I believe it to be pretty harsh when thinking about gliding competitions. How can it ever be a level playing field if say 5% of the grid would be prepared to take a cloud climb in order to fly across 'the big blue hole in the sky' to roar home and win the day?
The debate of whether cloud flying or not should be included in competitions is a debate which has been on going for a few years, and has yet to be resolved for international competitions...the debate continues. In the UK however it is still allowed, on the whole, for regional and national competitions.
If we therefore assume that it is legal, and allowed (as it is in the UK), we can turn to your comment about a level playing field.
100% of any grid are allowed (by law) to cloud fly. If that they have the aptitude, training, ac mandatory requirements and the desire to do so - then they can. For those of us who fly competitions regularly and wish to increase on National ratings or get higher up the leader board, then cloud climbing may prove one strategy that may just enable you to do so. But there really are such few occasions when you would actually do so. There’s nothing to stop any pilot on any grid acquiring the wherewithal and the skills for cloud climbing should he/she so desire. So it remains a level playing field. I just consider it another tool in the toolbox, which I can bring out when I need to.
In terms of danger, as anyone on who flies regularly in a regional or national competition will tell you, there is significantly more ‘danger’ in flying in a highly competitive gaggle of 30/40/50 gliders at the start of any stream launch multi class competition, than there is in cloud flying. But again, good airmanship, sensibility and innate responsibility to the safety of yourself and the others around you typically ensures that the collusions are very few and far between.
In respect of TheBeeKeepers comments on a formal syllabus for cloudy flying – I do agree. I maintain a currency in this respect through the use of blackout screens flying from the rear seat of a K21, with a competent and current BGA Full Cat sat up front, who also happens to have an IMC instructor rating (amongst others). Some form of similar guideline or recommended practice should be issued by the BGA.