On Sep 18, 4:53*pm, "John Godfrey (QT)"
wrote:
On Sep 18, 5:14*pm, Ray Jay wrote:





And a fine hello to you, too, Mr. Cochrane:

Irrespective of anyone's history of participation, this decision
smells just like yet another justification to the benefit of those
best equipped and consequently knees squarely in the nuts those who
worked so hard to get Club Class going in this country.

It isn't enough that 18m has its own lightly participated class in
which to go on to Worlds?
Expense isn't already enough a barrier to entry for you?
So now it's legit to encroach upon the opportunities of a lesser
performing class?

Hence, the resultant reactions to which both Mike and Chuck allude.

Regards,

Ray Cornay

There are number of good points being made here, but one I just can't
get is "the glider makes the winner" in a handicapped class. This is
the place where that argument carries the least weight

1. At the 2009 Sports Nationals, only 14 of 35 gliders were club class
eligible. Only 2 of the top 10 finishers were club class eligible.
2. At the 2010 Sports Nationals, only 15 of 42 gliders were club class
eligible. Only 2 of the top 10 finishers were club class eligible.

So many very good pilots are being excluded from the club competition
simply because of the glider they are flying. *Most pilots cannot
afford more than one glider, and once they have saved mightily to get
their prized 27, 29 or whatever are not likely to sell it to get a
club ship. So many very good pilots are being excluded for what
amounts to financial reasons.

Our most experienced and accomplished team pilots generally agree that
whatever disadvantages exist if you compete in a club class ship after
winning in a say 27 or 29 are far outweighed by the smaller pool of
pilots from which the team can be drawn.

Now it may be true that handicaps need more work to keep the playing
field level, but I believe that the new approach moves us from
excluding some of our best pilots based on finances and becomes much
more inclusive.

It is really good that we are getting vigorous engagement on this with
4 months to go before the proposal goes before the SSA board for a
vote. *We all want a fair and inclusive competition environment that
attracts increased participation and develops pilots that are
competitive at the worlds.

John Godfrey (QT)
US Rules Committee- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

So many very good pilots are being excluded from the FAI competitions
simply because of the glider they are flying. Most pilots cannot
afford more than one glider, and once they have saved mightily to get
their prized club class glider are not likely to sell it to get an
FAI ship. So many very good pilots are being excluded for what
amounts to financial reasons.

So if its such a great idea to flood the Club Class with non-
conforming gliders simply to generate a bigger pilot pool, then we
should take similar action in the FAI classes. To increase the low
turnout in Open and Standard class at the Nationals this year of only
12 pilots, I propose the Rules Committee employ handicapping in the
FAI classes to make the older gliders competitive and boost the number
of potential competitors. This would allow the team selection to pull
from a group of pilots that were previously excluded from potential
world team slots simply from financial reasons and if its true what
you said, there shouldn't be any problem for a club class pilot to
move to a current generation racing ship in the WGC.
Bob Faris