On Sep 29, 2:52*pm, "noel.wade" wrote:
Since the topic of travel / distance (in the USA) and lots of club
competitions (in the BGA) came up, let me ask this:

1) UK pilots: *Can you actually take enough time off work and such to
compete in many of these 7 - 9 day competitions each year? *Or do
folks still only go to 1 or 2 apiece?

2) USA pilots: *If more Regionals were added, could you actually _go_
to a greater number of Regionals each year?

I've talked about this in another thread, but it seems to me that a
big factor in competition attendance is time-off-work and/or time-away-
from-family... At least for us non-retired pilots (read: young-punks /
whipper-snappers)! *A week is a long time to be gone, especially if
you're trying to do it several times each year. *This is why I brought
up the subject of shorter club/casual competitions in another thread -
it seems like a better way to get newbies into competition and to get
local clubs doing some fun-and-challenging flying... *but I don't want
to hijack this thread here.

Let me just conclude with this question: *Is there a consensus among
pilots about the primary purpose of Regionals? *Is it to introduce new
people to competitive flying, is it to support "fun" contest-flying,
or is it a part of the "elimination" / ranking process to pick a US
Team?

Pick a primary purpose/goal and shape the event around that. *If other
events are required to meet other needs, then organize those events
around that other particular goal. *A competition can certainly be
both fun AND tough, but if you try to make one event all-things-to-all-
people its just going to be a mess...

--Noel

This is extracted from SSA Sports Regional Rules for 2008.
1.1 ‡ † The purpose of a Regional Sport Class Soaring Championships is
to determine a Regional Sport Class Champion, to measure the
performance of all entrants, and to provide an entry level for pilots
new to competitive sailplane racing to learn the skills and procedures
used in competition. Performance in Regionals will be used to provide
a basis for pilots to qualify for entry into future soaring
Championships.
1.2 ‡ Handicapping will be applied to minimize score differences
due to performance differences between sailplanes.
Extracted from FAI class Nationals-
1.0 ‡ PURPOSE
The purpose of a National FAI Class Soaring Championship is to
determine a National FAI Class Champion and to measure the performance
of all entrants. Performance in Nationals will be used to provide a
basis for pilots to qualify for entry into future soaring
Championships and to select pilots for the U.S. Team in International
Competition.
Note that they clearly define the significantly different objectives
of these types of events
There are statements of purpose in 1.1 of each of the different rules
packages all of which can be viewed on the SSA web site if you want to
look at how they vary for the different events.
Happy reading
UH