying Quality between
0.7 and 1.49
c. 1 pilot if the block number is not a multiple of 3 for events with Flying Quality between
1.5 and 1.99
d. 1 pilot for events with Flying Quality above 2.0
5. Pilots who are already selected are not listed in a block. Their spot in that block is not filledwith lower-ranked pilots. The size of each block may therefore vary.
6. Any cancellation is final. Reintroduction into the selection list will be possible upon payment ofa reintroduction fee of €50. If a pilot has been partially refunded, he will be charged theremaining part of his entry fee + reintroduction fee.

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Appendix B: Rescue Actions in Competitions
B.1 General
1. All pilots must pack their gliders immediately after landing: a glider lying open on the groundmeans "I need help!"
2. A pilot witnessing any kind of accident must inform the organizer as soon as possible on thesafety frequency.
3. When reporting an accident, the following details should be given as accurately as possible:
a. pilot number of pilot reporting the accident
b. nature and location of the accident
c. position of the victim (if possible GPS coordinates in WGS84/UTM)
d. description of glider(s) involved in the accident
4. A pilot assisting an injured pilot will be granted compensation in scoring.

B.2 The Objective
1. To propose to the pilots a list of things to do when they are giving assistance to a pilot.
2. To propose to the organizer an idea for a procedure for the rescue service.
3. To encourage pilots to be responsible when an accident occurs. An overzealous response to
generate extra points as compensation should be avoided.
4. This list can be used by the organizer and/or the jury in order to attribute compensation points
to the pilots who gave assistance.

B.3 Organization Duties
1. To provide a radio infrastructure that covers the whole course.
2. To make clear & precise decisions with the injured pilot and/or with the pilot who is giving
assistance.
3. If possible put the rescue team in touch with the accident area.
4. Transmit all information to the rescue team (general state of the injured, location, etc...)
5. Cancel the rescue action (if needed) if persons or organizations outside of the competition
require it.

B.4 Rescue Procedure
If possible, an injured or rescuing pilot must:
1. Get in contact by phone or radio with the organization or with a pilot who is in the air.
2. Give his geographical position, his altitude, GPS co-ordinates (UTM/WGS84), color of his
glider, his name, pilot number, his general condition.
3. Estimate the general help required (e.g., rescue action by helicopter or by land).
4. Stay in contact with the organization and follow their instructions.

B.5 Pilot‘s Obligations
Pilots should follow the principle Alert – Protect – Rescue.

B.5.1 Alert
1. Before landing, the rescuing pilots should look for some landmarks, and record the altitude and
the GPS coordinates in order to facilitate the location of the accident zone.
2. First contact with the organization should be from the air, by radio or mobile phone, since
reception will most likely be better than once on the ground.
Example for an alert message: “This is pilot 911, I am a witness of an accident 5 kilometers before the third
turnpoint, B07. It is a yellow glider, he threw his reserve and is now hanging in a tree. I could land close to him.
What should I do?”3. If possible, either from the air or once landed and close to the pilot, transfer the following
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additional information:a. Name and number of the rescued pilot
b. General state of the rescued pilot: Can he speak, can he move?
4. Wait for the organization decision and then:a. Land nearby.
b. Or stay in the air, close to the accident to help the rescue team to find the injured pilot.
c. Or go on with the task.
5. If radio contact with the organization cannot be established, the accident witness should
contact other pilots nearby, and ask them to relay his information to the organization.
6. In cases where no other pilots are nearby and can be of any assistance, the witnessing pilot
must judge according to the area, the impact, the presumed state of the pilot, if it is better landnear him or next to a telephone.
7. Further information to give to the organization on reaching the injured pilota. Accessibility of the injured: distance to the closest road, trees, slope, cliffs, etc.
b. State of the injured pilot: conscious / unconscious; pulse, breathing; mobility; fractures(open?); internal / external bleeding

B.5.2 Protect
Pilots witnessing an accident should take extra precautions to stay safe themselves, by avoiding
turbulent areas and being very careful in picking a suitable landing spot nearby the accident
scene.

B.5.3 Rescue
1. Approaching an injured pilot should happen as calmly as possible, from the side or below if
possible, to avoid falling stones.
2. Once the injured is discovered by the rescue services, the rescuer should prepare the accident
zone for a helicopter landing by folding up and securely packing away all gliders and reserve
parachutes.
3. Protecting an injured pilot:
a. Do not move him.
b. Cover him with a safety blanket or a paraglider.
c. Speak to him even if he is unconscious.
d. Find out if his vital functions (pulse, breathing) are efficient and do not intervene if you
are not competent.

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Appendix C: PWCA Scoring Formula
The following text describes the scoring formula used in PWC events. It is generally referred to as
the “PWC 2023” formula.

