Gee Bill, its always going to be hard as the standard for each maneuver is perfection. Whatever the sequence schedule, each maneuver must be flown to perfection or downgrades will be applied. Rest assured, that is NOT going to go away anytime soon or in our lifetime! If we like doing difficult things repeatedly over time, pattern is sure to please us, year after year LOL! OTOH, I think we need to give some real hard thought to the issue that Arch has raised about what kind of model does well given the current Sportsman sequence. For example, last season I flew a 62" Osiris. This season I will fly a full 2m Vanquish. All things being equal (which they are not as I have improved since last season), I expect I will score better flying the 2m bird. What is hard are those credit card bills but that's my problem. Fortunately I have a loving wife who has come to understand just how important RC flying is to my overall well being, LOL!<div></div><div>Dear Joe M. Thanks for the kind words and encouragement. No worries about me, I merely shared some of what its like to be new to the sport by way of example. I think some have misunderstood this as me being discouraged in some way, not the case. I hope I have given voice to some who may not speak up or post on the threads.</div><div></div><div>OK, time to put my "two loop" comments into perspective. Apart from the balance of the schedule, I kinda sound like a crank going on about those two damm loops! I can have a good laugh at myself about how I must sound to some, LOL. So I'm saying "uncle" and sucking it up, really committing to doing those two loops all year long till I get that right. LOL. Heck, even my wife is reminding me to practice them now! The point that I hope is not lost in all this is that the current Sportsman schedule is a handful for a new pilot to put together on contest day (no matter how good one's caller is, the pilot still must fly the model). Any one or two maneuver taken out of context, sure that's just a matter of practice. The reality is, the test is to fly the entire schedule in front of the judges and that's when the whole thing becomes quite a handful for the first few contests, IMO. That is the take away I hope my readers got and if not, my bad for not communicating that more clearly. BTW, I can fly it LOL!</div><div></div><div>Anyway, its all good and I think this is a terrific thread, raising some vital issues for the sport as it is and as we would like it to be. At the end of the day, for the sake of those pilots who have not yet joined the pattern ranks, I hope something good by way of change can happen to improve the chances that newcomers try, succeed, and stick around for another contest and another season. Respectfully, Dana</div>