Nicest thing about soaring - there are so many peaks.

If you look at pushing the limits you could argue that soaring has many high achievers -
1] Racing pilots are the elite. Fly long distances at high speed in any weather. Very technical in weather analysis ,
wing loading, reading the terrain. Maximising the performance of their aircraft. Applying sports psychology. Handle
congestion in gaggles and at turnpoints.
2] Expedition pilots are the elite. Fly unbelievable distances at warp speed, or to extreme altitudes in all sorts of
kit. Constantly seek out new experiences. Ditto on the rest.
3] Instructors are the elite. Teach and you really learn your subject. Dedication and wide knowledge required, as well
as being the most demanding on people skills in soaring (unusual skill)
4] Loners looking for badges or records (formal or personal) constantly seeking to exceed previous achievement -
whatever that may be.
5] Pilots who make the club work more than they fly. Tuggies, constantly trying to improve the turnaround, and drop the
glider in the best lift, and maintenance types and met specialists, ground crew etc. Without them the rest would have a
lot harder time.

So - contest pilots are just one more subset of soaring = true.
Does it matter what percentage of soaring pilots represented. Well - yes because there has to be critical mass in racing
to make it practical. My experience is that the interest in racing is growing.

I am not naturally fast - my main contribution to a contest is making up numbers, and helping out where I can.
Personally I go and learn more in a week than since the previous contest each time. Maybe when I get less timid I will
be competitive - till then it is a lot of fun and a lot of experience in condensed form.

Ian wrote:

Jim White wrote:

I've been following the thread for a while and a common theme seems to be
that 'organising a comp is difficult and a huge effort'. I am surprised
by this. In the UK pretty much every soaring club runs a annual comp to
BGA rules thereby qualifying their pilots for rating points which are used
for prioritising entry to Nationals comps which are run in FAI classes.

Eh? Pretty much every club? In my time I have flown regularly at
(counts on fingers) six UK gliding clubs of various sizes. Of these
only the second largest - Yorkshire GC - ran an annual competation,
and that was the northern regionals so not really a club competition
at all.

The bottom line is that, if comps are kept simple to run then every club
can have one and all pilots can experience a comp on their doorstep and
learn the trade.

I wonder what proportion of UK pilots are interested in competition.
I'd be surprised if it was as high as 10% of Silver Cs...

Ian