C.1 General
The PWC 2023 scoring formula is based on GAP 2002, as used by CIVL and in most competitions
run world-wide, but with some important modifications:
1. Arrival Points are not used, as it is not considered safe to reward pilots for their ranking incrossing the End of Speed Section.
2. The Points Allocation is done with different factors, whilst preserving the general principle.
3. The Leading Points calculation is altered so that leading out early in the task gives more
Leading Points compared to GAP 2002.
4. The Launch Validity calculation is altered so that if a small number of pilots do not take off, Day
Quality will still be 1.
5. The handling of stopped tasks, especially the calculation of the Day Quality in a stopped task,
is done differently.
The details of these changes are given below in their respective sections.
What is kept in PWC 2023 is GAP’s general idea:
1. For every event, a set of scoring parameters is defined, to reflect the expected kind of tasks to
be flown during the event.
2. For every task, based on the scoring parameters and the pilots’ actual performance, a Day
Quality is calculated. This factor defines the maximum number of points awarded in that task.
3. Points are awarded to a pilot in three categories: Distance Points, Speed Points and Leading
Points. A pilot’s task score is calculated by adding up these three values.

C.2 Terminology
The following terms are used in PWC 2023:
Take-off: Place where pilots take off for the task.
Speed Section: A timed section of the task where Speed Points are awarded. The pilots thatcomplete the speed section fastest receive the most Speed Points.
Start of Speed Section (SSS): The cylinder/line/point where timing of the task starts.
Race Start: The time when pilots are allowed to cross SSS and begin flying the Speed Section. In
a Race to Goal task, this is also the Start Time for all pilots.
End of Speed Section (ESS): The cylinder/line/point where timing of the task stops.
Goal: The finish line or cylinder defining the task’s end. Can be identical to ESS, but is oftenchosen as a line or a smaller cylinder inside a bigger ESS cylinder for safety reasons.
Start Time: Time when a pilot starts flying the SSS.
Start Gate: A timing reference for SSS. Depending on the chosen task format, multiple Start
Gates can be available, offering pilots a choice of different Race Start times.
Turnpoint (TP): A Turnpoint is a geographical point, defined by coordinates and altitude above
mean sea level.
Cylinder: A Cylinder is defined by a Turnpoint at its center, and the cylinder’s radius.
Task Distance: The shortest possible distance a pilot has to fly to finish the task. This means he
has to fly to the boundary of each Cylinder, not the Turnpoints at the cylinders’ centres.
Speed Section Distance: The shortest possible distance a pilot has to fly from the SSS to the
ESS. As with Task Distance, he has to fly to the boundary of each Cylinder, not the Turnpoints atthe cylinders’ centres.
Window Open Time: The time frame when pilots are allowed to take off.
Task Deadline: The time until which pilots’ flights are being scored. All distance covered after thistime will not be counted for scoring.
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C.3 Scoring Parameters
Before the first task, these scoring parameters must be defined by the Meet Director, after
consulting with the Technical Delegate:
1. Nominal Launch
2. Nominal Distance3. Minimum Distance
4. Nominal Goal
5. Nominal TimeThe values set for these parameters define how each task’s Day Quality, its validity, is calculated.
They should therefore be chosen very carefully, considering the realistic potential of the flying site.
Setting the values too low will prevent the formula from distinguishing between demanding, highquality tasks and quick, easy low quality tasks (which are sometimes the only option due toweather conditions).

C.3.1 Nominal Launch
When pilots do not take off for safety reasons (difficult launch conditions, bad conditions in the air),
this will reduce the Launch Validity (see section C.4.1). Nominal Launch defines a threshold of anumber of pilots that do not fly that do not affect Launch Validity.

C.3.2 Nominal DistanceTasks shorter than Nominal Distance will be devalued in many cases. Tasks longer than Nominal
Distance will usually not be devalued, as long as the pilots fly most of the distance.
Nominal Distance should be set to the expected “normal” task distance for the competition site.

C.3.3 Minimum Distance
The minimum distance awarded to every pilot who takes off. It is the distance below which it ispointless to measure a pilot's performance. This distance should be at least one tenth of Nominal
Distance.
The Minimum Distance parameter is set so that pilots who are about to "bomb out" will not be
tempted to fly into the next field to get past a group of pilots.

C.3.4 Nominal Goal
The percentage of pilots the Meet Director would wish to have in goal in a well-chosen task. Thisis typically 50 to 75%. This parameter has a very marginal effect on Distance Validity (see section
C.4.2).

C.3.5 Nominal Time
Nominal Time indicates the expected task duration, the amount of time required to fly the Speed
Section. If the fastest pilot’s time is below Nominal Time, the task will be devalued. There is nodevaluation if the fastest pilot’s time is above Nominal Time.
Nominal Time should be set to the expected “normal” task duration for the competition site, andNominal Distance / Nominal Time should be a bit higher than typical average speeds for the area.

