On Wednesday, July 16, 2014 10:36:39 AM UTC-7, Kevin Brooker wrote:
One reason contests are dying is the contest is all about the pilot at
the expense of everyone else. If my family has two weeks of vacation

Kevin - I agree with your sentiments 100%. However, keep in mind that this thread is supposedly oriented around the National Championships.

I would argue that - at some level - these are always going to be "focused"/"specialty" events. When you're trying to find The Best Pilot In The Country, you can't make a whole bunch of concessions to families that may impact the quality of the flying or the opportunities to have challenging days that serve to differentiate the field of contestants.

Having said that, I agree Regionals would benefit from more family-friendly options and organization. But it seems hard enough to get the basic volunteer work-force to put on an event... Its easy to say "we need more _X_"; but figuring out how to motivate people to provide that is tough. In this case, getting extra helpers for social events may be tough for many clubs or contest hosts. Any thoughts or ideas on how to make that happen or ease the burden on organizers is very much welcome!

--Noel