If our objective is to send our best pilots to the world comps (WGC) the
present selection system seems about optimum except for the tinkering that
has been done to the select pilots for the Club WGC from our sports class.
For a couple reasons, all of which have nothing to do with selecting the
best pilot, we have reduced the odds of sending a winner. Pilots who have
been on a US team in an FAI class (Open, 18M, 15M, Sports) are excluded, as
are pilots who don't fly a glider meeting the handicap range of the WGC.
This means that the first six finishers at this year's sport nationals are
not eligible for the 2010 US Team.

I doubt that anyone who has flown against the winner, Rick Walters, would
rank him below the number seven finisher as the most likely to succeed at at
the 2010 Club WGC.

There may be compensating reasons for the modified selection process, but
let's not pretend they have anything to do with sending the pilot with the
best chance of bringing home the gold.

I'm not sure I believe that having a dedicated Club Class Nationals
achieves many, if any, objectives that I consider important to the
sport. The evidence from past Sports Class Nationals and many
Regionals seems to strongly support the notion that the current
handicapping system works well enough to ensure that the most capable
pilots rise to the top of the scoresheet irrespective of the type of
glider they fly. When you consider that team selection goes to pilots
flying club class gliders already it seems that the logic for a
separate nationals is even thinner. I'm not sure I agree with the idea
of restricting the club class pilot selection this way is the best
idea - but I'm willing to go along. We just need to admit that we are
doing it to get more people exposure to WGC - not because we really
want to win. I reject the idea that a narrower range of handicaps
helps pick a pilot with a better chance of winning a world
championship - the number of pilots racing club class equipment is
just too small in the US. I am suspicious of the contention that lack
of a club class (as opposed to the current sports class) is holding
down the number of pilots getting into racing. It's worth testing, but
I think you'd see a disproportionate proportion of club-class pilots
on the US OLC if there were a lot of pent-up interest that was not
being met by sports class.

On the idea of combining Nationals - some of this happens now.
Frankly, I think it is more important to have a full field of top
pilots at national contests than to ensure a narrow range of glider
performance - particularly in handicapped meets. Moreover I think it
is critical that we offer a contest framework by which national-
caliber pilots can test their mettle each year without having to drive
4-6,000 miles round trip - though certainly some will. The fact that a
significant number of competitors in FAI class nationals are flying
gliders from a different class demonstrates that many pilots are
similarly motivated. One mechanism currently in place to ensure a
nearby place to race each year is to rotate nationals regionally.
Super Regionals help too. One thing I think we should try to avoid is
pairing like-class nationals at the same venue. I prefer offering a
pilot whose class is having nationals on an opposite coast the option
to step up one class in order to stay more "local" every other year
(i.e. Std to 15M, 15M to 18M and 18M to Open). It seems like this has
at least in part been in the minds of the powers that be. Under Tim's
idea of pairing up nationals I would argue more for pairing Std with
18M and 15M with Open so that irrespective of where you live there is
a nearby FAI nationals each year that you could fly in and be
reasonably competitive.

9B

I'll try to be more hilarious in future posts ;-)