2009 SSA Competition Pilot Poll Results

The results of the 2009 SSA Competition Pilot Poll and pilot poll
comments are available on the SSA web site at www.ssa.org. Then go to
sailplane racing, then rules and process. The particpation in this
year's poll was higher than it has been for quite a few years. Thanks
to all who took the time to provide their opinions and thoughts. These
will be very important as the Rules Subcommitte goes about the process
of trying to improve our rules.
Thanks to all
H Nixon UH
Chair

Having just looked through the write-in responses, I noted that quite
a number of folks are wishing for shorter contests -- especially at
the nationals. I hope that message gets through.

On Nov 7, 10:40*am, Steve Koerner wrote:
Having just looked through the write-in responses, I noted that quite
a number of folks are wishing for shorter contests -- especially at
the nationals. * I hope that message gets through.

Steve,

Don't get our hopes up, if it hasn't always been done that way it will
never change. If you aren't tough enough to drive 3000 miles each way
to the contest and spend two weeks there you shouldn't be competing in
a nationals. Never mind the fact that most of our states are bigger
than most European countries and that just driving I-80 is longer than
going from Lagos Portugal to Red Square in Moscow. Too bad if you
live in FL and want to compete in Ephrata. No wonder our nationals
are so poorly attended.

2009 USA Nationals particpant numbers:
World 7
Open 10
Std 10
1-26 15
18 M 21
Sports 35
15M 42 (5 of these were visitors)

I hope the committee listens to the comments.

Themes I saw for nationals:

7 day nationals starting on weekends.
East and West nationals.
Nationals held only in central locations.
Reducing the number of classes.

Maybe they will see it is time to dump the World class and deal with
the Std, 15M and 18M mess. Are there any real differences between a
Std and 15M? The price is not that different anymore, the performance
is nearly identical. The "we don't need to stinkin flaps" pilots run
as well as the 15M. The 18M class (compensator class) was created to
support motor gliders and by the sailplane manufactures to sell ships
because the 15 M market was saturated. The performance difference
from a racing standpoint is nonexistent. Is there some different
skill needed to fly an 15M and 18m ship?

Our system is broken and will need change to fix it, unfortunately the
only change we have had in the last 40 years is to add classes (we
have never met a class we didn't like) and add expense to racing
rather than focusing on how to make it more accessible and fun. The
US nationals system is suppose to decide the pilots that will
represent the country in the worlds. So we do this well with contests
of under 20 pilots, often from mainly one geographic area?

On Nov 7, 1:46*pm, Tim Taylor wrote:
On Nov 7, 10:40*am, Steve Koerner wrote:

Having just looked through the write-in responses, I noted that quite
a number of folks are wishing for shorter contests -- especially at
the nationals. * I hope that message gets through.



Local Regionls are well attended..at least in South Carolina. ( Thank
you, Al Tyler)
I see the Sports/Club Class is well attended too. There is a message
there, perhaps?
GA

I'm personally indifferent to whether nationals are 1 week or 2, but
it should be noted that a major reason it is 10 contest days is that's
what the worlds are. One pilot may be the best guy over 5 or 6 contest
days, but some other guy may be better and more consistent over the
longer duration, and that's the one who should be representing the US
at worlds.

So if you really, really want to shorten the duration of the USA's top
contest, you may want to start with convincing the FAI to shorten
theirs.

..02NO

btw an alternative I've seen used in other sports is to have a regular
nationals, the winner of which is the official national champion, and
a separate "US Team Selection" contest, the winner(s) of which take
the US team spots. This latter concept might be fun for us, especially
if combined with the regular nationals, which would (presumably) be
the first half of the team selection contest, and allow folks who like
the longer format to stay in the contest even if they don't care to be
on the US Team.