Trisquire,
Oh, that explains it. You owe it to yourself to go to a "legit" Pattern contest and see for yourself. I'm sure you'll be surprised at how smooth and graceful the "new" Pattern planes are compared to what you've seen in the past. Keep in mind that we have to fly in an aerobatic "box" now. If you look at how the box is defined you'll see that it's to your advantage to fly as far out as you dare - this makes the box "larger". Normally, a competent Pattern pilot can keep the plane at 150 - 175 meters distance and still fly all the maneuvers in the box - regardless of the wind speed or direction.

John Pavlick
Team Black Magic, Tech-Aero Designs