C.4 Day Quality
The Day Quality varies between 0 and 1 and measures how suitable a competition day is toevaluate pilots’ skills. It is obtained by multiplying the four validity coefficients: Launch Validity,
Distance Validity, Time Validity and Stop Validity.
DayQuality LaunchVali
dity*DistanceValidity*TimeVali
dity* StopValidity

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C.4.1 Launch Validity
Launch Validity depends on the percentage of pilots actually present at take-off who launched. If
everybody on take-off launches, Launch Validity is 1, while if only 20% of the pilots present at
take-off launch, Launch Validity goes down to about 0.1.
The reasoning behind launch validity: Launch conditions may be dangerous, or otherwise
unfavourable. If a significant number of pilots at launch think that the day is not worth the risk oflaunching, then the gung-ho pilots who did go will not get so many points. This is a safetymechanism.
‘Pilots Present’ are pilots arriving on take-off, with their gear, with the intention of flying. For
scoring purposes, ‘Pilots Present’ are all pilots not in the ‘Absent’ status (ABS): Pilots who took off,
plus pilots present who did not fly (DNF). DNFs need to be attributed carefully. A pilot who does
not launch due to illness, for instance, is not a DNF, but an ABS.
LVR  min(1,NumberOfPi lotsFlying  NominalLau nch)
NumberOfPi lotsPresen t

LaunchVali dity  0.028 * LVR  2.917 * LVR 2  1.944 * LVR 3
100%
90%

Launch Validity

80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

LVR

Figure C-1: Launch Validity Curve

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C.4.2 Distance Validity
Distance Validity depends on Nominal Distance, the longest distance flown and the sum of flown
distances of all pilots who flew further than Minimum Distance. If the task distance is quite short in
relation to Nominal Distance, the day is probably not a good measure of pilot skill because there
would not be many decisions to make.
If a task is longer than Nominal Distance, the day will not be devalued because of Distance
Validity, even if the Nominal Goal parameter value is not achieved, as long as a fair percentage ofpilots fly a good distance. This sounds like a vague statement, but the task setter should try to settasks that are reasonable for the day and achievable. If everyone lands in goal, you must ask if
this was a valid test of skill - it probably was if the fastest time and the distance flown werereasonably long. If everyone lands short of goal, was it an unsuitable task but still a good test ofpilot skill? You also can have the case where a task that is shorter than Nominal Distance, has a
Distance Validity of almost 1. This will happen when a large percentage of the pilots fly a large
percentage of the course but, in this case, you still have a practical devaluation because there will
be little spreading between pilots’ scores.
SumOfFlownDistancesOverMinDist
NumPilotsFlying* (( NomGoal  1) * ( NomDist  MinDist )) * ( NomGoal * ( BestDist  NomDist ))2
DistanceValidity  min(1, DVR)
DVR 

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C.4.3 Time Validity
Time Validity depends on the fastest time to complete the Speed Section, in relation to Nominal
Time. If the fastest time to complete the Speed Section is longer than Nominal Time, then Time
Validity is always equal to 1.
If the fastest time is quite short, the day is probably not a good measure of pilot skill because there
would not be many decisions to make and, because of this, luck can distort scores as there will belittle possibility to recover any accidental loss of time.
If no pilot finishes the Speed Section, then Time Validity is not based on time but on distance: The
distance of the pilot who flies the furthest in relation to Nominal Distance is then used to calculate
the Time Validity the same way as if it was the time.
If one pilot reached ESS: TVR  min(1, BestTime )NominalTime
BestDistan ce
If no pilot reached ESS: TVR  min(1,)
NominalDis tance

TimeValidity  max(0, min(1,0.271 2.912* TVR  2.098* TVR2  0.457 * TVR3 ))
100%
90%
80%

Time Validity

70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

TVR

Figure C-2: Time Validity Curve

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C.5 Points Allocation
The available points for each task (1000*Day Quality) are distributed between Distance points,
Time points and Leading points. The distribution depends on the percentage of pilots who reachedgoal before the deadline for scoring Time Points, compared to pilots who launched. It is expressedin terms of weight factors for each of the three point categories: Distance weight, Time weight andLeading weight. Weight factors are always between 0 and 1. A weight factor of 0.5 for Distance,
for example, means that 50% of the day’s available overall points (1000* Day Quality) areavailable for Distance Points.
If nobody reaches goal, then a maximum of 900 points are available for Distance and 100 points
for Leading and, of course, no points for Time (Speed).
𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑂𝑓𝑃𝑖𝑙𝑜𝑡𝑠𝐼𝑛𝐺𝑜𝑎𝑙𝑊𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑃𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑠
𝐺𝑜𝑎𝑙𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜 =𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑂𝑓𝑃𝑖𝑙𝑜𝑡𝑠𝐹𝑙𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔
𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑊𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 = 0.9 − 1.67 ∗ 𝐺𝑜𝑎𝑙𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜 + 1.71 ∗ 𝐺𝑜𝑎𝑙𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜 − 0.59 ∗ 𝐺𝑜𝑎𝑙𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜
1 − 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑊𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡
LeadingWeight =𝐺𝑜𝑎𝑙𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜 = 0? 1: 3.8
𝐴𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑃𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑠 = 1000 ∗ 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑊𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡
𝐴𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒𝐿𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑃𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑠 = 1000 ∗ 𝐿𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑊𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡
𝐴𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑃𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑠 = 1000 − 𝐴𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑃𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑠 − 𝐴𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒𝐿𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑃𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑠
1000
900

