Greetings Dave:As Bruce pointed out, flying in the pattern is one of the areas where you'll find the most dynamic situations. What you might consider trying is dropping a notch of flaps and/or decreasing your pattern power setting 100-200 RPM to slow your airplane down a bit (of course only if you're not flying too slow already--e.g. at Vs1 1.2 or lower). This will increase spacing by increasing the distance between you and the aircraft on wide, extended downwind, and decrease the distance you'll need to fly downwind.
Other "tricks" you might consider is taking a couple of extra seconds on roll out before applying takeoff power, and delaying crosswind turn slightly for one or two circuits to increase spacing.
As for "sticking to your guns" and flying the proper pattern while the guy ahead is wide and long, I think that like driving, flying needs to be done defensively. It's more important not to get hurt than it is to blindly stick to the rules and guidelines. If the other pilot continues to fly wide and long, try increasing your spacing, and fly a wider pattern as wide as reasonable even if it mean you'll still be inside the other aircraft's pattern. As long as you can keep enough spacing to not "T-bone" the other aircraft and they're not so wide that you can't keep visual on him/her, you'll have a good compromise without jeopardizing your safety or the guidelines. Of course if you think what's happening is dangerous, land wait a while. It's far better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air than to be in the air wishing you were on the ground!
Hope this helps!
Ben
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