I would like to thank the people who spend the time
and decide what questions to include in the SRA poll.
Lots of hard work goes into the poll. I appreciate
your efforts and dedication to soaring.
I am concerned with the questions on the poll addressing
the sports class. 7.0-7.3. All of the questions deal
with handicaps. We have three very clear methods of
measuring performance gains for gliders. Weight, wingspan
and winglets. Changes of any one of these three factors
has been proven to change the performance of a glider.
The questions on the poll now ask if we should add
'other modifications' such as turbulators, wing root
fillets etc. to this list. I ask the question how can
these 'other modifications' be measured? Who is qualified
to do the measuring? Should we leave it to the CD to
determine what 'other modifications' qualify and to
asses a different handicap? This opens the door for
handicaps to be different at each contest depending
on the CD. Unless there is a clear method of measuring
'other modifications' leave it alone. Arbitrary decisions
have no place in determining handicaps.
7.3 even goes so far as to ask if a glider with smoothed
and sealed wings should have a different handicap from
one that doesn't have smooth and sealed wings. Is that
the same as asking if a 10 year old ASW-27 should have
a different handicap than a new ASW-27 with smoother
wings?
The question that I really feel should have been on
the SRA Poll is whether we should follow the rest of
the world and create a CLUB CLASS. Both Nationals and
Regionals.
All of the handicap questions could be answered if
we would follow the majority of the world and create
a Club Class. The US International Team Committee now
requires that qualification for the Sports Class Team
must be done in a Club Class Glider. Let us take it
a step further. The US follows all of the IGC class
rules except the Club Class. Why? The US could continue
the Sports Class and have a Club Class within. Much
like we do with regionals and national contest. Separate
scoring for separate classes. It's done in every contest
in the US except for the Club Class.
I encourage you to look at 12.1 of the SRA poll 'other
issues' and call for a Club Class in the US.