Distance Pts

800

Leading Pts
Time Pts

Available Points

700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

GoalRatio

Figure C-3: Points Allocation Curves

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C.6 Pilot Score
Each pilot’s score is the sum of that pilot’s Distance, Time and Leading Points.
∀𝑝 ∶ 𝑝 ∊ 𝑃𝑖𝑙𝑜𝑡𝑠𝐿𝑎𝑢𝑛𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑑 ∶ 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑆𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒 = 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑃𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑠 + 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑃𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑠 + 𝐿𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑃𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑠

C.6.1 Distance Points
The distance considered for each pilot to calculate Distance Points is that pilot’s best distancealong the course line, up until the pilot landed or the Task Deadline was reached, whichevercomes first. In the case of a stopped task, this distance may be increased by an Altitude Bonus(see C.7.2). The available Distance points are assigned to each pilot linearly, based on the pilot’s
distance flown in relation to the best distance flown in the task.

DistancePo ints p Distance p
BestDistan ce* AvailableD istancePoi nts

C.6.2 Time Points
The Time Points can be looked at as Speed Points. Time Points are assigned to the pilot as a functionof Best Time and Pilot Time – the time the pilot took to complete the Speed Section. Slow pilots
will get zero points for speed if their time to complete the Speed Section is equal to or longer than
Fastest Time plus the square root of Fastest Time. All times are measured in hours.

SpeedFraction p  max(0,1  6(Time p  BestTime)

5)
BestTime
TimePoints p  SpeedFraction p * AvailableTimePoints
C.6.2.1 Examples
For three examples of Time Point distributions for tasks with different best times, see Figure C-4
and Table 6.

% of Available Time Points

100%

Best=1h90%Best=2h80%

Best=3h

70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2 2.2 2.4 2.6 2.8 3 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.8 4 4.2 4.4 4.6 4.8 5

Pilot time (h)Figure C-4: Sample Time Points
Fastest Time 80% Time Points time 50% Time Points time 0 Time Points time
1:00
01:08:42
01:26:07
02:00:00
2:00
02:12:18
02:36:56
03:24:51
3:00
03:15:04
03:45:14
04:43:55
Table 6: Sample Time Point Distribution (all times in hours:minutes:seconds)
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C.6.3 Leading Points
Leading Points are awarded to encourage pilots to start early and to rewards the risk involved inflying in the leading group. Pilots will get Leading Points even if they landed before goal or the Endof Speed Section.
LC min  min(p : p  PilotsFlown : LC p )LeadingFactorp  max(0,1  3( LC p  LC min )2

LC minLeadingPoints p  LeadingFactorp * AvailableLeadingPoints

To get an impression of the way Leading Points are awarded depending on a task’s minimal
Leading Coefficient, see Figure C-5.

% of Available Leading Points

100%

Lcmin=1.0

90%

Lcmin=1.25

80%

Lcmin=1.50

70%

Lcmin=1.75

60%

Lcmin=2.0

50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
100%

110%

120%

130%

140%

150%

160%

170%

180%

190%

200%

LC/LCminFigure C-5: Leading Points for various LCmin

C.6.3.1 Leading Coefficient (LC)Each started pilot’s track log is used to calculate the Leading Coefficient (LC), by calculating thearea underneath a graph defined by each track point’s time, and the distance to ESS at that time.
The times used for this calculation are given in seconds from the moment when the first pilot
crossed SSS, to the time when the last pilot reached ESS. For pilots who land out after the lastpilot reached ESS, the calculation keeps going until they land. The distances used for the LC
calculation are given in Kilometres and are the distance from each point’s position to ESS, startingfrom SSS, but never more than any previously reached distance. This means that the graph never“goes back”: even if the pilot flies away from goal for a while, the corresponding points in the graphwill use the previously reached best distance towards ESS.
The weighting function, according to distance from ESS, gives no leading points at the start, rises
rapidly afterwards to give a flat section after about 20% of the speed section and, finally, gives afairly linear function of distance from ESS after about 60% of the speed section. The weighting
function is not itself used directly; only its integral is used, which gives a more accurate calculationof Missing Area for pilots that land short of ESS.

