What is Purpose of Sports Class Nationals?

Hi frank,

So where do I fly my Duo in a contest? I tried to get a 20 m contest
going in the Western US to no avail. Tom Knauff tried to get one going
a couple of years ago. IMHO the reason that the Duo wins is that some
guys are just a lot better than I am. I love to fly and love to fly
contests. With that said, it also needs to be said that, we really
don't have a Sports Class Nationals, we have a Handicapped Nationals!
Frank wrote:
Wow - I've certainly come to the right place for informed responses to
my post! ;-). Replying to all previouis posts:

Thanks to 'gliderstud' (what a handle) and John Seaborn for the links
to ongoing discussions in this area - I read both carefully.

I'm still having problems with the stated purpose for the SC Nats vs
what is actually happening. Here in the U.S. we have a Std Nats, a 15m
Nats, an Open/18m Nats, a World Class Nats, and the SC Nats. In 2005,
the number of gliders entered we Std 23, 15m 47, 18m 22, Open 10,
World 13, SC 48. In 2006 so far, the SC Nats hosted 55 and the World
Class hosted 9. My point is, I don't believe there is any danger in
not havning enough SC pilots and gliders to show up to make a National
contest field if the high-priced glass is excluded, and the SSA has
already repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to support a National
Constest for a relatively small number of entrants. Regarding the
quality of the competition, I think it would be much more fun to have a
fighting chance to finish in the top half of the field than to be
doomed from the start to the (very) low end of the scale. It is my
personal belief that the reason pure SC pilots *do not* come to the SC
Nats is because they know they can't possibly win or even place well
(The Harris HIll SC Nats where Tim McAllister won in his Libelle was a
freak event - I was there and the weather was terrible - we set
records for the number of landouts. If the weather had been at all
reasonable, Tim would probably not have done as well).

In all these contests except the SC Nats, all the gliders have
essentially the same performance, so it is (in theory) the best pilot
that wins. In the SC Nats it is essentially impossible to tell whether
the best pilot or the most expensive glass is most significant, because
the range of gliders is so broad. In 2005 and 2006, the best a pure SC
pilot and plane did was 6th overall (Manfred Franke in 2005 with an
LS-3), and in 2006 about 27th overall (Tim Wells in a Std Cirrus). In
both years, the SC National Champion was won by a pilot or pilots in a
Duo Discus, with other high-priced glass close behind.

Why don't we try eliminating the Duo's and the ASW27s and the ASG-29's
from the equation at the SC Nats, or at least adjust the handicaps so
their pilots have to fly a lot harder than they do now to win. Let's
try the experiment. How do we know how many pure SC pilots & gliders
will show up if we don't try? If it doesn't work, we can change it
back.

Frank(X3)