The Aussie system in a nutshell uses your raw scores for the first 4 rounds calculated against the national average for Aussie F3A raw scores.

http://www.australianpatternassociat...au/index2.html

It doesn't matter if you come first, last or if there's 1 competitor or 100 in your class, if your average raw score for the first 4 rounds is high enough you earn a "promotion point". Earn 3 of those in any 12 months and you find yourself promoted to the next class.

It's an easy enough system to sandbag but if that's your game you'll find a way around most other systems.

It has pluses and minuses like any system, if the judges go too easy on you then you'll "earn" a promotion point, if the weather it bad then you won't get a point even though you probably did earn it. A DNF in any of the first 4 rounds blows your point away, but if you're desperate enough to get a butt kicking you can jump up to the next class anyway.