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𝐿𝐶 =leadingArea + missingArea
1800 ∗ 𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ𝑂𝑓𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑆𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛(:

𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡(𝑡𝑝)(∈) ∗ 𝑚𝑎𝑥𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 ∗missingArea = 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑇𝑜𝐸𝑆𝑆(𝑡𝑝𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡(𝑡𝑝) = 1 − 10 ∗()∗ 1 − 10)

𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡(𝑡𝑝)(𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑜(𝑡𝑝) =)𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑇𝑜𝐸𝑆𝑆(𝑡𝑝 ) ∗ 𝑡𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒(𝑡𝑝 ) ∗leadingArea =

(

∗

)

)

𝑀𝑖𝑛𝑇𝑜𝐸𝑆𝑆(𝑡𝑝)𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ𝑂𝑓𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑆𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑇𝑜𝐸𝑆𝑆(𝑡𝑝 ) = 𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ𝑂𝑓𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑆𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑇𝑜𝐸𝑆𝑆(𝑡𝑝 ) = 𝑚𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑇𝑜𝐸𝑆𝑆(𝑡𝑝), 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑇𝑜𝐸𝑆𝑆(𝑡𝑝 )𝑡𝑎𝑠𝑘𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒(𝑡𝑝) = min(𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒(𝑡𝑝), 𝑇𝑎𝑠𝑘𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒)
maxTime = min(𝑚𝑎𝑥(𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔), 𝑇𝑎𝑠𝑘𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒), 𝐸𝑆𝑆𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒

Weight
100%
90%
80%

Leading Weight

70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
100%

90%

80%

70%

60%

50%

40%

30%

20%

10%

0%

% of SS Remaining

Figure C-6: Leading Points Weighting Curve

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C.6.3.2 Example
The following example is taken from CIVL’s “The GAP Scoring formula explained"1. In PWC 2023,
the “Speedsection distance” is non-linear, according to the Leading Points Weighting Curve:

Figure C-7: Sample Track Log Graphs

Blue was the first to enter the Speed Section, but Black was the first pilot to cross the End of
Speed Section. Green started at the same time as Blue, but landed short, after about 23km andjust over 40 minutes of flight inside the Speed Section.
Black was fastest, therefore will get the most Time points, but he started late, probably had pilots
out front to show the way during the first 22km, but was leading after that.
If a pilot lands along the course (Green), or if his track log is interrupted (Orange), his track log iscompleted as shown by the dotted lines: Missing parts are calculated as if the dotted line was theactual track log, so LC becomes bigger, lowering the Leading Points for that pilot, compared to a
track where that part is not missing. A pilot landing just short of goal will be less penalized andcould even get full Leading Points if he led for a long while.
The pilot who used best the earliest part of the day (i.e. Black, who has the smallest area below
the track log graph) gets all the available Leading points, while the others gets their points
according to the same formula used for the Time points for the same reasons. If the task in theexample is fully valid, and 30% of pilots reached goal, then Black will get all of the available 81
Leading points and full Time points, as he was fastest; Blue gets 45 points because he started
early but was slower; Orange receives only 18 Leading points as he was slow and had a gap in his
track log; Green gets 0 points even though he started early, because he was the slowest andlanded fairly short.

1 CIVL: “The GAP Scoring formula explained, For GAP version 2008”, “GapGuide-2011-v1.pdf”

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C.7 Stopped Tasks
The Task Stop Time is 5 minutes before the task stop announcement.
A stopped task will be scored if the flying time was one hour or more. For Race to Goal tasks, thismeans that the Task Stop Time must be one hour or more after the Race Start Time. For all othertasks, in order for them to be scored, the Task Stop Time must be one hour or more after the lastpilot started.
Pilots who were at a position between End of Speed Section and Goal at the Task Stop Time will
be scored for their complete flight, including the portion flown after the Task Stop Time.
A fixed amount of points is subtracted from the time points of each pilot that makes goal in a
stopped task and is added instead to the distance points allocation. This amount is the amount oftime points a pilot would receive if he had reached ESS exactly at the Task Stop Time.

C.7.1 Stopped Task Validity
For stopped tasks, an additional validity value, the Stopped Task Validity, is calculated and applied
to the Task Validity.
DayQuality stopped  LaunchValidity*DistanceValidity*TimeValidity * StoppedTaskValidity
Stopped Task Validity is calculated taking into account the task distance, the flown distances of all
pilots, the number of launched pilots and the number of pilots still flying at the time when the task
was stopped.
NumberOfPilotsReachedESS  0 : StoppedTaskValidity  1

NumberOfPilotsReachedESS  0 :BestDistFlown  avg(i : DistFlowni )stdev(i : DistFlowni )*DistLaunchToESS  BestDistFlown  1
5
NumPilotsLandedBeforeStopTime 3() )NumPilotsLaunched
StoppedTaskValidty  min(1,C.7.2 Altitude Bonus
To compensate for altitude differences at or before the time when a task is stopped, a bonus
distance is calculated, based on each pilot’s altitude above goal, and added to the pilot’s actual
distance. All altitude values are GPS altitude values. This compensation is applied to every pointin the pilot’s tracklog before choosing the best position in the tracklog. Time and Leading Points
calculations remain the same: they do not consider the Altitude Bonus or Stopped Distancevalues. This also means that pilots flying just before goal at Task Stop Time, and whose Stopped
Distance would take them into goal, will still not receive any Time Points.

