SSA Sailplane Handicaps

We have had some interesting discussions over sailplane handicaps for
our upcoming Arizona contest season and we are unable to reconcile the
difference between the SSA handicaps and those used in the rest of the
world. There appear to be no clear descriptions anywhere on how the
SSA ones are calculated and there seem a few odd inconsistencies. We
have rejected the idea that the laws of physics are different on this
side of the pond.

So far, no-one seems to be able to find out how the SSA arrives at
their handicaps - they apparently just appear out of thin air. It
would be nice if there were some transparency in their calculations so
we can figure out why they are different.

I suggested that we just adopt the European handicaps - the Germans
have especially done a great job and at least we know how they derive
them.

Comments from any of the SSA contest gurus?

Mike