I would be surprised if they ever get enough gliders
together to have a contest. If you are into racing, you will buy
something with at least 15 meters of span.

Yep. But that is the 1-26. We were talking about a new 13.5
meter class -- such a class would soon disappear without a trace
due to the lack of interest.

This snobby attitude really gets to me. If you ask most non-
owners what their dream sailplane is, they'll say a Discus2 or
some other $100K German ship. Getting closer to reality, they'll
say they would settle for an LS4 or an ASW20. Then at the level
of disposable income, they most likely have the money for a K6
or a Russia. I was one of these. I finally analyzed where I was
at with my flying and my finances and decided that instead of
waiting for the bank account to have the necessary funds for old
German glass, I would be farther ahead to get something now,
fly it for awhile and keep saving, then move up when the time
was right. 7 years after buying a Russia I am switching to an
ASW20. Was the short wing bird the way to go. YES!!! I have
had tons of fun learning to fly X/C with it and will miss it. Most
pilots I fly with in short wing gliders are not interested in hot
competition. They are interested in improving their skills and
enjoy the comradery of like minded individuals. A fun contest
like the 1-26ers have I think would be welcomed. I hope the
World class morphs into what Bill Snead suggests - a class
handicapped to +/-5% of the PW5. That would include a lot of
ships that have no place to go right now. Realizing that one big
reason that people fly short wing birds is the low cost of entry,
smaller meets at more locations would be the way to go. Not too
many people are going to pack up their PW5 or Russia and
travel thousands of miles to compete. Many will however, drive
within their state to attend. My 2 cents.

Brian Bange