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Ed:<br>
Remember back when you and I were both on the IMAC BOD, how meticulous
everyone was in trying to get "objective" judging, as opposed to
"subjective, impressionistic" judging? We (the BOD) were really
meticulous, or at least as meticulous as we could be.<br>
Yet, when we are judging freestyle, we must suddenly switch gears, and
be purely subjective. In fact, it's all impression. I feel it can be
done, (in fact it has been done successfully,) but it certainly
requires a quick change in thinking.<br>
That's the difficulty I see when combining scores on Freestyle and
cut-and-dried sequences to get an overall score. It totally mixes
judging philosophies. It can be done, (in fact it was done
successfully at the T.O.C.) but it requires a definite mental shifting
of gears for judges.<br>
Having been fortunate enough to judge at the Don Lowe's and the JR
Challenge, I was privileged to see a new system that Fred Johnson has
introduced with his "matrix" for freestyle. It removes a lot of
uncertainty about scoring freestyle.<br>
And yes, just dragging the tail in the grass, and doing a blender won't
get a competitor very far any more. The days of the one-trick pony are
over. It takes a more holistic approach to WOW the judges nowadays.<br>
Welcome aboard, Ed. We'll probably be leaning on you for some valuable
electronic advice. You were very helpful on the big bird lists.<br>
<br>
Bill Glaze<br>
<br>
<br>
Ed Alt wrote:<br>
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<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Hi all:</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">I'm new to this list, having decided
to get into pattern in '04 after about 7 years of IMAC competition. I
find the comments on Artisitic Aerobatics very interesting, especially
coming from this background. There are some fun aspects of the IMAC
Freestyle that can certainly spice up a competition, but it can also
become the center of attention by a CD and materially interfere with
the quality of the precision sequence flying, which is all that most
IMAC flyers usually participate in. I never even competed in Freestyle
until '03, when we were socked in by low ceilings at a contest and the
only flying we could do was down low, hence my plunge into the event.
I could never really get my mind around how to properly coreograph
a performance to music, so I stayed away from it in competition. I
also didn't much like the idea of the pure subjective nature of the
event, the way pure WOW factor could spell a win over superior flying
etc.</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Later in the year, I took one more
whack at Freestyle and actually won the event, but I couldn't
rationalize why. I thought my performance was mediocre at best. After
that, I think I finally made peace with myself over this and figured
that it was just another chance to put the airplane up, show off if you
are so inclined and generally have some fun. FWIW, if you can approach
it this way, Artistic Aerobatics could be a nice addition to pattern
events if you don't want to be too serious about it. </font><font
face="Arial" size="2">A few will be able to really do it right, i.e.,
coreograph something that somehow captures the mood of the music,
accentuating it as much as it accentuates the flight of the model,
displays precision where it seems like precision should have been
achieved and fully exploits the performance envelope of the model at
the right moments. They should rise to the top.</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Incidentally, there may be a
misconception that the IMAC freestyle is mostly about low torque rolls
and dragging the tail in the grass. That trend is well past.
Excessive time spent doing TRs, or for that matter staying in a pure 3D
flight mode and not showing the full capabilties of the model,
displaying precision aerobatics at least part of the time and making
good use of the aerobatic box is generally not a winning formula
anymore. Lastly, although I can't say that I'm intimately familiar
with what's being proposed for AA, it seems that one challenge that
deserves much attention is to try to have as much objectivity in the
judging criteria as possible. That's not an easy thing to do and is
probably not fully achievable. IMO, if you can accept the idea that
your scores may be strongly influenced by moods and style preferences,
then it seems that you may be able to enjoy Artistic Aerobatics.</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Ed Alt</font></div>
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