RW: you're setting new standards of incoherence here

After 98% of racing pilots voted for club class gliders drivers to be considered for US Team,

98%? I'd like to see that poll. I write the poll and read the results
annually. We haven't had 98% on the proposition "should the sky remain
blue?"

It is very disappointing that RC member showed up in Parowan Sports Nationals
with Ventus as a big surprise of new extended club class list !

I presume you mean Garrett Willat in a Ventus ca. Then, you're only
getting wrong that Garrett isn't a RC member, the rule we're talking
about apply starting this year, not retroactive to last year, the
Ventus ca he flew was already on the US club class list (there is a
big "C" next to the glider on the ssa handicap table) and the fact
that the US team, not the rules committee decides which entrants from
a unified sports class qualify for US team club class points.

Maybe you mean Ken Sorenson (ssa contest committee chairman) in a
Ventus 2. Then you're getting wrong the difference between ventus 1
and ventus 2.

No other RC members competed at Parowan. With great regret, but in
fact we weren't there.

If you're mad that Garret beat you, on a handicapped basis, maybe
trying to engineer a contest where he doesn't get to come isn't the
answer.

A big theme of US team self-analysis right now is that we fly in races
that are too small. Europeans don't just fly in particular classes
with particular rules. They fly in huge contests with many top level
contenders, not just one or two. The case that we get better by
sending half the fleet home, eliminating lower-performance gliders
from nationals altogether, and having a little toy contest with 8.0
gliders seems pretty tenuous. If you want to get pushed to WGC level
performance, you should be offering to pay Garret's entry fee so that
a talented pilot with WGC experience will push up the level of
competition. No matter what glider he is in.

We gave you a contest with no ASW27/ASG29s, no Ventus 2s, no open
class gliders, no duos, and none of the FAI pilots who typically fly
those gliders and aren't about to waste their two weeks of vacation
flying the club standard cirrus at Mifflin.

Your job is to make darn sure 12 pilots in even our expansive
definition of club class show up. If they do not, the whole project is
over. Are you listening? The future of club class depends on getting a
sufficient turn out.

As the stones sang,

No, you can't always get what you want
No, you can't always get what you want
No, you can't always get what you want
But if you try sometime, you just might find
You get what you need


John Cochrane