On Jan 29, 10:06*am, Greg Arnold wrote:
Brian Bange wrote:
I would be surprised if they ever get enough gliders
together to have a contest. *If you are into racing, you will buy
something with at least 15 meters of span.
Yep. *But that is the 1-26. *We were talking about a new 13.5
meter class -- such a class would soon disappear without a trace
due to the lack of interest.
This snobby attitude really gets to me.

Snobby?

If you ask most non-





owners what their dream sailplane is, they'll say a Discus2 or
some other $100K German ship. Getting closer to reality, they'll
say they would settle for an LS4 or an ASW20. Then at the level
of disposable income, they most likely have the money for a K6
or a Russia. I was one of these. I finally analyzed where I was
at with my flying and my finances and decided that instead of
waiting for the bank account to have the necessary funds for old
German glass, I would be farther ahead to get something now,
fly it for awhile and keep saving, then move up when the time
was right. 7 years after buying a Russia I am switching to an
ASW20. Was the short wing bird the way to go. YES!!! I have
had tons of fun learning to fly X/C with it and will miss it. Most
pilots I fly with in short wing gliders are not interested in hot
competition. They are interested in improving their skills and
enjoy the comradery of like minded individuals. A fun contest
like the 1-26ers have I think would be welcomed. I hope the
World class morphs into what Bill Snead suggests - a class
handicapped to +/-5% of the PW5. That would include a lot of
ships that have no place to go right now. Realizing that one big
reason that people fly short wing birds is the low cost of entry,
smaller meets at more locations would be the way to go. Not too
many people are going to pack up their PW5 or Russia and
travel thousands of miles to compete. Many will however, drive
within their state to attend. My 2 cents.

Brian Bange

Most of them are not flying in Sports Class now. *Why do you think they
would fly in a 13.5 Meter Class?

And if they were flying in Sports Class, what is to be gained by
establishing a new 13.5 Meter class?

The comment here seems to be roughly the same as when we see people
advocating kicking the modern gliders out of Sports Class -- if we just
change the rules, lots of pilots will suddenly come out of the woodwork
and start completing. *Not gonna happen.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Why does everything revolve around flying for competition? Why can't
we look at what would best promote and encourage more people to learn
to fly sailplanes?

Maybe the younger generation and their quest for adrenalin laced
activites would find competitive soaring compelling, but how many can
afford their own sailplane? I see in soaring magazine that there are
some that can do that, kudos to them............I would be interested
to know the economic situation they are in to allow them the luxury of
flying sailplanes competetively.

I imagine a lot of us recognize the comp pilots as great guys/gals who
have done what it takes to fly in contests but beyond that, could care
less about them or their exploits.

I would rather read articles in soaring about great exploration
flights in the mountains by recreational pilots instead of Joe Go-fast
in his nifty new racing glider and how he won by 5 seconds.

I also find the concept of some one brave enough to consider offering
a sailplane that was fun to fly and had reasonable cross-country
performance to allow the recreational flyer to afford a new sailplane
and have a blast flying it. Rather than offering another glass slipper
that only Cinderella can afford. (just a metaphor folks)

There is room for all of us in the soaring tent.

Brad