At 20:02 13 January 2005, Nick Olson wrote:

Performance differences between Std and 15M class in
European conditions are fairly small - the writings
on the wall and been there a while.

In the western half of the US 18M span doesn't make
much difference - the real difference is flaps.

Take a look at the ships in the US 18M nationals over
the last 5 years. You see a lot of straight 15M gliders
both participating and placing well. The LS-8/18's
tend to show up in larger numbers when the nationals
are in the eastern states.

When the 18M nationals are out west, it's kind of like
having two 15m nationals in one year in terms of the
kind of ships that turn out.

9B - yes it's an ASW-27B