I do take issue with item 3.0 and 3.1, Club Class
First 3.0 states that the WGCs Club Class List is too unstable and
excludes too many ships in widespread use in the US.

This reflects the US team decision not to use the WGC list, so blame
them. We were trying to briefly explain their logic. It certainly
makes no sense for the US to start a club class using a different list
than the US team!

But I think they made a good decision. The list changes depending on
when the next worlds is. So, you buy a glider to be in club class and
then 2 years later it's not on the list? We can't do that. Go look at
the list
http://www.ssa.org/UsTeam/ustc%20pdf...2008%20(2).pdf
which shows which gliders are on both lists. Do you think it's viable
to run a club class in the US that excludes the ASW20, Schweitzer
1-35, etc?

3.0 further states that if a Club Class were to be implemented it would be
a "Major Change" and it would be implemented gradually.

Let me explain the thinking a bit. A new class has to be popular to
survive. Pilots have to like flying it. There have to be regionals,
and enough pilots to show up at nationals to justify ground crew,
towplanes, and so forth.

If the only reason the class is there is a special restricted way to
get on a world team, the class is not likely to be viable. 2/3 of the
last sports nationals flew gliders that didn't qualify for team
points. 90% of pilots at sports obviously don't give a hoot about
world team points. If it's just about team points, and nobody realy
likes flying the class, we get another 10 glider class.

The RC is usually happy to let people try new classes and other
contest concepts by waiver. The 20 meter dual class got to try that
way. That seems like a good precedent for starting new classes. Try
it; if pilots come and like flying in this format, you demonstrate
it's viable. If it's a huge success, we can ramp up the implementation
schedule. If you can't get anyone to show up without handing out
world team points, it's probably not such a great idea. So in our
discussions this seemed like the right way to proceed.

But that's why there is a comments section. Tell us what you think.

Disclaimer: just my opinions here, not an official rules committee
statement.

John Cochrane
BB