On Tuesday, November 13, 2012 11:26:58 PM UTC-5, wrote:
Good bless you RC...what a cowpile responsibility. Your dedication is deep and thank you for your service. Your proposal may be the best way to go. Who can say for sure? But after all this discussion, it's still not clear to me why the US should go outside the existing FAI rules. As a Club Class competitor, I'd really be chapped to know the pilot who beat me and made the World Team was flying a sailplane not qualified to fly in the Worlds. SSA, please give this a good hard look. Ben

National competition and team selection do not have to be perfectly aligned..
We have been selecting the members of the US team from those pilots flying in the Sports class that were flying gliders on a list that very closely emulates the list used at recent WGC events.
The USTC is considering what to do in light of ihe introduction of Club. One option is to continue the existing team selection policy. Another is to expand the list in various ways. Personally, I think retaining the limitation that has been in place since 2006 is the thing to do. I speak only as a participant.
With respect to the US national class, it is worth noting that many other countries do not use the IGC list literally, but adjust the list to suit their situation. We are doing the same thing.
A very short and simple study of what gliders flew in US contests in 2012 indicated that by defining the Club class list as the RC has proposed, the population of gliders possibly participating is increased by something around 60%. This would bode well for the possibility of establishing a class with a solid participation base.
Some in the higher performance range may also stay is Sports. We'll see.
This has gotten a lot of thought over quite a number of years.
Cheers
UH