How Open Distance Scoring Works

Open distance is the least complex way to run a competition day. All pilots take off from the same launch and then fly as far as they can. There is no set course and no goal. Only the distance you get from launch is important.

This is the classic "free distance" or record-style format. It is different from GAP scoring , where pilots race a defined course of turnpoints to a goal. Open distance has no speed section and no turnpoints to tag. It has no time, leading or arrival points. Your whole score is the distance you flew.

An open-distance task defines exactly one turnpoint: the Take-off. It is a cylinder around the launch. GlideComp measures the distance from this cylinder. There is no start gate, there are no intermediate turnpoints, and there is no goal.

You launch, leave the take-off cylinder, and fly. When you land, or when the day ends, GlideComp scores your flight on the distance you travelled from the take-off.

Your scored distance is the straight-line distance from the point you exit the take-off cylinder to the single furthest point your track reached:

Distance = furthest straight-line distance from the take-off exit to any point you flew

Four results follow from this:

• The measurement starts at the take-off exit, not the centre. GlideComp counts the distance from the point where your track crosses out of the take-off cylinder. The radius of the cylinder is therefore not free distance.
• Only more distance from launch counts. The score is the straight-line distance from launch. A turn in a thermal to climb does not increase it. Only a point further away increases it.
• The furthest point counts, not the landing point. You fly out to a far point, and then the wind moves you back towards launch before you land. GlideComp scores the furthest point you reached, not the point where you landed.
• Distances use the WGS84 ellipsoid. This is the same geodesic mathematics that GlideComp uses everywhere else, so the distances agree with the map.

If a pilot never leaves the take-off cylinder, their distance is zero. Sometimes a track starts outside the cylinder, because the pilot switched the logger on after launch. GlideComp then measures the distance from the first recorded point, so the flight still gets a score.

Your score for the task is your open distance in metres:

Score = metres of open distance flown

GlideComp ranks the pilots by distance, furthest first. There is no 1000-point pool, no task validity, and no split into distance, time, leading and arrival. Those all belong to GAP. The distance you flew is the score.

GlideComp subtracts an organiser's penalty from your score in metres. In a multi-day competition, your total is the sum of your task scores. That total is the distance you flew on all of the days.

You set a competition to open distance in its scoring settings. GlideComp then scores every task in that competition this way. The format has no goal and no turnpoints, so each task must define exactly one turnpoint: the Take-off. While the competition is on open distance, GlideComp does not save a task with a different route.

Every scoring decision is explainable and unit-tested. The source code of the scoring engine is open, and it is on GitHub .

Looking for the other format? See how GAP scoring works .