C.7.3 Time Window
Stopped Clock Start or Elapsed Time Races must be treated slightly differently from stopped Race
to Goal tasks: Only the time window available to the last pilot started is considered for scoring.
This means that if the last pilot started then flew for, for example, 75 minutes until the task was
stopped, all tracks are only scored for the first 75 minutes each pilot flew after taking the start.

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Competition Rules Season 2023

C.8 Airspace Penalties
Airspace infringements and cloud flying are penalised according to a formula which computes apenalty in absolute points from the depth of the infringement. The formula is given below:
1 − 1.05
𝑃𝑡𝑠= 1000 ∗ min 1,
1 − 1.05
The formula is used with two values for f: f = 50: The Hard Infringement formula is used to penalise statutory airspace infringements.
The penalty reaches 1000 points when depth ≥ 50m.
 f = 100: The Soft Infringement formula is used to penalise non-statutory airspace
infringements and cloud flying. The penalty reaches 1000 points when depth ≥ 100m.
1000

Absolute Points Penalty

900
800
700
600
500
400
300
Soft

200

Hard

100
0
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Infringement Depth (m)Figure C-8: Hard and Soft Infringement Penalty Curves

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Competition Rules Season 2023

Appendix D: Fixed Total Validity (FTV)
D.1 General
Fixed Total Validity is a procedure to score pilots on their best tasks, rather than all theirtasks. Fixed Total Validity means the sum (total) of winners’ points (validity) is set (fixed) to thesame value for each competitor.
To calculate a pilot’s FTV score, for all his or her flights:
1. Calculate a performance percentage for each day by dividing the pilot's day score by thewinner’s points.
2. Arrange all flights in descending order of performance percentage.
3. Total up the flights' raw day scores (not performance percentages) in order of performance
percentage until the sum of validities for those scores reaches the pre-decided Fixed Total
Validity value.
4. If the last score added takes that pilot's total validity above the Fixed Total Validity, then only afraction of that score is used so that the pilot's total validity is equal to the Fixed Total Validity.

D.2 Example
For an example of how this works, let’s look at a competition with five pilots, where five tasks were
flown. The validity of those tasks, the Day Quality as calculated by the scoring software, and thewinner’s score, is given in Table 11.
Task Day Quality
Winner Score
1
0.98
950
2
1.0
1000
3
0.75
750
4
0.42
400
5
1.0
1000
Table 11: Day Qualities and winner’s score

Additionally, the competition organizers decided up front to use FTV, with a factor of 1/3, meaningthat each pilot’s best 2/3 results will count towards the final ranking.
The sum of all the winners’ scores in Table 11 is 4100, and 2/3 of that would be 2747. The results
achieved in the five tasks are given in Table 12.
Pilot
Task 1 Task 2
Pilot 1
300
305
Pilot 2
900
600
Pilot 3500
500
Pilot 4800
1000
Pilot 5950
800
Table 12: Task Results

Task 3
750
200
500
300
600

Task 4
250
100
400
350
200

Task 5
1000
400
500
700
800

Note that in tasks 1 and 4, the task winner received fewer points than the day’s theoretical maximum(1000 * Day Quality), since it can happen that the pilot who gains the most Leading Points is not
the one winning the task.

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Competition Rules Season 2023

The Performance Percentage is given in Table 13. This is calculated by dividing eachpilot’s task score by the corresponding winner’s score. So for instance, thePerformance Percentage for Pilot 1 in Task 1 would be 300 / 950 = 0.316. This
Performance Percentage indicates how well each pilot did in a task, in relation to thewinner.
Pilot
Task 1 Task 2
Task 3
Task 4
Pilot 1
0.316
0.305
1.000
0.625
Pilot 2
0.947
0.600
0.267
0.250
Pilot 3
0.526
0.500
0.667
1.000
Pilot 4
0.842
1.000
0.400
0.875
Pilot 5
1.000
0.800
0.800
0.500
Table 13: Performance Percentages

Task 5

1.000
0.400
0.500
0.700
0.800

Now, for each pilot, the task results are sorted by the Performance Percentages, indescending order:
Pilot 1 Winner Score
Performance
Task 51000
1.000
Task 3750
1.000
Task 4400
0.625
Task 1950
0.316
Task 21000
0.305
Table 14: Sorted Results Pilot 1

Task Score
1000
750
250
300
305

Pilot 2 Winner Score
Performance
0.947
Task 1
950
Task 21000
0.600
Task 51000
0.400
Task 3750
0.267
Task 4400
0.250
Table 15: Sorted Results Pilot 2

Task Score
900
600
400
200
100

Pilot 3 Winner Score
Performance
Task 4400
1.000
Task 3750
0.667
Task 1950
0.526
Task 21000
0.500
Task 51000
0.500
Table 16: Sorted Results Pilot 3

