http://ozreport.com/12.045#1

There was no uniform CIVL Sporting code rule about what happens to pilot's leaving before the start open time. The local rules for the 2007 World Championships in Big Spring, Texas (http://ozreport.com/bigspring2007afterCIVL.php) state:

The Pilots leaving before the start gate opened are awarded minimum distance points only if GAP 2002 scoring system is used.

This rule, which we did not like, was forced upon us by the CIVL Bureau. Numerous different rules are applied in Category 2 competitions to deal with this situation. The recent CIVL Plenary decided:

Early start penalties for Cat 1 comps. Gerolf Heinrichs proposed that the penalty for early start is ten times the amount of time added as a time penalty to the pilots total time. Amended by Nils Jorgen Askirkto read the max amount of time that this rule will be applied to is five minutes. Beyond five minutes the pilot will receive minimum distance.

This seems unduly harsh to me. I say just shift the start time to the first start time and leave the time interval the same. Or rotate the time interval around the first start time.