On Jan 1, 1:12*pm, Rick Culbertson wrote:
Parowan, thinking outside the box - An opportunity knocks!

Is it just me?

With the obvious decline of soaring participants in our sport
shouldn't we really consider this a "good problem" to have, let me see
if I have this right:

"Way more Pilots want to race, not just fly but race with their fellow
pilots at a contest site than it can reasonably hold in one contest,
not only within the Region but Nation wide!"

Is this oversubscribed issue really a problem or an opportunity? I
certainly wish the SSA and all Clubs had the same problem with
students, tow pilots, instructors, club members and club ships, hell
we would all gleefully tackle that problem with creative all-inclusive
solutions, wouldn't we? Please don't tell me the best solution we can
come up with is to send eager seasoned & eager up and coming pilots
packing, look at the buzz this opportunity has generated, we can do
better.

Don't fool around with the Regional system, it seems to me to be
working exactly as intended and people are having a blast.

The simple answer as I see it is to schedule an additional contest at
the site, in this case Parowan but not a pseudo regional. I'm very
intrigued with the Super Regional concept, but not the name or its
current format. The concept as I understand it is where multiple
classes; Standard, 15m, 18m and Sports containing high caliber pilots
coming from all over the country to compete / race at the same Premier
site and at the same time!

Base the entry strictly on current pilot ranking, set a limit of 13
pilots in each class totaling 52, a reasonable quantity for Parowan.
This would be one impressive contest to fly in and to observe, pitting
the best against the best at arguably the USAs Premier contest site. I
see endless possibilities with this concept, not the least of which is
public exposure and potential for our sports growth! *Call it the
"Classic" or "Western Nationals" or "Mini Nationals" or whatever but
hey if I can't fly in it I'll certainly be watching it you can count
on that.

Respectfully submitted for your consideration.

Happy New Year,

Rick Culbertson - 21

How about this(the organizers may choke!)
Have 2 contests one after the other.
Region 9 Sports with emphasis on newbies first and whoever else wants
to come second.
Include in this a Rookie School for the new guys.
6 Day contest Sunday to Friday
Region 9 Super Regional
FAI classes - only have a Sports Class if FAI won't fill.
6 days Sunday to Friday
You can't enter both unless they don't fill.
2 50 glider contests provide 100 entry slots- should be no whining
about
getting in.
Try to get a couple entrants from each contest to help the other with
organization
and grunt work.
The benefit of this is that much of the infrastructure comes and gets
better utilized.
You just can't wear out one or 2 people doing this.
Karl and Iris did this a few years ago and it was a huge success. BUT
you gotta spread
the work out.
UH