Task Score
400
500
500
500
500

Pilot 4 Winner Score
Performance
Task 21000
1.000
Task 4400
0.875
Task 1950
0.842
Task 51000
0.700
Task 3750
0.400
Table 17: Sorted Results Pilot 4

Task Score
1000
350
800
700
300

Pilot 5 Winner Score
Performance
Task 1950
1.000
Task 21000
0.800
Task 51000
0.800
Task 3750
0.800
Task 4400
0.500
Table 18: Sorted Results Pilot 5

Task Score
950
800
800
600
200

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Competition Rules Season 2023

Then we add up each pilot’s scores, in the order calculated for each pilot, until thecorresponding Winner Score reach the calculated Total Validity of 2747.
Pilot 1

Winner Score

Total Validity Left
2747
Line 1, Task 5
1000
1747
997
Line 2, Task 3
750Line 3, Task 4
400
597
Line 4, Task 1
950
0.0
Table 19: FTV Calculation Pilot 1

Task Score

Sum

1000
750
250
300*(597/950) =189

1000
1750
2000
2189

Notice that in Table 19, task 1 only counts partially towards the overall result, since its
Day Quality (0.98) is bigger than the remaining Total Validity (0.6). Task 2 iscompletely disregarded, since it was the one where pilot 1 performed the worst in
relation to the day’s validity.
Pilot 2Winner Score

Total Validity Left
2747
Line 1, Task 1
950
1797
Line 2, Task 2
1000
797
Line 3, Task 5
1000
0.0
Table 20: FTV Calculation Pilot 2

Task Score

Sum

900
600
400*(797/1000) = 319

900
1500
1819

For pilot 2, only three tasks count towards the final result, since after those, all the
Total Validity is used up (Table 20).
Pilot 3

Total Validity Left
2747
Line 1, Task 4400
2347
Line 2, Task 3
750
1597
Line 3, Task 1
950
647
Line 4, Task 2
1000
0.0
Table 21: FTV Calculation Pilot 3
Pilot 4Winner Score

Total Validity Left
2747
Line 1, Task 2
1000
1747
Line 2, Task 4400
1347
Line 3, Task 1
950
397
Line 4, Task 5
1000
0.0
Table 22: FTV Calculation Pilot 4
Pilot 5

Task Score

Sum

400
500
500
500*(647/1000) = 324

400
900
1400
1724

Task Score

Sum

1000
350
800
700*(397/1000) = 278

1000
1350
2150
2428

Task Score

Sum

950
800
800*(797/1000) = 638

950
1750
2388

Winner Score

Winner Score

Total Validity Left
2747
Line 1, Task 1
950
1797
Line 2, Task 2
1000
797
Line 3, Task 5
1000
0.0
Table 23: FTV Calculation Pilot 5

This all then results in the competition ranking given in Table 24.
Rank Pilot
Task 1
Task 2
1 Pilot 4800
1000
2 Pilot 5950
800
3 Pilot 1300
305
4 Pilot 2900
600
5 Pilot 3
500(324 500)
Table 24: FTV Competition Ranking

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Task 3
300
600
750
200
500

Task 4350
200(189 250)
100
400

Task 5(278 700)(638 800)
1000(319 400)
500

Total
2428
2388
2189
1819
1724

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Competition Rules Season 2023

Appendix E: Glider Checking Procedure
This procedure is for a two line glider. In the case of a three (or more) line glider theprocedure is extended in a logical fashion with similar tolerances. In any case where
different tolerances would be used, this is described.
In all line and riser checks, there are three possible outcomes:
1. The measurement is within the prescribed tolerance (OK),
2. The measurement is out of tolerance, with no advantage to the pilot (out-of-trim),
3. The measurement is out of tolerance with an advantage to the pilot (cheating).

E.1 Sail Checks
All canopy dimensions are made under a tension of 3daN. And are compared withthe canopy dimensions provided by the manufacturer.

E.1.1 Span
The span is measured between the two outermost symmetrical attachment points
that are closest to the rearmost span-wise internal band, provided that there are no
stiffening elements, such as plastic, Mylar or tension tapes, outboard of those points.
If there are stiffening elements then the span is measured to the outermost points onthem that are closest to the rearmost span-wise internal band. The tolerance for the
span measurement is ±2%.

E.1.2 Trailing Edge
The trailing edge is measured between the centre of the trailing edge and the point
where the rib of the outermost, rearmost attachment point meets the trailing edge.
The tolerance for the trailing edge measurement is ±1%.

E.1.3 Chord
The chord is measured between the trailing edge and the farthest point from it on theleading edge held without distorting the profile. The chords to be measured are of thefirst rib outwards from the centre of the glider that has line attachments on it, thefurthest outwards rib of line group A2, and the furthest outwards rib carrying lines.
The tolerance for the chord measurements is ±1%.

