Other than having been - and remaining - thoroughly enamored with soaring (and
all its varied aspects) since bumbling into it in the early '70s, I have no
dog in the "racing vs. competition (aka US rules vs. FAI rules) tempest," but
since no one else has mentioned a few thoughts that have occurred to me as a
result of pondering things broached in another thread, I thought I would.
You're welcome!
- - - - - -
On 10/18/2016 9:50 AM, Sean wrote:
Again... WHAT MEASURED VALUE JUSTIFIES THE CONTINUED MAINTAINCE OF OUR
(UNIQUE, ISOLATIONIST) US SOARING COMPETITION RULES?
There should be tons, because the US rules are "so great" and the FAI
rules are "evil," right?
Please list them here for me ...
Nothing? Nobody has an answer for me? Nobody can produce measured data to
support and justify the continuation of the US rules CIRCUS?
This is simple manangement 101 folks. If there is no value in the spend,
dont spend. So, why are we wasting all this time and effort on US rules
when they provide us with NO MEASURABLE VALUE?
I'll ask again.
I ask those of you supporting the continuation of the US rules (circus) to
answer my SIMPLE QUESTION.
Here it is ---
***What MEASURED VALUE justifies the continued maintenance of our (unique,
isolationist, ineffective) US competition rules?***
Hint: This is not a trick question. This is a very simple. If you
support the US rules (circus), then you should have TONS of MEASURED VALUE
points to CLEARLY JUSTIFY why all the work, volunteer time, aggravation and
argueing that has been the mainstay of the US rules commitee over the years
has been worth it. And why it will continue to be worth it. What is the
goal of US rules? Why do we do this? What is the expectation for
improvement? Why are we continueing to do this, year after year after
year? In my opinion, this is one of the most ridiculous things that I have
ever seen in sports (and that is saying much).
Again, I'll try to help you get started here.. Valueable supporting data
points justifying US rules vs FAI rules in the USA such as:
1) Higher contest numbers (people flocking to fly these great US contest
and the GREAT TASKS!). NOPE.
2) The International community noticing. NOPE.
Better safety statistics. Less accidents. NOPE.
Less landouts. NOPE.
Better International Competition results? Since our rules are better, we
should be flying more, learning mre and going faster. Should we not?
NOPE.
Etc, Etc. NOPE. NOPE.
Why are we spending the time to carry forward rules which offer us NO
VALUE?
I look forward to hearing (and debating) the supporting data that you
provide us.
Sean 7T
The above was a followup to the (annotated) post immediately below, initially
posted 5 days prior...
On 10/13/2016 4:20 PM, Sean wrote:
Snip...
Wow. I see the RAS crazies are out again, foaming at the mouth, as usual.
Amusing as always, but a distraction from the very simple questions that I
asked and nobody is answering. Especially the US RC and the alumni.
Again...
QUESTION 1a) WHAT MEASURED VALUE JUSTIFIES THE CONTINUED MAINTAINCE OF OUR
(UNIQUE, ISOLATIONIST) US SOARING COMPETITION RULES?
Might, "Because we can and it seemed/seems like a good idea to us," be
completely adequate?
- - - - - -
There should be tons, because the US rules are "so great" and the FAI rules
are "evil," right?
Heh - nice straw man.
- - - - - -
List them here for me ...
QUESTION 1b) WHAT MEASURED VALUE DOES OUR RUNNING US CONTESTS UNDER THE US
SOARING COMPETITION RULES PROVIDE THE USA AS A SOARING COUNTRY?
Relevant measures of value might be: - Increased growth to the sport of
competition soaring measured in the USA as compared to other countries who
dare to use those "evil" FAI rules? - High pilot satisfaction measured with
US contests and stable, growing or planned higher participation in the
future. - More US contest participation measured vs. those other countries
who use those "evil" FAI rules. - contests that are considerably more
enjoyable and easier to run when measured against FAI. - More satisfying
and comprehensive tasks measured by pilots who have flown both FAI and US
rules. - Easier to use scoring software vs FAI....? - More stable rules?
Not having to endure constant changes and constant arguments each year
about (for example) ridiculous anti-technology policy. - Having people who
can easily score US rules with a brief tutorial? If we cannot do this,
it's a broken sport and needs to be fixed in a hurry. - Increased contest
pilot skills when measured against pilots who fly FAI contest rules? -
Improved International competition (WGC) results? If, per the line of crap
fed to us by"....," US rules and tasking philosophy (cough, cough) is so
great, and we fly more, higher quality, weather guessing tasks, etc, in the
USA as a result, shouldn't are US pilots be killing it at the WGC vs. FAI
pilots who are limited to only TAT and AT? pause........ Exactly. - More
excitement and passion about flying contests and competing in contests?
Especially from youth. - Lots of Jr. pilots flocking into the sport, our
contests, and our clubs wanting to compete in contests with our cool,
superior rules?
Have I missed something? Is soaring worldwide (not to mention FAI-rules'
contests) expanding?
- - - - - -
QUESTION 2) WHAT IS THE MEASURED COST TO THE US SOARING COMMUNITY FOR
CHOOSING TO MAINTAIN OUR OWN (UNIQUE, ISOLATIONIST) US SOARING COMPETITION
RULES AND NOT BE PART OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION COMMUNITY?
Relevant costs: - The cost of having to focus the time and energy of 4 RC
committee members, an SSA representative to focus on this topic each year
vs. perhaps other SSA volunteer functions of greater value. - The cost
maintaining Winscore - The cost of the constant arguments over our own
rules which have proven to be highly unstable and change continuously. - US
pilots having to settle for our own isolated US pilot ranking list which
nobody else on earth could really give two craps about. Vs. the FAI
ranking list which includes pilots from all countries (community, rivalry,
belonging...) although US contests are rarely added to the list so the
rankings are not relevant. http://igcrankings.fai.org - I could go on and
on and on.... - Etc, etc.
Hmmm...asking volunteers who choose to do things because they find it worth
their $0/hour time, to assign a dollar value to that time, kind of misses the
point of volunteering, doesn't it?
- - - - - -
QUESTION 3) WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE IN MEASURED COST/VALUE BETWEEN
CONTINUING TO MAINTAIN THE (UNIQUE/ISOLATIONIST) US RULES ANNUALLY AND
SIMPLY USING THE FAI RULES WHICH ARE FULLY SUPPORTED, READY TO GO AND
HAPPILY, SAFELY AND SUCCESSFULLY USED BY LITERALLY ALL (-- YES, ALL!)
OTHER SOARING NATIONS?
The USA could change to FAI in 30 seconds flat. This is not delicate.
This is a religion for you folks. I could run an FAI contest easily, right
now, starting tomorrow in Ionia and so could anyone else. Give me a break!
This is not complicated. It's a matter of religion vs. economy of scale
and being part of the international community.
Having evidently answered your questions to your own satisfaction, why
continue to keep your undershorts in a wad? As the Prime Mover behind the
First Ever Sailplane Grand Prix in the U.S.A. (== a NON-Trivial undertaking
by anyone's measure ==) *AND* having working knowledge of Management 101 (as
deduced from your followup post), surely you know you've already put your
finger on Management 101's "proper course of action" - and I quote: "I could
run an FAI contest easily, right now, starting tomorrow in Ionia..."
I submit that doing so would be more likely to effect change than ranting on RAS.
Respectfully,
Bob W.