I think nobody has ever denied the SSS existence. Honestly, whether if it exists or not is far away from the real core of the discussion in this thread. I think what Alex is doing is a remakable experiment and we are all very interested on seeing further tests (canalizers, SFG, strakes, different propellers, a contra, etc). The fact that a full size cap or a Zero show it has nothing to do with the discussion around pattern planes.
The real point here is if the SSS effect is enough to be considered as an issue on a 2m x 2m pattern plane, and if it is really worth the effort of fighting it (ok lets call it neutralizing) it with a contra, or a fin, or any other gadget.
I had the oportunity to see in person Mr Silvestri, Mr Trumpp, and Mr Mazuchelli fly their contras at the worlds a few weeks ago, and in my opinion (maybe an opinion not worth a lot since I did terribly bad on flying the preliminaries) is that they would have got much better scores without the contra than what they did with it (and hope my scores don't get worse in the future for saying this). I also did not watch a significant increase on the braking on behalf of the constant speeds. There were amazingly constant speed pilots flying with regular 2 blades or three blades.
In my opinion (again, maybe not very well qualified) Contras still need to work in two ways:
1. Weight, and therefore size. It is true that Seba's HeraS had to go for the Unk with 3900 mAh only for weight reasons. I think he managed his power superbly on an UNK on that wind with a mere 3900 mAh battery.
2. Solving the combination: propellers diameters, pitches and geometry, as there seems to be still some airflow innefficiencies while contrarotating. Most of the uplines are simply made at full power on a C50 (any C50 owner knows how much power you get at full power with this motor on a 2 blade prop).
I am not going to adress the Noise issue as this rule has become an absolute joke (sorry FAI but nowadays people seems to be competing on who halts the motor more to get the lowest noise on the noise test these days). Pilots canīt even hold their laughter on the noise circle.
I personally encourage and celebrate all sorts of innovation, wether they come out with positive results (you have to check for instance the control linkage of Mayr's Trigantic which are simply amazing and totally new, or the construcction and attachment system for the struts, also many details on Bryan's Alferma which are also very interesting) or maybe not so successful results (not worth mentioning).
Now regarding the contra, I still think there is a lot to be resolved yet and that has to come for the experts that are working on it. And even whan i was flying electric, there was a hidden winner again: YAMADA-SAN. I had never wished so much to have a YS inside my citrin as on Aug 21 / 2013 on a 30 Km/hr wind. Maybe Tuny (who I was calling for) can compliment a little on how was it to fly there with a YS 185 at full power on uplines.
Just a humble opinion form a pilot who still needs to learn a ton.
Marcelo Velez