That is ridiculous! In PA I'd expect people to be more on top of their events. That's just awful - I feel bad! Oh well. I hope they don't get it wrong this year, and if they do, you'll know to challenge.
nejanimb,
I know. Especially with PA being one of the most competitive states, one would think that even regionals would be well run (no offense to anyone). The problem is that in the rules, it states that once a bridge is removed "there can be no further challenges for scoring or ranking", and we didn't know about the top tier until we had taken all of the broken pieces of bridge back to our "home base".
Aia,
I think that there will be a small overall drop in efficiencies, even for the top teams because they have to use more wood. I mean, since the clearance was raised, it does take a little more wood (which equals more mass) to build over that area. On the other hand, people will be more experienced at building bridges. Anyway, I predict someone (probably not me) is going to think of a way to decrease mass, conform to rules, and increase efficiency all at the same time.
I personally haven't built a bridge to new specs yet- I'm still trying to find leftover wood flooring so I can use a balsa stripper without endangering any furniture. Maybe I'll have a testable bridge in a few weeks.
)
