On Saturday, 14 February 2015 00:29:03 UTC, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
I have been away from soaring for 12 years and have noticed the open class now has long wing and much shorter wing birds (JS-1C) competing. I am curious how do the 21 and 23 meter new ships keep up with the ASW-22BL's and Nimbus-4's. Are the new shorter wing gliders better overall (better L/D, better penetration ) or just better on strong days when wing loading counts more than the ability to stay in the air?



Of the long winged gliders the EB29 clearly outperforms the 22 and Nimbus 4.. I have no idea how good the ASH30 is. Claimed best L/D for the EB29 is 68, for the JS1C 21 is 60.