With all due respect, I disagree. I remember flying a Region 12 race up the Sierra's, I was beating the pants off an ASH-25 and a Nimbus 3 with my current generation standard class glider, until we had a long glide from the switch backs to the Inyo Mountains (call it a 15 mile glide to another mountain range). The open class gliders arrived on top the mountains and just kept going while the stubbies arrived ⅓ of the way from the top of the range and had to climb up for the good lift. When I finished the task the opens were tied down and the pilots had long left the airfield. I never had the time to fly another contest, but I did get a Nimbus 4 and flew that for about 500 hours before having the sport for 13-15 years. Wish I had never sold that Nimbus. Historically the open class even while flying the same task as stubbies at Uvalde will still fly faster at 9.8 pounds that the 15/18 at 11.7 pounds. Think no turns, or very few. One can really effectively dolphin fly with an open bird. The master of this is Ron Tabery. I have seen a trace of his from a 250ish km flight at Ulvade where Ron had ONE turn on course.
And of course the Grandeur of the open class, they are just the most beautiful gliders with their long wings. Well, I am sure the JS-1-21 is a nice glider, but 21 meter is too fook'n short!!! I thought S-H and lange were on to something with the Quintus (only 14 made out of production now) and the Antares 23. There is only one each of the above two gliders listed for WGC2017.


On Thursday, November 24, 2016 at 1:07:51 AM UTC-8, Bruce Hoult wrote:

As you allude, it depends on the conditions. The 25+ meter ships win easily if the lift is weaker than 1 knot. If you've got 2+ knots then 19m is superior, purely on polar, let alone manoeuvrability. And in stonking ridge or wave conditions 15m or less lets you have a higher Vne...