E.1.4 Inlet and Attachment Points
The distance from the trailing edge to the start and finish of the inlet and to theclosest part of each tab is measured. These measurements are taken for each rib in
E.1.3. The tolerance for each of these measurements is ±10mm.

E.2 Line Checks
Line lengths are measured from the inside of the main karabiner loop to the sailbeside the tab, under a tension of 5daN and are checked against design line lengths
provided by the manufacturer. All lengths will be measured and compared in integer
millimetres.

E.2.1 Absolute Line Length (Arc Test)
The absolute tolerance for a single line is ±50mm.
ABS(Xdesign - Xmeasured) > 50mm: out-of-trim.
Otherwise it is OK.

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Competition Rules Season 2023

E.2.2 Relative Line Length (Angle of Attack Test)
The group average of all line lengths passing via each of the main riser lines (A1, B1,
A2, B2, etc) is obtained. The differential tolerance for single pair of A and B groupaverages (B1-A1, B2-A2, etc.) is from -20mm to +10mm. For a result of cheating to
be valid the differential must be symmetrical.
Bdesign - Adesign - Bmeasured + Ameasured > 10mm: out-of-trim.
Bdesign - Adesign - Bmeasured + Ameasured < -20mm: cheating.
Otherwise it is OK.

E.2.3 Relative Line Length (Camber Test)
This test only applies to three-line gliders and is similar to E.2.2 except that the B andC groups are measured. The differential tolerance for single pair of B and C groupaverages (C1-B1, C2-B2, etc.) is from -20mm to +20mm. For a result of cheating to
be valid the differential must be symmetrical.
Cdesign - Bdesign - Cmeasured + Bmeasured > 20mm: out-of-trim.
Cdesign - Bdesign - Cmeasured + Bmeasured < -20mm: cheating.
Otherwise it is OK.

E.3 Riser Checks
Riser lengths are measured from the inside of the main karabiner loop to the inside of
the top maillon, in both their trim and fully accelerated state (no tension on risers,
only on limiter straps), under a tension of 5daN and are checked against design riser
lengths provided by the manufacturer. All lengths will be measured and compared in
integer millimetres.

E.3.1 Absolute Riser Length
This test is only done in the trim setting. The tolerance for risers is ±5 mm.
ABS(Rdesign - Rmeasured) > 5mm: out-of-trim.
Otherwise it is OK.

E.3.2 Relative Riser Length
The difference in length between the A and B risers is obtained from the absolutemeasurements of the A and B risers in both their trim and fully accelerated state. The
differential tolerance for single pair of A and B risers (B-A, B-A’) is ±5mm.
ABS(Bdesign - Adesign - Bmeasured + Ameasured) > 5mm: out-of-trim.
Otherwise it is OK.

E.3.3 Speed Bar Travel
The speed bar travel is obtained from the absolute measurements of the A, A’ and B
risers in both their trim and fully accelerated state and is checked against the design
speed bar travel, S and S’. The tolerance for speed bar travel is ±5mm. For a resultof cheating to be valid the error must be symmetrical.
S - (Baccel_measured - Aaccel_measured - Btrim_measured + Atrim_measured) > 5mm: out-of-trim.
S - (Baccel_measured - Aaccel_measured - Btrim_measured + Atrim_measured) > 5mm: cheating.
Otherwise it is OK.
The full checking procedure is outlined in CCC requirements plus Annex B - Revision
3.5 approved September 8, 2014. Penalties described in this document do not apply
in the Paragliding World Cup.

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Appendix F: GPS Receivers
F.1 Accepted GPS Receivers
The following GPS receiver models are accepted in World Cup events as task
evidence.
- Aircotec: Top Navigator, XC Trainer (all variations)- Bräuniger: Competino, Compeo, IQ-Basic-GPS, Competino+, Compeo+- Compass Italy: C-Pilot PRO and variations- DigiFly: Leonardo (all variations), Air- Flymaster: F1, B1-NAV, GPS, NAV, LIVE, GPS-SD/SD+, NAV-SD, LIVE-SD- Flytec: 5020, 5030, 6015, 6020, 6030, Element, Connect- Garmin: All models which record GPS altitude. Excluded are the models listed
in F.2 below.
- MLR: SP24XC “Free Flight”- Naviter Oudie- Any instrument capable of producing a signed IGC file and supporting theMass Storage Protocol.
- Smartphone Apps using Media Transfer Protocol are accepted, but only for
backup purposes.
- Other instruments will be accepted if technically feasible and if logged datasatisfies flight verification requirements.

F.2 Not Accepted GPS Receivers
The following GPS receiver models are not or no longer accepted in World Cup
events as task evidence – mostly due to lack of GPS altitude recording capability.
These devices may still be used for navigation.
- Older Garmin models (like the 12 series 48, 90, 90xl, II+, III)- Garmin 38, 40, 45, II, eTrex “basic” models and eMap.

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